A young man from Ha Giang, Harvard, full scholarship from the US government.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, born in 1996, graduated with a Bachelor of English Language majoring in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in 2018.

In August 2025, Nguyen Thanh Tung was awarded a full Fulbright scholarship from the U.S. Government (for the 2025-2026 academic year) to pursue a Master's degree in Educational Policy Analysis at Harvard University.

Not only that, Tung also received acceptance letters and financial aid from Columbia Teachers College and Vanderbilt University. The scholarship, worth approximately 3 billion VND, is the result of his journey pursuing his aspirations for educational innovation, leading him to a world- leading educational environment, where Harvard currently holds the number one position in the global university rankings for 2025, according to US News & World Report.

Thanh Tung, a freshman in the Master's program in Educational Policy Analysis at Harvard for the 2025-2026 academic year.

" I didn't prepare for my dream of studying abroad with early planning like many other students. During high school and even my university years, setting foot in a prestigious international school was still something too far-fetched for a boy from the mountains like me ," Tung expressed his pride upon successfully opening the doors to the prestigious school.

Before winning the Fulbright scholarship and attending Harvard University, what Tung persistently pursued was simply a passion: finding ways to bring a good education to more people.

After graduating from the Diplomatic Academy, from 2018 to the present, this young man in his 20s has tried his hand in various environments – from public and private schools to startups in the region – to view education from multiple perspectives. All of this stems from his personal story, from a boy from the former Ha Giang province (now Tuyen Quang city) who set many limits for himself, to a young person constantly experimenting to help fill the gaps in the education system.

Since January 2018, as a strategic education consultant for an educational organization in Vietnam, Tung has participated in implementing educational consulting projects, positively impacting over 300,000 students; and has undertaken fundraising and reconstruction efforts for three public schools in disadvantaged areas. Notably, Tung has been involved in developing vocational skills training in Vietnam for a digital platform with over 5,000,000 users worldwide.

That journey was also full of unresolved issues for Tung. He noticed that many dedicated teachers were exhausted by too many unnamed responsibilities, to the point that even if they wanted to innovate, they no longer had the time or energy. Many students in mountainous areas didn't have enough warm clothes, so it was difficult to talk about emotional intelligence or soft skills. When working with international recruitment platforms, Tung also received direct feedback from recruiters that Vietnamese students often lacked essential skills such as English or negotiation.

What made Tung think was that these skills weren't actually that difficult to train, but how to implement them on a large scale with limited costs was a challenge, as there were no tools to address the root of the systemic problems. These unanswered questions motivated Tung to study Educational Policy and Analysis at Harvard to find ways to sustainably bring technology to students.

Tung and his friends, who won full scholarships from the U.S. Government's Fulbright, took a photo in Cambridge, Massachusetts in August 2025.

Currently, Tung is participating in a policy analysis project on the use of GenAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence) in the general education system with the Ministry of Education of a European country. For Tung, education is not just about grades, but also about equipping students with more life skills, social experiences, career guidance, and technology so that they can thrive in the world.

Thanh Tung's secret to getting into Harvard University was practical action, not just talk. This young man always had a clear vision of what he wanted to do for Vietnamese education, but more importantly, Tung proved it through concrete work, from advising schools and building teacher communities to developing technology platforms to support career guidance.

“ Harvard and Fulbright chose me not just because of the promises in my application, but because I demonstrated that I had the foundation and systems in place to translate the knowledge and connections I gained here into action upon my return. It’s easy to say, but difficult to do, and I chose to let my work speak for itself,” Tung stated.

With a full Fulbright scholarship worth 3 billion VND, Tung will set foot in a top-ranked university in the world in July 2025.

Tung and his classmates at Harvard come from many different countries.

Nguyen Chi Hieu, who holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University, USA, and who directly managed and mentored Thanh Tung, commented: "Tung possesses an enviable combination of both intellect and practical skills, something rarely seen, especially in people his age."

The young man previously created content for an online educational consulting group accessed by over 30,000 teachers, school leaders, educators, and policymakers; he also ran scholarship programs and mentored underprivileged university students who would find it difficult to attend university without timely support.

Tung's dream is to contribute to building a fair and modern education system in Vietnam, where every child – whether in urban or rural areas – has the opportunity to develop comprehensively.

Recognizing the immense potential of technology and policy in transforming the landscape of education, Tung plans to continue his research in the near future and collaborate with research institutes, universities, and educational organizations in Vietnam to test and implement innovative educational models that have been successful worldwide, then adapt them to suit the Vietnamese context.

"I believe that with the right approach, we can bridge the gap and bring about many practical innovations for students and teachers," shared a Vietnamese freshman at Harvard.