Hanoi girl, valedictorian, Nanyang Technological University, graduated valedictorian,

With a petite figure and wearing glasses, Vietnamese girl Pham Thuy Linh (born in 2003) stepped up to the podium as one of two new valedictorians of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, receiving the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal. This is the school's most prestigious award given to the head of each major last July 2025.

Pham Thuy Linh received the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal and a bachelor's degree in Information and Communication Engineering at the graduation ceremony of Nanyang University, July 2025.

The quiet, persistent and resilient efforts of the petite, intelligent girl have "borne fruit", becoming a gift Linh sent to her parents who flew directly to Singapore to attend their daughter's graduation ceremony.

“I always try my best in my studies. My initial goal was to graduate with honors, but I never thought that one day I would receive this prestigious award,” Linh said.

The Vietnamese female valedictorian received an offer to work as a full-time Software Engineer at a large international bank in Singapore in her third year.

Thuy Linh was born and raised in Thanh Tri commune, Hanoi city. In 2018, since entering Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, the female student had a dream of studying abroad. When she learned that Singapore has two of the world's top universities, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), she decided Singapore was the ideal destination.

In grade 11, Thuy Linh studied Math, Physics and English with content equivalent to A-level to prepare for the entrance exams of NTU and NUS. As a result, the Hanoi girl not only passed the entrance exam but was also invited by both schools to interview for scholarships. Finally, Thuy Linh chose to go to Nanyang Technological University with a full ASEAN scholarship awarded in April 2021.

Thuy Linh still remembers the first face-to-face class at Nanyang Technological University was "Research and Communication in an Interdisciplinary World", a non-major subject but required for all students to practice thinking and skills in an interdisciplinary learning environment.

“That was the first time I spoke directly with the professor and Singaporean classmates. For someone like me who was not confident in communicating in English, the first class with many group activities was really a big challenge,” Linh recalled.

The students spoke very quickly, and with a strange Singaporean accent, it was almost impossible for the Vietnamese female student to participate in any group activities. At the end of the session, Linh was so stressed that she burst into tears, worried that she would not be able to keep up with her friends. However, when she started studying technical subjects, which focused more on math, physics, and logical thinking than communication skills, Linh realized that this was her strength.

Thanks to a year of studying Math and Physics in English, the female student had no difficulty understanding the lessons and doing exercises. When studying the right topics that she loved and was good at, she felt interested and absorbed knowledge naturally.

To prevent English from hindering her, after class Linh actively discussed with foreign friends about many things from lectures to life and culture to gradually get used to Singaporean English and become more confident when communicating.

In her first year, Linh's scores in interdisciplinary subjects were not high, but luckily, many of her strong specialized subjects "carried" the scores for her. To the point, the Vietnamese girl broke through and entered the Dean's List right from her first year.

For four consecutive years, Thuy Linh has been on the Dean's List - an award given to the top 5% of students in the entire course. She was one of 20 students representing the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering to go on a summer exchange at Tsinghua University, China, at the Summer School on Sustainable Innovation in Electronics and Information Technology.

In addition to studying, Thuy Linh participates in the Astronomy Club and the Machine Learning - Data Analysis Club to satisfy her personal passion, and is also a member of the EEE Club - a student representative club of the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, to support students in their studies and careers.

Thuy Linh said that she was especially lucky that she received a full-time job offer in August 2024, right before her final year. Thanks to that, Linh did not have the pressure of doing her graduation project at the same time as finding a job and could focus on studying to get a GPA of 5.0/5.0 for the entire 4th year.

The Vietnamese girl experienced the most stressful period when looking for an internship in the second semester of her third year, submitting more than 100 applications, patiently monitoring the status of each application. Every time she received a rejection letter or no response, Linh felt worried and doubted her own abilities. The female student told herself not to give up, continued to practice coding and prepare for interviews. Thanks to that, Linh received an internship opportunity at her dream company, which was also the place that gave Linh a "job offer" before graduation.

Linh’s graduation thesis was titled “Application of machine learning in predicting government bond yield curves in the Asia- Pacific region”. She focused on researching deep learning models for financial problems and developing a web application, integrating “generative AI” to support analysis and enhance user experience, which was highly appreciated by professors for its technical value.

In June 2025, Thuy Linh happily received the announcement of being awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal.

In July 2025, the Vietnamese girl proudly walked up to the graduation stage to receive her medal and diploma as valedictorian.

Ms. Patricia Wong, Thuy Linh’s thesis advisor, commented that Linh is a very hard-working and dedicated student to her project. “Linh updates her progress every two weeks, and I am often surprised by the amount of high-quality work she completes in such a short period of time. Linh is very proactive and has expanded her research far beyond the original scope of her project,” she shared.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, Linh's mother, said she is very proud of her daughter not only because she won the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal, but also because of her perseverance, determination, and personality that she has nurtured throughout her journey to adulthood.

Thuy Linh with her parents and younger sister at Nanyang Technological University campus.

Last July, the Vietnamese valedictorian started working as a software engineer at a famous company. In the next 3 years, Thuy Linh will continue working in the lion island to fulfill her commitment to the government and develop herself. She hopes to build software products that bring real value to society.

In the long term, Linh hopes to return to Vietnam to contribute, or work at companies that have close ties to Vietnam and international influence.

Le Thu

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/co-gai-ha-noi-tot-nghiep-thu-khoa-nganh-ky-thuat-thong-tin-tai-singapore-ar967994.html