Mr Roy Kho, Consul-General,Consulate-General,Republic of Singapore in Ho Chi Minh City
Mr Thanh Bui, Founder, Chairman, Embassy Education
Industry Partners, Ladies and Gentlemen
Xin chào. Welcome to the launch of our SUSS-Embassy Education Success Academy in Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City. And in less than a week, we will open two more Academies in China as well. These events certainly mark a momentous new chapter for SUSS and our partners, brimming with potential and opportunities born from the synergy of collaboration, innovation and education. I extend my most heartfelt gratitude to Embassy Education, our steadfast partner and friend in Vietnam, and to the dedicated SUSS Student Success Centre whose efforts have transformed this vision into reality today.
Elevating Learning & Training for Students & Industry
Singapore and Vietnam share many similarities of national priorities and cultural values. We could point to the emphasis on talent development and capability building in both nations. Additionally, both nations are seen as innovation powerhouses, drawing foreign investments and talent that foster our ongoing advancements. The launch of the SUSS Success Academy in Ho Chi Minh City not only reinforces the strong ties between our two nations, but also fits nicely into this mutual emphasis on talent development and innovation.
Centred primarily on student success through hands-on experience, the Academy will expand and elevate student cross-learning and entrepreneurial journeys. It will leverage SUSS’ well-established overseas internships, Impact Startup Challenge, Venture Builder Programme, among other platforms. These programmes will not only benefit SUSS students. We will also invite students from other institutes of higher learning in Singapore to co-learn and co-innovate with our own students, and importantly, those from our host country Vietnam as well.
- To achieve this, first of all, we have and will continue to foster collaborations with notable partners in Vietnam to establish overseas work attachment programmes that advance the professional preparedness of our students while addressing dynamic talent needs of native corporates. To date, we have onboarded our students from our Finance, Human Resources, and Business Analytics programmes on such work attachments, lasting 13 to 29 weeks in Ho Chi Minh City.
- Our signature entrepreneurship programmes, SUSS Impact Startup Challenge and Venture Builder Programme, will also be extended to students in both countries to expose them to real-life opportunities and environment in becoming entrepreneurs who can take their concepts from lab to market. We have kicked off the first of such partnerships with Van Lang University, offering our Impact Startup Challenge as a credit-bearing course for students in a six-day hackathon-like programme. Students were trained in the Lean Startup methodology and given tools to test and calibrate their ideas and pitch them to investors. In July 2024, we will host a fresh Impact Startup Challenge with Van Lang University again on the theme of sustainability for students to create solutions for the good of their cities.
- Next, we will roll out more credit-bearing Industry-Based Study Programmes (IBSP) with our partners in Vietnam for students to learn and receive mentorship directly from practitioners in the industry. Fetch Technology Vietnam and FPT University are some of the partners that we are already working with on this. We have plans to implement a brand new IBSP with FPT University on Data Analytics and Blockchain towards the later part of 2023 to 2024.
Beyond these programmes which focus on students’ experiential learning, the Academy will also leverage SUSS’s expertise in adult and workplace learning. It will also create professional training and development solutions for industry partners, organisations and institutions.
- The Academy will be as a strategic overseas centre to catalyse strong networks and sustainable partnerships for SUSS to work with local industries and institutions to co-design programmes and co-deliver outcomes that address real-world demands.
- We will kickstart this by availing our executive and graduate programmes, such as Graduate Certificates to Graduate Diplomas to Masters programmes, directly to local industry partners. We will also partner with local institutions to customise training programmes to boost their capability and allow them to grow.
- Additionally, the Academy will scan, identify and leverage its partnership network to realise meaningful and insightful overseas study trips and exchanges for students in our graduate programmes.
From Impacting Singapore to the Region
The SUSS brand is characterised by its emphasis on learning for life, experiential engagement with the ASEAN China India (ACI) region, and social good. In the coming days, we will successively open more branches of the SUSS Academy in the region, so that we can extend our impact to more communities, student groups and industry players. We are most honoured by the trust and support extended by our governments, partners and students in carrying out our mission. With this invaluable trust and support, we hope to build an ecosystem for social good that transcends borders.
I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Consul-General Roy Kho for joining us today to witness our new milestone achieved. Our deepest appreciation, once again, to our cherished partners and friends in Vietnam, whose unwavering support has been instrumental in bringing this vision to fruition.
Xin Cảm ơn.