IPL Scholarship is a full scholarship on “Enlightened Leadership” for
YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS & LEADERS, founded in 2007 by a number of passionate Vietnamese
intellectuals, business leaders & PACE Institue of Management.
This is a world-class leadership development program to develop a new generation of entrepreneurs,
delivered in Vietnam by PACE and in collaboration with prestigious global partners.

“5 - 1 - 5” strategy at IPL SCHOLARSHIP

5 rounds of scholarship application 1 year of onsite learning 5 terms of experiential learning

Introduction to IPL Scholarship

About IPL   |   The “Tonkin Free School” at 21st Century   |   Enlightened Leadership Model   |  
IPL’s Spirit & Core Value   |   IPL’s Oath   |   IPL’s three traditional stories

ABOUT IPL

In the history of education in Vietnam, there are two prominent schools: the Imperial Academy and the Tonkin Free School. The Imperial Academy is considered as Vietnam’s first national university with thousand years of history. The Tonkin Free School (established in 1907) is a short-lived school with only 8 months, but is still remembered as a historically significant educational institution of Vietnam. Why?

 

Because for the first time, Vietnam has a school that sounds the drum to enlighten and liberate its people. The Tonkin Free School is a school for the sake of meaningful purpose, desired to reform society during the colonial period.

Exactly 100 years later, on November 21st, 2007 in Ho Chi Minh City, inspired by the spirit of "enligtenment" and "free school" of the Tonkin Free School, IPL Scholarship was born, with the ideal of deploying a special “enlightened education” model for young leaders and with the motto of "non-profit, non-political, non-religious" to contribute to the development of a new generation of entrepreneurs.

What is the new generation of entrepreneurs?  At IPL, the new generation of entrepreneurs is understood as a generation of entrepreneurs with not only leadership competency, but also cultural depth, humanity and patriotism; a generation of entrepreneurs who are very human, very patriotic, and also very true to themselves; a generation of entrepreneurs holds a strong belief that business is creating wealth by serving societal needs through products and services that are good for people.

Over more than 15 years operating with the pioneering spirit, IPL Scholarship has been a successful combination of “Vietnamese spirit” and “Global expertise”, between “Enlightened education” and “Leadership development”. In particular, the “Enlightened education” learning module will be handled by IRED Education Institute, while the “Leadership development” learning module will be delivered by PACE Institute of Management, FranklinCovey, Search Inside Yourself, Balanced Scorecard Institute and Blanchard Global.

“TONKIN FREE SCHOLL” of the 21st century

Nhân dịp kỷ niệm 15 năm thành lập IPL (21/11/2007-21/11/2022), nhóm phóng viên Báo Thanh Niên đã dày công thực hiện một phóng sự ngắn về “Nghĩa thục IPL”, và nhất là về sự học “lạ lùng” ở ngôi trường khai phóng dành riêng cho doanh nhân trẻ và lãnh đạo trẻ này. Sau hành trình 15 năm, IPL Scholarship đã được cộng đồng xem là một trong những “Ngôi trường đặc biệt nhất Việt Nam” và là một “Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục của thế kỷ 21”.

“Enlightened Leadership” model of IPL Scholarship

IPL aspires to create a place where everyone believes in authentic learning, and has the aspiration of self-enlightenment. Because only authetic learning can help people be enlightened and become free people, responsible citizens, and excellent professionals; then they can achieve sustaintable success & true happiness.

IPL Scholarship’s Spirits & Values

  • 3 Spirits
    • AUTHENTIC LEARNING:
      IPL aspires to create a place where everyone believes in authentic learning, because only authetic learning can help people be enlightened and become free people, responsible citizens, and excellent professionals; then they can achieve sustaintable success & true happiness. Therefore, IPL is always aimed at creating a serious and strict learning environment, which requires each faculty, each learner to truly being devoted to teaching and learning. In other words, IPL is a place where “true talents” are gathered, and “IPLer” learn not only because of “diploma/certificate”, but because of their own cultural stature, career qualifications and leadership competencies.
    • A person is considered to have the spirit of “Self-enlightenment” when he is always committed to the journey of self-enlightenment and self-liberation, opening his mind & heart and unleashing his potential in order to truthly become a free person. Only the enlightened learning and self-enlightenment can help that person to reach universal values and be able to clarify: who is who, what is what and who that person is; be alble to clearly define: right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, true vs. false, good vs. evil, righteous path vs. heresy, should vs. should not, respectable vs. contemptible…of oneself’s own problems, as well as common & important problems of oneself’s family, organization and society.
    • PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE:
      "Self-enlightenment" helps oneself to have culture (to be human) while “Pursuit of Excellence” helps oneself to have expertise (i.e. to do a profession, and do that profession at an excellent level). The core of this spirit is “pursue excellence, and success will follow". Although IPL Scholarship is not a vocational program (aimed at equipping students with a specific professional career), IPL creates opportunities for learners to construct for themselves the “Pursuit of Excellence” spirit, because only this spirit can oneself becomes an excellent professional in the career or industry of their choice.
  • 3 core values
    • FREEDOM
      RESPONSIBILITY
      EXCELLENCE

      Education at IPL promotes 3 spirit of “Authentic learning”, “Self-enlighenment” and “Pursuit of excellence” to help each practitioner train himself to be a free person, responsible citizen and excellent professional. And “Freedom”, “Responsibility”, “Excellence” are also the three core values of IPL Scholarship. The “job” of any person in life includes being a human, being a citizen, and doing a profession. And the “right choice” or “wrong choice” of each person in each of these “jobs”, as well as the preparation of the competencies corresponding to these “jobs” will contribute to form a person’s identity and his life, will determine his status and destiny.

Inspired by Harvard with the “Oath of MBA”,
here we have the “Oath of IPL”

3 traditional & motivated stories

Chicken or Eagle

Once upon a time, an egg from an eagle accidentally dropped into the nest of a hen that was hatching her own eggs. Out came a strange looking chick among the yellow chicks from the hatch...

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Starfish

One early morning when the sea was still covered in a thick blanket of fog, I started to jog on the beach with my Walkman CD player snuggly on my hip. From afar, I observed a small boy busy at some task...

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Leaving the Cave

“Once upon a time, there was a dark cave inhabited for several generations by a large tribal community. Such was a huge cave with various twists and turns...

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“When entering IPL Scholarship, each student will commit to authentic learning to enlighten themselves, to change themselves and the community, contributing to upbringing Vietnam with the world. Elite young people will mark their stunning era…

Many people think this sounds too big. But if you - young leaders who are considered elite people but still don't dare to dream highly, what will our future be like?"

“The experiences of Japan and many developed countries show that entrepreneurs with ambitions to contribute to the country's development often have to learn by themselves through experience and practice. After a long time, they accumulate knowledge and create for themselves a philosophy and a business style. In the context of the 19th century or the first half of the 20th century, Japan and the developed countries had no other choice. Today, business schools of world-renowned universities play the role of training future entrepreneurs. But participating in these programs is very expensive and cannot produce entrepreneurs in large numbers. On the other hand, many people who go to those schools may end up working abroad with very high income.

The IPL project is both attached to the country's reality and has access to advanced knowledge, hoping that the seeds will grow and bear fruit."

“The value of a human being consists of three parts that make up a tree. The original part is ambition, personality, national spirit, and sense of cooperation. The body is talent, knowledge. The fruit part is degrees, achievements in study and work.

Our current way of educating and evaluating people is too focused on the fruit, while ignoring the original; Therefore, it does not create endogenous and sustainable development. IPL focuses on the root, then the body, so the fruit will be the natural fruit of a genuine effort.”

“It's sad that every time I go abroad, people think I'm Japanese, or Korean, or Chinese. Once on a business trip in an Eastern European country, I stopped at a restaurant. The receptionist greeted me with a Japanese sentence, saw that I was silent, they continued with a Korean sentence. I wonder: is Vietnam overshadowed in the world? Where are we on the global map? Those questions kept bothering me, so when I heard about this IPL project to train young talents, I immediately accepted to join.”

“One of the valuable assets of youth is dreams, however, what needs to be done to make those dreams come true? IPL – the historic “handshake” between leading intellectuals, passionate entrepreneurs and elite young people – is one of the convincing answers to this question.”

“This is a good project, community nature, so I am willing to participate. That is the expectation through a rigorous selection and training program for Vietnam to have the next business leaders and entrepreneurs.

The path that you take will certainly has challenges, obstacles and hardships. But we - the previous generations, through the IPL scholarship, have been joining hands to bring you the necessary support such as knowledge, sharing, encouragement...

Because we understand that the success of each of you - young people - not only brings you a happier and more prosperous life, but also is a prerequisite for conquering and developing the country's economy, making  the name of Vietnam be radiant.”

“To integrate and compete with the world, we require good entrepreneurs. So when I heard this idea, I was very excited.

I think a lot of young people want the country to keep raising. We have national pride, we want the country to develop at an international level, we have to get rid of the low self-esteem. To do that, you have to go above and beyond. You should not only have the desire to get rich, but also have the desire to contribute.

I believe that the “leadership seed” will accompany the development of the country, will train next generations to bring the country to develop not only on a regional level but also at the world level.”

 “The difference between IPL and other business-specific training programs is the way the program is designed and the way the content is delivered, in order to maximize students' creativity.

In business, starting a business, many young people like to get rich easily, prefer a diploma rather than study hard. Lack of fighting spirit, not ready to go to the stage, so when meeting enemies and difficulties, it is very dangerous. To compete with the world, young people must return to what they are striving for with real value.”

“A change in the environment can also reverse all your efforts. But who will help you solve that problem if not yourself? We need to actively contribute to creating sustainable foundations. And when there are fluctuations, the economy can keep working well with less sacrifices!”

“You have youth, you have brains, and there is a lot of time ahead. Do not hesitate to invest those valuable “assets” for your studies, to write your own success stories and to contribute to the enrichment of society and the development of the country. We are always with you and ready to share with you.”

“Our businesses today only started from a ballpoint pen or a small pliers and have also experienced two or three failures. Success doesn't have to start with big and flashy things. Let's do it, be ready to do small things and prepare the will to overcome difficulties!”

“Have big dreams. There are also simple dreams. But every dream is precious. Try to realize each small dream today, and I believe that your big dream tomorrow will not be far away.”