Boy 'nearly burned down the house' became a lecturer in Europe

 Boy 'nearly burned down the house' became a lecturer in Europe

Thanks to his passion for mechanics and machines that nearly caused a fire when practicing, Ngoc Thinh gradually conquered science to reap success in France and Germany.

After graduating from Polytechnic University, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, winning a full scholarship from the European Union and completing a doctoral program in France, Nguyen Ngoc Thinh, 28 years old, currently teaches and researches at Department of Robotics, University of Luebeck, Germany.

Thinh has been passionate about mechanics and engineering since he was a child. The guy in Ho Chi Minh City can spend hours tinkering with how many devices work. Once, he repaired a transformer but forgot to turn off the power. The transformer exploded, partially scorched, and Thinh "nearly burned the house".

During high school, Thinh always maintained impressive academic results, regularly participating in the top of the class with a series of district and city awards. He passed both the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Science and Technology (National University of Ho Chi Minh City). Because of his passion for mechanics and an early orientation, Thinh decided to study Polytechnic, the Vietnam - France High Quality Engineer program (PFIEV).

At that time, Thinh only thought that he would try to study, graduate and find a good job in the city, but "studying abroad doesn't come to mind much". "Over time, every year I see my seniors studying abroad, I also started to dream," he recalled.

Nguyen Ngoc Thinh, an alumnus of Polytechnic University, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, is currently a senior researcher at Luebeck University, Germany. Photo: Character provided

Nguyen Ngoc Thinh is currently a senior researcher at Luebeck University, Germany. Photo: Character provided

Because the Thinh study program is affiliated with Grenoble Polytechnic University, he is also taught directly by French professors. Realizing the potential of the student, the professors suggested that he apply for the Erasmus Mundus scholarship of the European Union and Grenoble will play the role of sponsor, ensuring Thinh if he wins the scholarship. Thinh's dream of studying abroad came true in early 2016. "The first time I took a plane, I didn't expect to have such a faraway destination," he expressed.

According to the plan, Ngoc Thinh will stay at the Polytechnic University of Grenoble, France, for one year to complete her graduation thesis, and then obtain two engineering degrees from both Ho Chi Minh City and Grenoble Polytechnics. He told himself "my study abroad period can't only last for a year", so right at the time of writing his thesis, the boy born in 1993 searched for doctoral scholarships. Feeling interested in a French postgraduate research scholarship, he boldly applied.

However, one of the mandatory criteria is that the candidate must have an engineering degree, which Thinh had not graduated at that time. From France, he had to contact Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology for confirmation of transcripts, certificates of achievement and letters of recommendation from teachers, ensuring that he was qualified to graduate. Thanks to that, the new admissions committee accepted to consider Thinh's profile.

Then, thanks to the achievement of being an excellent student, ranking second among more than 600 students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Thinh surpassed other candidates to win a full PhD scholarship in automatic control.

In the same year, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology also announced the graduation results. Thinh took the first place in the course, won a gold medal, meaning that he did not fail any subject during his studies, the thesis was above 8.5 and the grade point average of the whole course was not less than 8. In the same year 2016, Thinh graduated as the valedictorian of the University. , consecutively won two prestigious master's and doctoral scholarships in Europe, which he "only dared to dream" before.

Ngoc Thinh took a photo with three on the day of graduation as valedictorian of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and was awarded a gold medal by the school. Photo: Character provided

Ngoc Thinh took a photo with three on the day of graduation as valedictorian of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and was awarded a gold medal by the school. Photo: Character provided

With a research topic on nonlinear controllers for unmanned aircraft, Ngoc Thinh continued to choose Grenoble Polytechnic University to complete her doctoral program. During three years of research, a difficult period happened to Thinh when he was rejected for a scientific paper.