Thanks to his ceaseless devotion to the development of the Da Nang University of Economics (DUE), 75-year-old Yoshiaki Takahashi has become the first foreigner to be honoured with the title of Honorary Professor by the University of Da Nang (UDN).

Professor Takahashi giving scholarships to some poor studious students at DUE

Mr Takahashi used to lecture at Japan’s Chuo University and he was a leading expert in human resources and business management.

Although he had visited over 40 countries throughout the world, he finally chose Viet Nam as his second home.  His main reason was that Viet Nam has many similar geographical features to his hometown on the northern side of Japan - rice paddies, mountains, rivers and the sea. 

Since his retirement from Chuo University in 2013, he has voluntarily devoted himself to teaching activities in Viet Nam, and he was invited to teach at DUE.  Annually, he stays in Da Nang for half of the year and goes back to Japan for the other months.

Also, he has chosen DUE as the place to share with local students his collection of more than 7,000 books .  When he was young, he saved his money to start buying these books. 

The professor’s unconditional dedication to Da Nang first started 17 years ago when he and Prof Tran Van Nam, who was a lecturer at the Da Nang University of Technology at the time, met each other at an academic meeting.

Mr Nam said that Mr Takahashi was once a poor student himself so he is sympathetic to those who are in similar circumstances, especially studious poor students.

He said, “At 18, Mr Takahashi left his hometown for Tokyo to continue his high school education.  Upon entering Chuo University, he had to work as a tutor to afford his education.  At the age of 22 he was granted a monthly scholarship worth 500 USD and he managed to eventually become a reputable scientist in Japan.”

Given the abundant support in the past, the professor decided to establish a scholarship fund, worth 1 billion VND in total, for DUE poor students as a way of giving back to the community.  The scholarships will cover the annual living expenses and tuition fees for students during their 5 years of study at the university.

Mr Nam added that the fund would be expanded in future in order to prevent DUE students from dropping out of the university due to poverty.