A handover ceremony for the German scholarships took place on Thursday at the German Embassy in Vientiane in presence of German Ambassador to Lao PDR, Mr Robert von Rimscha.
The DAAD is the world’s largest institution for promoting international academic exchange. It has various scholarship programmes open to all countries, including Laos, said Ambassador von Rimscha.
Since 1975, around 3,500 Lao citizens have earned degrees from Germen institutions of higher learning.
"Our cooperation in education has two pillars, vocational training and the DAAD’s academic exchange programmes," said Ambassador von Rimscha.
This year, two other applicants from Lao have been awarded"Development-Related Postgraduate Course", aimed at educating young, academically-trained professionals from developing countries.
Mr Sonekham Seankhamta, Deputy Head of the German Department at the National University of Laos, has been chosen for the postgraduate course "Vocational Education and Personnel Capacity Building" at the Dresden University of Technology.
The second scholarship was awarded to Ms Maliya Phommasone who has been chosen for the Master's course“Natural Resources Management and Development” at the Cologne University of Applied Science.
Another DAAD programme of interest to graduates from the Lao PDR is the “Master’s Scholarships for Public Policy and Good Governance, designed to further qualify future leaders in politics, law, economics, and administration according to the principles of Good Governance.
In this programme, one application from Laos has been successful. Ms Vonepaserd Xayavong has been awarded a DAAD scholarship for the course "Management in Non-Profit Organisations" at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabruck.
In addition to scholarship offering a chance to obtain a German Master's degree the DAAD also awards "Research grants for Doctoral Candidates and Young Academics and Scientists', which provide young foreign academics and scientists an opportunity to carry out a research in Germany.
This year the Lao Doctoral candidate Ms Champathong Phonchanthilath, Deputy Head of the History and Archeology Department at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the National University of Laos, has been awarded such a grant for her research project “Stories of the Female Traders in the Context of Integrated Socialism: A case study of Khua District, Lao PDR".
The propose of the project is to gain a doctorate at the Humboldt University in Berlin under the supervision of Prof. Dr Boike Rehbein, Germany’s most renowned specialist on Lao culture and society, who also regularly teaches in Laos.
