UEH Global 2023: Opening of the "STEM Teaching" training program for teachers and high school students in Vinh Long Province

21 Mar, 2023

Implementing the social responsibility of a key national university, on March 18, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) cooperated with Vinh Long Department of Education and Training to organize the opening of the "STEM Teaching" training program for teachers and high school students in Vinh Long province in 2023. The program aimed to provide knowledge, skills, and equipment to support the implementation of career and scientific research orientation for students, improve teachers' professionalism, and at the same time, select projects applying robot technology and artificial intelligence that have the potential to develop, connect and incubate at UEH Mekong Startup Incubator.

STEM education is a curriculum based on the idea that equips learners with knowledge and skills related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – in an interdisciplinary approach, and learners can apply them to solve problems in life. The knowledge and skills in the STEM education program must be integrated and complement each other, helping students understand basic knowledge and apply it to practice and create new products in everyday life.

For high school students, the study of STEM subjects also positively affects their ability to choose a career in the future. When learning many types of knowledge in an integrated body, students will actively enjoy learning instead of being afraid or avoiding a certain area. On that basis, it will encourage them to have a better orientation when choosing a major at higher education levels and create certainty for their future career. Students who are taught in the STEM educational approach have outstanding advantages such as solid science, engineering, technology, and math knowledge; creativity, logical thinking; outstanding academic and work performance and the opportunity to develop more comprehensive soft skills while not feeling burdened or overloaded for students.

Over the past years, implementing Directive No. 16/CT-TTg dated May 4, 2017, of the Prime Minister on strengthening the capacity to approach the fourth industrial revolution, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has guided several contents of deploying STEM education and organizing and managing STEM education activities to support high schools in effectively implementing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. However, to successfully organize STEM activities, it is necessary to involve and cooperate with involved institutions such as high schools, vocational training institutions, universities, and businesses.

With the social responsibility of a national key university, accompanying the national education sector, accompanying teachers and students to successfully organize this activity at the high school and junior high school levels, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) has launched the "STEM Teaching" Program under the UEH Global Community Project in 2023. Therefore, on the morning of March 18, 2023, UEH coordinated with the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long province to hold the Opening Ceremony of the “Teaching STEM” training program for teachers and high school students in Vinh Long province in 2023.

Overview of the Opening Ceremony of the Training Program

At the opening ceremony, on the side of UEH - the organizer of the training course- was the presence of Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Khac Quoc Bao - Vice President of UEH; MSc. Ho Thien Quyen - Deputy Director of Vinh Long Campus; Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh - Director of the Institute of Intelligent and Interactive Technology; MSc. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao - Head of General Department of UEH College of Technology and Design, Executive Director of UEH Institute of Innovation; along with the participation of lecturers who are experts and course support staff from the Institute of Innovation, the Institute of Smart and Interactive Technology, the lecturers who are leaders of Schools, Departments, Centers of Vinh Long Campus, correspondents of Vinh Long Newspaper, Vinh Long High School and Vietnam News Agency in Vinh Long.

On the side of the coordinating unit, there was the presence of: Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director of Vinh Long Department of Education and Training; Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phong - Head of Secondary and Continuing Education Department of Vinh Long province; along with teachers who are leaders of units of the Education Department of Vinh Long province, and especially the presence of more than 180 teachers and high school students from 34 school units and the Department of Education in Vinh Long province.

The training program aimed to:

Support secondary school teachers in Vinh Long province in vocational orientation in the fields of technology and innovation, scientific research orientation, and technology transfer;
Improve the professionalism of high school teachers when organizing teaching and STEM activities in high schools in the field of Robots and Artificial Intelligence as well as Technology and Innovation;
Help high school students in Vinh Long province familiarize themselves with Robotic Technology and Artificial Intelligence; support in-depth consultants to help schools participate in robot competitions at all levels to achieve high results;
Select potential projects applying robotic technology to incubate at Mekong Startup Incubator and Support consultation and investment connection, bringing projects to development.

Speaking at the opening of the training course, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Khac Quoc Bao - Vice President of UEH shared: “Implementing the University's Multidisciplinary and Sustainable development strategy, UEH has set the sustainable development of society as a top goal. UEH promotes activities connecting the university with government agencies, scientists, associations, organizations, businesses and the alumni community through the "Community Connection - Spreading Knowledge - Sustainable Actions" program. This program aims to spread knowledge and bring sustainable values into the community, contributing to the development of society.

UEH Global is one of the projects that UEH has been implementing to realize that responsibility. After over 3 years of implementation, the project has undergone 3 phases. The first is to support infrastructure, techniques, and methods so that teachers and students in the Mekong Delta can participate in online teaching and learning on the equipped UEH platform, successfully overcome the pandemic, and maintain training quality. In the second phase, UEH Global provides the teacher community with experiences with methods, and tools to compile lesson plans and e-lectures, actively supporting schools to achieve the goal of digital transformation in education. Through phase 2, UEH has issued more than 2,500 certificates of course completion. Up to now, UEH Global continues to accompany teachers and high school students in the Mekong Delta in entrepreneurship and innovation with the STEM training program. In collaboration with the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long province, the first program has attracted many Physics, Informatics teachers and students in all grades. This is a positive signal and a motivation for UEH Global to continue deploying to all Mekong Delta provinces. Hopefully, after this training, many robotics projects will be selected to be incubated at Mekong Incubator, an incubator hub of UEH Startup Incubator in the Mekong Delta. At the same time, UEH will expand the training program to other provinces in the Mekong Delta.”

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Khac Quoc Bao - Vice President of UEH delivered the opening speech and course orientation

Representing the coordinating organization, MSc. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long province, asserted: "The Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long province has cooperated with the University of Economics of Ho Chi Minh City to deploy the " STEM Teaching" program for teachers and students of secondary schools in Vinh Long province in 2023. The training course aimed to raise awareness for administrators and teachers about the position, role and significance of STEM education in secondary schools; unify the contents, methods and forms of organizing the implementation of STEM education in schools; contribute to the realization of the goals of the General Education Program in 2018; build capacity for administrators and teachers in organizing, managing, building and implementing STEM education.”

Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director of Vinh Long Department of Education and Training gave a speech

Within the framework of the program, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh - Director of the Institute of Intelligent and Interactive Technology, UEH College of Technology and Design gave a brief presentation on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. He emphasized: “The robotics industry and artificial intelligence are two fields developing rapidly in the current digital age. Robotics is a branch of engineering and machine science designed to operate automatically or be controlled remotely.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence involves creating computer programs capable of learning and self-regulating without human intervention. Robotics technology and artificial intelligence applications are diverse, from industrial manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture to transportation, customer service, and entertainment. Thanks to automation and flexibility, robotics and artificial intelligence systems are helping businesses increase productivity, reduce costs, and optimize production processes. The future of robotics technology and artificial intelligence is limitless and has the potential to completely change the way people live and work in the future. With the continuous development of technology, we will see many new and improved applications in this area, and it is necessary to ensure that this development will benefit people and society.”

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh - Director of UEH Institute of Intelligent and Interactive Technology introduced the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence training program at UEH and Vinh Long Campus

On behalf of the trainees, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Loc - Vice Principal of Tan Quoi High School, Vinh Long, remarked: "STEM education in addition to developing competencies and qualities, also creates excitement in the study and innovative learning and thinking for teachers and students. Through the training program, we hope to initially exchange, learn and share knowledge and experiences in organizing STEM teaching while improving our professional skills, gradually bringing STEM education to schools systematically and sustainably. Helping students have the ability to integrate their acquired knowledge into real life, we are very interested in and excited about this program.”

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Loc - Vice Principal of Tan Quoi High School, on behalf of Teachers and Students participating in the training, expressed their feelings

More photos about the program:

1. Overview of the opening ceremony: