Study Abroad Scholarship Programs of the Republic of Vietnam (1950s–1970s): A General Assessment.

Tóm tắt

This article presents an overview and assessment of the study-abroad scholarship programs implemented by the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) from the 1950s to 1975. With the goals of modernizing the nation and cultivating a highly qualified professional workforce, the RVN sent thousands of outstanding students to advanced countries—primarily the United States, France, Australia, and Canada—to pursue strategic fields such as engineering, agriculture, medicine, education, and public administration. The article analyzes the objectives, scale, organizational structure, and selection procedures of these scholarship programs, while also examining the main funding sources, including the national budget and aid from allied countries, particularly the United States. The study evaluates the achievements of the programs, such as the emergence of a Western-educated intellectual elite that contributed significantly to economic, social, and academic developments in South Vietnam. In addition to successes, the article discusses the challenges and limitations of the programs, including issues of “brain drain” when some scholarship recipients did not return, as well as disruptions caused by wartime conditions. The article concludes by offering a comprehensive evaluation of the legacy and long-term impacts of these programs on Vietnam’s human resources both before and after 1975, affirming that these initiatives represented one of the most forward-looking and consequential human-capacity development efforts undertaken by the RVN government in former South Vietnam.