The meeting held on November 20 also marked the 60^th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Bulgaria and Vietnam.

During the event, former Vietnamese students recalled memories of the days they lived and studied in ‘beautiful’ Bulgaria, particularly of Bulgarian teachers, who they said were so enthusiastic in helping them.

“When we first arrived in the remote European country, we were unfamiliar with many things but we received warm feelings from Bulgaria,” said Nguyen Van Hung, former rector of the Hanoi Construction College. “We had a chance to learn many good lessons there, for example, about the value of bread and the need to economize.”

Bulgaria received the first groups of Vietnamese students in the late 1950s. The country has so far helped Vietnam train more than 100 PhDs, nearly 2,000 MAs or MScs, more than 6,000 apprentices, and over 20,000 skilled workers.

Many of the first Vietnamese students sent to Bulgaria later returned to Vietnam to take part in the nation’s resistance wars and many of them were assigned to important Party and State positions.

The Vietnamese students also made good impressions on lecturers at Bulgarian universities. Mariya Markova, head of the Foreign Language Department of Sofia University, said Vietnamese students were diligent and eager to learn from her country’s culture. She also praised them for being excellent at mathematics.