Recently, five Vietnamese female students received full scholarships in the STEM field for women (Women in STEM) under two ASEAN - UK SAGE programs and the British Council.

Of these, the ASEAN-UK SAGE scholarship is for women from all ASEAN member countries; while the British Council scholarship is for women from countries in South Asia, East Asia, Greater Europe and the Americas.

Out of hundreds of applications, Vietnamese female students received five out of 24 scholarships from both programs.

Specifically, Vietnamese female students receiving scholarships under the ASEAN-UK SAGE program:

• Lam Ngoc Ngan – MSc Interdisciplinary Biology, University of Warwick

• Nguyen Ha Phuong Thao – MSc Engineering Business Management, University of Warwick

The British Council STEM Scholarships for Women are awarded to the following female students:

• Nguyen Vu Tuong Linh – MSc Business Innovation and Startup, University of Bristol

• Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy – MSc Environmental Policy and Management, University of Bristol

• Truong Ngoc Mai – MSc Science Communication for a Better Planet, University of Bristol

For both programmes, each scholar will receive a full scholarship to complete a master's programme at prestigious universities in the UK, and their studies will commence in September 2024.

Both scholarship programs aim to address the gender gap in access to education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Women account for just 29.2% of the global STEM workforce, despite making up nearly half of non-STEM jobs (World Economic Forum).