Vietnam has supplied 750 scholarships to Laotians so far this year and thus become the number one grant provider in Laos.

It has awarded grants to people from public and private sectors alike, according to the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports.

The country had earlier this month given a VND40 billion (US$1.9 million) facility dedicated to Vietnamese studies to the National University of Laos to help teach Vietnamese to Lao scholarship winners prior to their travel to Vietnam for study.

The facility boasts a 1,500 square meter lecture hall, a 1,700 square meter library, and other teaching equipment. Vietnam and Laos have renewed their scholarship agreement with a view to helping provide the latter with qualified college lecturers. Vietnamese scholarships have substantially contributed to the improvement of Laos’ education and its workforce, which have in turn helped speed up their socio-economic development.

Laos was presented with 1,378 scholarships by 23 countries in 2010 and the number jumped to 1,564 one year later when the grants came from 27 nations.