Vietnamese female student wins 4 prestigious master's scholarships in Europe

After a journey of persistent efforts, Nguyen Khanh Linh (23 years old) has excellently received 4 master's scholarships in Europe, including 3 full scholarships from prestigious schools such as Wageningen, Groningen (Netherlands) and BI Norwegian Business School (Norway).

Nguyen Khanh Linh at the ceremony to honor outstanding students of universities in Hanoi - Photo: VCC

Nguyen Khanh Linh is a former student of Foreign Trade University (FTU), graduated as valedictorian in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (international career orientation program) with GPA 4/4.

"Sometimes you have to take a step back to go further"

Wishing to study abroad in the US since high school, Nguyen Khanh Linh (23 years old) was forced to temporarily put her dream on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

But instead of giving up, Linh chose to study at a domestic university, spending time accumulating experience, improving her abilities and preparing carefully for a postgraduate scholarship. Five years later, that dream has become a reality at a higher level of education.

Khanh Linh said that what helped her not give up was the belief that "learning is a lifelong journey". She also always received support and encouragement from her family. Both her father and mother worked in research and teaching; her mother started her master's degree when she was over 40 years old... that became a great source of inspiration for her.

"Putting aside" her original dream gave Linh more time to clearly define who she was, what she wanted, and why she had to pursue it to the end. Linh believes that "pausing" does not mean "giving up". Sometimes, you need to step back a bit to see the road ahead clearly and go further.

Right from her first year of university, Khanh Linh determined that her path would focus on research. Therefore, she always maintained good academic performance, actively participated in scientific research activities and systematically built her academic capacity. It was this clear orientation and serious preparation process that helped Linh's application receive priority consideration by the admissions board.

In addition to her academic achievements, Linh also serves as class monitor, is a member of the logistics club, and regularly helps organize events at the Institute of International Business and Economics. These experiences not only help her hone her organizational and teamwork skills, but also demonstrate her sense of responsibility and leadership, important factors that contribute to a comprehensive scholarship application.

"Participating in extracurricular activities helps me expand my relationships, learn more things and practice organizational and teamwork skills. But the most important thing is to know how to choose activities that are suitable for your learning orientation, avoid taking on too much to avoid being overloaded," Linh shared.

According to Linh, a full scholarship is a mandatory option because economic conditions do not allow it. But to get a scholarship, the first thing is to clearly understand what you need and which scholarship is suitable for you.

"I don't have much practical work experience, but I have a high GPA, good essay writing skills, and a serious research process. The important thing is to clearly show who you are, what you want, and why you choose that major. The scholarship hunting journey is very competitive, not just applying will get you accepted. Being rejected doesn't mean I'm bad, but it means I'm not suitable, so I need to persevere and continue," Linh confided.

Khanh Linh (3rd from left) and her friends participate in the Green Summer activity in Lang Son - Photo: NVCC

Brain-draining essay on agricultural supply chain

Among the four universities Linh received invitations from, she chose Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, one of the world's leading educational institutions in the field of agriculture according to the QS rankings.

This decision was not only based on the school's academic reputation, but also because the training program here has a clear research orientation, in line with Linh's long-term interests and career goals in the field of sustainable development.

To win the prestigious Wageningen University Fellowship Programme (WUFP) scholarship, Linh had to go through a thorough preparation process, including developing a thesis proposal with highly applied research, as well as writing an in-depth essay that clearly demonstrates her career vision and commitment to the field she is pursuing.

In her profile, Linh clearly expressed her desire to focus on researching sustainable agricultural supply chains and finding suitable solutions to apply in practice in the Vietnamese market.

With a deep concern for the supply chain of the Vietnamese agricultural market, Khanh Linh realized that shortcomings such as high post-harvest loss rate, shortage of cold storage containers, and suboptimal supply chain make the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the international market still low.

Linh did not stop at describing the problem, but also proactively raised the question: how to build a sustainable agricultural supply chain for Vietnam?

"I realize that Vietnam is a country with agricultural strengths, a tropical monsoon climate, and diverse agricultural products, but the post-harvest loss rate is very high. Partly because the supply chain is not optimized, partly because the production process does not meet export standards. That is the reason I want to go to school to come back to research and find practical solutions," Linh said.

In the essay, Linh not only demonstrated her personal identity but also expressed her vision: "What will I do after finishing my studies to solve this problem in Vietnam?".

Always be persistent and understand the goal

Ms. Ngan Tran - founder of the Scholarship Mentor Hub project, Erasmus Mundus master's degree in Agricultural and Food Economics, a joint venture between Bonn University (Germany) and Cattolica University (Italy) - commented that Linh is a serious, consistent person who clearly understands the goals in each step of preparing documents. When working, Linh is always open-minded, listens and respects the other person.

For Linh, actions always speak louder than words. Through each research topic, community activity or persistent learning process even after achieving achievements, Linh shows her determination in her choice.

"What I admire most about Linh is probably her strong inner strength, her ability to self-study and research. Linh is not too noisy about her achievements, nor does she talk about her difficulties or efforts. I believe that anyone who has worked with Linh can feel a very clear and strong will inside," said Ms. Ngan Tran.

Sweet fruit from passion for research

Since her second year of university, Linh has co-authored five research papers, four of which were written in English and one was presented at the ICYREB 2023 International Conference.

In addition to the Wageningen University Fellowship Programme (WUFP) scholarship from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, Linh also received the Eric Bleumink Fellowship from the University of Groningen (ranked 147 QS), the BI Presidential Scholarship from Norwegian Business School (top 1% of global business schools with Triple Crown accreditation), and the NL Scholarship worth 5,000 euros with 50% tuition waiver from the University of Twente (Netherlands).

HO NHUONG - LE HUY

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nu-sinh-viet-gianh-4-hoc-bong-thac-si-danh-gia-tai-chau-au-20250802140647317.htm