A journey of a thousand miles begins with a sudden decision.

The path to becoming a global citizen of Nguyen Dang Dao (born in 1995) began with an unexpected twist. 10 years ago, fate led the way and the Nghe An boy chose to major in International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV).

“I won a national prize and was admitted directly, so I planned not to take the university entrance exam. The last afternoon before submitting my application, my best friend advised me to apply to the University of Foreign Affairs because of my sociable personality. Right then, I borrowed my friend’s application and applied to the most popular major, International Relations,” Dang Dao shared.

This decision marks the beginning of a new journey for the 9x guy.

Dang Dao at his graduation thesis defense at Peking University with excellent results. Photo: NVCC.

At the Diplomatic Academy, Dang Dao quickly realized that becoming a diplomat required much more. That was foreign language proficiency, research ability, problem-solving skills, extensive knowledge and especially courage, the spirit of daring to think and dare to do, pursuing to the end the mission for the benefit of the nation and people.

Realizing that, the young man constantly strives to improve himself. “During my 4 years at DAV, I interned at the United Nations, APEC Secretariat and ASEAN Secretariat under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the European Union (EU) Delegation. This was a solid start to continue studying and working in the future.”

The Nghe An boy received a full scholarship from Peking University (2021-2023) and a full scholarship from the European Union's Erasmus Mundus program for master's degree (2019-2021). Photo: NVCC.

Graduating from DAV, Dang Dao has successfully won the prestigious Erasmus Mundus full scholarship of the European Union. The Erasmus Mundus master's program that the male student is pursuing was founded by four universities in the EUROPAEUM European Research Network at Oxford University, which includes 19 leading European universities.

Besides the “rosy” picture that people often see such as generous financial support, opportunities to study internationally, and dual master’s degrees, Dang Dao also said that there are many difficulties that only insiders can understand. Having to move frequently, get visas, move house, change schools, and get personal documents in two or more countries in a short period of time are things that the male student did not expect before studying for 2 years in Europe.

In 2021, surpassing hundreds of global "scholars", Dang Dao excellently won the full scholarship for Future Asian Leaders sponsored by Yenching Academy of Peking University and Baixian Asia Institute.

“During a conference at Oxford University, a conversation with the University’s Chancellor, Professor Chris Patten, changed my approach to the subject, which had been focused on the EU. After the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Patten shared with me that it was more important than ever to look closely at China’s role in global affairs and China-EU relations.

This prompted me to return to Peking University, where I had done my undergraduate exchange, to further study China, especially its miraculous urbanization, and to embark on another academic endeavor, earning a master's degree in Chinese studies.”

Dang Dao graduated with honors with a master's degree and the Academic Award for the 20 students with outstanding academic and research achievements across Peking University.

It is known that the study program at Yen Kinh emphasizes mastering professional knowledge and field interaction. During his 9 months in China, the young man had the opportunity to visit 12 cities, living with local people to serve his research on urbanization and digitalization here.

Dynamic and always surpassing his own limits, Dang Dao is proactive and active in research and extracurricular activities. He has traveled to 54 countries across the continent and has become a speaker at many forums organized by organizations such as the Asian Development Bank or Cambridge University.

“Disagreements often arise in interactions, especially when living, studying and working in a multicultural environment, combining East and West like that. However, I realize that, instead of focusing too much on the differences, I often focus more on finding common ground and creating connections between the differences.

"Look at and solve problems calmly, put yourself in other people's shoes, try to see from their cultural perspective and communicate based on the spirit of problem solving together," Dang Dao shared about how to work in a multicultural environment.

Opportunity with the United Nations and the decision to return to Vietnam

Dang Dao has been involved with the United Nations (UN) since 2017. Starting with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, then becoming a consultant for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for a short time before studying abroad and then the SDG Action Campaign in Germany and UNESCO headquarters in France, and the upcoming opportunity is the United Nations Migration Programme (UN Habitat).

“Actually, before returning to Vietnam, I received job offers at the UN in New York and the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland. However, I thought I wanted to gain practical experience in the Southeast Asian region first and decided to return to Vietnam.”

Dang Dao represents young Vietnamese people participating in major multilateral forums.

According to Dang Dao, each position in UN agencies has different requirements depending on the specifics and area of ​​operation, but there are three factors that can help a person stand out: foreign language and communication skills, teamwork skills and professional knowledge.

Currently, the young man is working at the Academy of Social Sciences and is preparing to accompany the UN-Habitat expert team to implement a project on urban development in Vietnam as an urban development consultant.

In parallel, Dang Dao continues to engage in youth development with the Southeast Asian Young Urbanists organization to connect people interested in cities and urban development in Southeast Asia, share development lessons and common understanding, as well as strengthen the voice of young people in the field of urban planning.

The young man always lives, works and contributes with an attitude of always being ready to commit.

Sending a message to the younger generation, the young man confided: "I am a rather self-conscious person, not good at speaking and my academic performance was not excellent. However, I think curiosity and daring to venture into a new field have helped me achieve some of the achievements I have today.

I really like a saying, if you try, there is still a 0.1% chance of success, but if you don't dare to try, the chance of success will forever be 0%".

Nguyen Dang Dao's achievements:

- Full scholarship for Future Asian Leaders from Yenching Academy, Peking University (China) and exchange program at Seoul National University (Korea) and Waseda University (Japan)

- Erasmus Mundus Full Scholarship of the European Union, Europaeum Exchange Scholarship at Oxford University (UK)

- Consultant at UNESCO Headquarters in France and co-coordinator of the Action Programme on Engaging Young People in the UNESCO Global Agenda (2021-2023)

- Head of ASEAN Delegation to the G20 Youth Summit (2022)

- Coordinator of the Asia-Europe Young Leaders Summit (ASEF) and Research Fellow on Urban Nature-Based Solutions at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) (2022-2023)

- Research Expert of the EU-ASEAN Research Dialogue Programme (EANGAGE) of the European Union and the ASEAN Secretariat (April 2021- November 2022)

-Founder of Young Urbanists of Southeast Asia (YUSEA) and Student Think Tank for Europe-Asia Relations (STEAR)

- Published many publications in prestigious international journals

Vietnamnet.vn