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

Yohsei Honda, Secretary General of the AEON 1% Club Foundation, said the AEON Scholarship is 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 746 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.

“The sharing from the scholarship fund is a meaningful and timely support for us,” said Bui Nhat Linh, a scholarship recipient from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. “Thanks to the Aeon scholarship, I have the opportunity to learn, to widen and deepen my knowledge as well as my soft skills for future work.”

Honda said 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 6,047 students from 37 universities and colleges across Japan, China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar. — VNS