Thursday 6th Jan 2005
CALDERDALE COLLEGE STUDENTS WIN TOP MATHS AWARDS

Three international students studying A-levels at Calderdale College have won top awards in a prestigious national maths competition, the UK Senior Mathematical Challenge.

Eighteen-year-old Sali Liu from China was awarded a gold prize which puts her in the top six per cent in the UK. Last year she received a bronze. Dong Wang, also 18 and from China, gained a silver and sixteen-year-old Cuong Do from Vietnam, received a bronze. Cuong is Calderdale College’s first Vietnamese student following a marketing campaign in Vietnam earlier this year.

“There were 70,000 entries from across the UK and Sali, Dong and Cuong were competing with students from well known public schools such as Eton and Manchester Grammar who will have received special coaching”, said Joy Morris, Maths lecturer at Calderdale College. “They are very, very talented”.

Calderdale College currently has 52 international students from 22 countries who are placed with host families.

Sali, who comes from near Peking, is in her third year at the college and is studying Chemistry, Biology and Maths A-levels. She plans to follow up with a degree in Biochemistry at Imperial College, London.

Dong, from outside Beijing, is studying Chemistry, Information and Communication Technology and Maths A-levels as well as Physics AS. He is in his second year at Calderdale College after a year spent studying English in Leeds and plans to go on to study for a degree in Computer Science at Warwick University. He said, “English is regarded as the most important language for us to learn and British education is renowned as the best in the world”.