E-scholarship to bring Vietnamese ITers to UK

The scholarship, worth over £16,000, will allow Trinh to develop an Internet-based recruitment business to bring Vietnamese IT professionals to the West to help bridge the skills gap in the e-business industry.

"Our aim was to choose someone whom we felt would succeed, but who would also gain the most from the MSc," said Jill Hope, one of the members of the selection panel.

Trinh arrived in England aged 16, having left Vietnam as one of the boat people when she was 14. She has since gained a degree in mathematics from Surrey University.

"There is a large population of young people in Vietnam keen to work abroad," said Trinh. "Its IT professionals have a reputation for being good programmers and problem solvers."