The AEON 1% Club Foundation, a member of Japanese retail and financial services corporation AEON, granted 60 scholarships to Vietnamese university students at an online ceremony on Wednesday.

Nagatsuma Hiroyuki, senior general manager of AEON Mall Viet Nam Co Ltd, said the AEON Scholarship was an allowance-based scholarship for university students in various Asian countries and self-financed Asian students studying in Japan.

The project, designed to “Support the Dreams of Asian Students”, was started in 2006 in the hope that recipients will play an active role in the future, connecting their home countries with Japan in their respective specialist fields. In addition to year-round financial support, the project offers opportunities for various curricula and volunteer activities aimed at scholarship students in Japan and provides support for students aiming to develop into global talents.

In Viet Nam, the AEON Scholarship has been awarded to a total of 1,040 university students, including students from universities in Ha Noi since 2012 and those in HCM City since 2011.

This year in Ha Noi, students from the Viet Nam National University, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Foreign Trade University and the Viet Nam National University of Agriculture were honoured to receive the scholarships.

At the Scholarship Certificate Granting Ceremony, scholarship students gave speeches on their personal dreams and goals.

“This scholarship is the source of encouragement in making a bridge between Japan and Viet Nam. This will be the motivation for me to keep believing in myself and achieve my career goals,” said Chu Thi Phuong Anh, a scholarship recipient from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

The AEON 1% Club Foundation was established in 1989 in Japan and has been operating on the 1 per cent of pre-tax profit donated by major AEON Group companies. It engages in projects with the three main themes of “Sound Development of the Next Generation, Promotion of Friendship with Foreign Countries and Sustainable Development of Regional Communities”.

Since its establishment, the AEON scholarship has supported 7,426 students from 38 universities and colleges across Japan, China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar. — VNS