UEH organizing “Innovation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship” Seminar within the framework of the Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Learning Network (ALN)

27 Jul, 2022

On the afternoon of July 20, 2022, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) was honored to organize the Workshop “Innovation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship” within the framework of the Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Learning Network (ALN) and welcomed the delegation ALN members from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Switzerland in addition to Vietnamese member schools. The event is an opportunity to exchange and to share knowledge of sustainable economic development in the regions as well as to transfer experience and scientific and technical progress to schools in the same ALN network.

Attending the workshop, on behalf of UEH, there were: Prof. Dr. Su Dinh Thanh - Rector of UEH; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thanh Trang - Vice Rector of UEH Business School (COB), Dean of Faculty of International Business - Marketing; Dr. Hoang Cuu Long - Vice Dean of Faculty of International Business – Marketing along with UEH school lecturers.

On behalf of the Southeast Asian Learning Network (ASEAN Learning Network), there was the attendance of Prof. Dr. Dato’ IR Zainai Bin Mohamed - Chairman of ALN; Dr. Mangadar Situmorang - Vice President of ALN; Mr. Fernando Mulia, S.E., M.Kom - Deputy CEO of ALN and representatives of the network’s member schools. On behalf of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), there was: Dr. Lien Dinh - Head of Southeast Asia Cooperation Department as well as Prof. Dr. Holger Wache - Deputy Head of the Master of Business Information Systems training program.

What is more, the seminar received the presence of Mr. Huynh Cong Thang - Founder and General Director of InnoLab Asia - UEH alumnus; Mr. Tran Duy Hao - Founder of StarGlobal 3D together with the representatives of Swiss Embassy, British Council, businesses creating social impacts, researchers, experts and especially a delegation of international experts and students participating in the Sustainable Startup project economic (SEED 2022).

The overview of the seminar

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Prof. Dr. Su Dinh Thanh - Rector of UEH - shared: “University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City is one of the leading prestigious key public Universities in Vietnam. With the orientation twards becoming a multidisciplinary and sustainable University, we always focus our resources on improving and developing new educational programs, enhancing scientific research capacity in parallel with promoting the development of the system. innovation and knowledge transfer ecology. The current world is facing many challenges, therefore, together with the public and private sectors, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, scientists, engineers and schools must take responsibility in building better and more sustainable lives through the application of knowledge to transform resources into products and services without negatively impacting future generations. Today, UEH is honored to co-organize the ALN Seminar, I do hope that the discussions in the workshop will give all of you the opportunity to exchange useful knowledge related to sustainable development of Vietnam and the world as well as sharing and learning new educational methods from partners to jointly create an international standard learning and research environment.”

Prof. Dr. Sử Đình Thành – Rector of UEH – delivering the opening speech

Being the representative of ALN, Dr. Mangadar Situmorang - Vice President of ALN – stated: “The sharing in the workshop will certainly provide more valuable insights and information on the role of social sustainable innovation in the real context, with economic, social, political and cultural challenges and uncertainties of the world. This will facilitate the planning of individual and collective initiatives from educational institutions listed as UEH and associations listed as ALN to take possible action on plans, programs, projects and activities that have an impact on solving pressing problems and challenges. In particular, UEH can certainly share the services it has committed through more innovative integration of its academic, research and service-learning functions promoting sustainable development in the field. education. Social innovation in structure, systems and strategy, will assist in the creation of meaningful value propositions to help transition from all these uncertainties... to sustainability, not not only for Quality Education (SDG4) but also for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

Dr. Mangadar Situmorang – Vice Director of ALN – giving the speech

The conference program includes sessions:

Session 1: “Social innovation in an uncertain environment” presented by Prof. Dr. Dato’ IR Zainai Bin Mohamed - Chairman of ALN;

Session 2: "A panorama of social innovation and higher education in East Asia" presented by Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Thao, Faculty of International Business - Marketing;
Lively discussion session with lots of interesting information and in-depth knowledge on innovation and sustainable startup development. 3 speakers are Prof. Dr. Holger Wache, Mr. Huynh Cong Thang and Mr. Tran Duy Hao with different perspectives helped the guests understand new knowledge in both theory and practice.

Prof. Dr. Dato' IR Zainai Bin Mohamed - President of ALN - presenting the theme “Social innovation in an uncertain environment”

Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Thao – UEH Faculty of International Business-Marketing - presenting the topic “A panorama of social innovation and higher education in East Asia”

A lively discussion session with 3 speakers, Prof. Dr. Holger Wache, Mr. Huynh Cong Thang and Mr. Tran Duy Hao

The workshop was a great success, providing an opportunity for all ALN partners and experts to present their sustainable development program in order to bring about improvements in resource efficiency and productivity, to exchange useful knowledge with related updates concerning the sustainable development of Vietnam and the world as well as to share and to learn new educational methods.

Delegates and attendees taking souvenir photos

The Southeast Asian Learning Network - ALN was established in February 2009 at the International Conference on Cross-Cultural Management to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB) in Bandung. Founding members comprise: Bandung Institute of Technology, Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, College of San Beda, University of Malaysia Kelantan and Center for Asian Studies. With a mission to develop and implement projects, programs of research, teaching and practice - context-based training in partnership with participating institutions to produce students who are responsible for socially and culturally competent in the development context of Asia. In particular, the project “Startup for Sustainable Economic Development” (SEED) is a socially responsible and student-centered learning initiative that requires students to work together in international and multicultural groups to learn from experiences in the real-life contexts of diverse Southeast Asian regions. Through the process of learning and developing business plans, the program will provide cross-cultural experiences, develop foreign language skills, soft skills and comprehensive learning opportunities for students participating in the program. As the main and annual activity of ALN, SEED participants have the opportunity to develop and implement projects, research programs, and teaching based on real-world contexts in cooperation with participating organizations to training students with social responsibility and international integration ability. In addition, the project creates links between schools in the network, public agencies and local businesses to carry out research projects and support and solve problems of residential communities, traditional craft villages in the region.

Through connecting with the Southeast Asian Learning Network - ALN, UEH has expanded international learning opportunities, access to advanced educational technology, and a global international experience environment for students and lecturers. Besides bringing UEH students to participate in learning, exchange and internships at schools and countries participating in the ALN network, the university also hopes that through this cooperation, international students will come to UEH for their study, exchange and work. Currently, UEH has been implementing scholarship policies for students and international students at Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctoral levels. This has created opportunities for international learners to study, exchange, share experiences, and hone their study skills in a multicultural educational environment at UEH.

Persevering in the goal of training high-quality human resources, integrating and transferring globally, over the years, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City has constantly expanded multilateral cooperation with universities and a network of schools and research institutes around the world in order to open up more opportunities for students to access global quality education. The education internationalization strategy that UEH has been positioning for will increasingly bring students practical values, open up international study opportunities and prepare for a competitive career in the global labor market.

Additional photos at the seminar: