Mekong Program to help human resource development
By Ho Hung - The Saigon Times Daily
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| Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan (R) and Hoang Tran Nguyen Khang (7th, R), deputy sales manager of Van Phat Hung Joint Stock Company, pose with the first five students who received loans from the Mekong Program at Can Tho University on Wednesday - Photo: Ho Hung |
CAN THO – The Mekong Program that offers interest-free student loans will play a pivotal role in human resource development in the Mekong Delta, said the rector of Can Tho University.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, speaking at the launch of this non-profit program at the university on Wednesday night, underscored the need to 
establish such a student support program for the delta at the moment.
This is an important source of finance for Can Tho University students to cover tuitions, he said. “This program will contribute significantly to human resource development in the Mekong Delta region.”
The program was set up by the Saigon Times Foundation (STF) of Saigon Times Group, Van Phat Hung Joint Stock Company and Can Tho University. Van Phat Hung has financed the first budget of VND4 billion for the program.
The program will support the university’s full-time students who come from the delta’s 13 provinces to pay school fees and especially those who are poor to complete their graduate programs.
In the academic year 2009-2010, up to 1,300 students at the university can ask for interest-free loans from the program. The repaid money will then move on to other eligible students.
At the launching ceremony on Wednesday, the first five students, four of them from Ca Mau Province, received loans from the program.
The university now has a little more than 24,000 full-time students and about 14,500 part-time students.
According to the rector, over 80% of these students are from poor rural areas. The university has either cut or exempted tuitions for many of them, sought company scholarships for them, and provided guarantees for certain students to borrow from banks. But all these kinds of help are not enough, so Tuan of the university said more finance would be needed to back needy students.
In the next phase, which begins in 2013, the program will continue to be the companion of Can Tho University until 2020 and will be expanded to other universities which have students coming from the Mekong Delta.
The program’s financial sources and operations will be disclosed in Saigon Times Group’s publications – Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon, Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon Online, Thoi bao Vi tinh Saigon, The Saigon Times Daily, and The Saigon Times Weekly, as well as at www.nhanlucmekong.info.
The Mekong Program’s contact addresses: In HCMC, 35 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 1, contact Ms Hai Yen, tel: (08) 3740 2712 – 0905 343 672 Email: haiyen@thesaigontimes.vn Account number: 0108100010122 – Viet A Bank; In Can Tho City, Section 2, Can Tho University, Ba Thang Hai Street, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City, contact Mr Phan Quang Vinh, tel: 0710 3831 530, ext: 8479 Email: pqvinh@ctu.edu.vn