A total of 133 Odon Vallet scholarships, each worth 6 million VND, were handed over to outstanding students and young researchers of universities and institutes in Hanoi and northern provinces.

The organisation behind the grants, Rencontres du Vietnam (Meeting Vietnam), plans to present another 350 Vallet scholarships, each worth 4 million VND, to outstanding pupils in Hanoi and in northern provinces on Sept. 5.

The Odon Vallet scholarship is named after Prof. Odon Vallet, a doctor of law at the Paris-based Sorbonne University, who has devoted all of his family inheritance to granting scholarships to outstanding students in France and Vietnam.

This is the ninth year Rencontres du Vietnam has presented such scholarships to Vietnamese students.

The recipients are not only from big cities and provinces but also in remote and isolated areas in the mountainous northern provinces of Dien Bien, Yen Bai and Cao Bang, and in the Mekong delta provinces of Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Vinh Long.

Some 2,080 scholarships worth 10 billion VND in total will be presented in 2009.

On the occasion, Prof. Nguyen Van Hieu, former President of the Vietnam Scientific and Technological Institute, said the Hanoi Scientific and Technological University will be set up by Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training and France’ Ministry of Education, providing Vietnamese students the opportunity to study at an international-standard school right in their homeland.

French and Vietnamese lecturers will give lessons in six subjects: energy, aeronautics, bio-technology, information technology, environment and nano- technology./.