“Education Is a Ladder of Hope”: Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation Launches First Local Scholarship Program in Laos

[Financial News] The Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation has chosen Laos as the site of its first overseas education-support program for local young people.
The Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation announced on the 7th that it presented scholarship certificates to the first 60 recipients of its “Local Education Support Program in Laos” at the National University of Laos on the 4th (local time).
All 60 recipients are undergraduates at the National University of Laos who have strong academic records and need financial assistance. Each will receive annual tuition support of 2 million kip until the end of the regular academic term, along with a monthly study scholarship of 2 million kip.
The foundation also plans to operate a career exploration program that includes career aptitude tests and expert mentoring. The program is designed to help scholarship recipients develop concrete post-graduation career plans based on their aptitudes.
The foundation selected Laos as its first target country because of the nation’s demographic structure. With a median age of approximately 25.3, Laos is one of Asia’s youngest countries, and its youthful population is viewed as a source of potential for future national growth.
However, Laos’s gross higher-education enrollment rate stands at only approximately 15%, a low level compared with other ASEAN countries. This limits young people’s access to higher education itself. The foundation explained that it chose Laos as the first country in which to expand educational opportunities for promising young people, in line with Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo’s philosophy of nurturing talent by building a “ladder of hope” to the future through education.
The program is significant because it extends the foundation’s talent-development model to local communities overseas. The foundation’s existing “CMK Global Scholarship” program has supported scholarships and educational programs for outstanding ASEAN talent to study in Korea, expanding from Indonesia in 2024 to Vietnam last year.
Musung Jung, chairman of the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation, said, “For Laos’s younger generation to grow into human resources capable of supporting the country’s sustained growth, it is important to expand educational opportunities and establish a foundation that enables them to develop their capabilities. We will continue supporting the scholarship recipients selected this time so that they can pursue their studies steadily and turn their potential into concrete career paths.”
[email protected] Dong-chan Kim Reporter