What Has Lac Hong University Done to Develop the Student Startup Movement?.

In recent years, the unemployment rate among graduates has increased. One of the causes is that students still lack experience and the necessary skills to begin their careers. This reality calls for stronger dissemination of the student startup movement, creating opportunities for students to gain more experience, expand social networks, and develop other skills so that they can confidently and steadily move forward in the future. To support student ideas, LHU has collaborated with many domestic and international organizations to implement scientific research, technology transfer, internship support, career orientation, and entrepreneurship initiatives. Promising startup ideas of students continue to receive support from the University to access organizations and enterprises more closely and to participate in larger startup platforms.

According to PhD Nguyen Van Tan – Dean of FAIE and Member of the Coordinating Council of the Dong Nai Province Innovative Startup Ecosystem: “When students participate, lecturers can provide support by awarding bonus points, exempting course requirements if achievements are attained, or granting special graduation consideration. The University has implemented this policy for five years. Because the ultimate goal of students is to graduate and have employment opportunities. Entrepreneurship provides them with a different mindset – becoming self-reliant. It is no longer a mindset of working for others but of operating their own projects.”

Student Nguyen Thi My Linh – a final-year student of the Economics (Foreign Trade) major shared: “I can acquire a great deal of new knowledge. For example, although I am studying at FAIE, through working with Information Technology students, I can learn many new things. I also feel that I have greater exposure to enterprises and investors. From there, I can more clearly orient my business ideas, career plans, and future goals.”

PhD Nguyen Van Tan – Standing Member of the LHU Startup Unit stated: “The story of entrepreneurship carries a very positive philosophy; it encourages individuals to move in a direction of serving and contributing more to the community and solving community problems. Therefore, it helps students recognize their responsibility toward the community. When students engage in entrepreneurship, the University emphasizes their participation in competitions outside the University. This provides them with a strong network, especially when participating in SV. Startup, where they can meet major investment funds. That is an opportunity for them to access funding sources, seek capital, and achieve greater success in the future. In particular, the support from senior students and benefactors is also an opportunity for them to pass on the values they have gained. This is something students cannot learn in the classroom.”

It can be affirmed that through training and support for student entrepreneurship, the University has achieved significant accomplishments in recent years, most recently securing one Third Prize and one Consolation Prize at SV. Startup 2023. This is a major platform for student entrepreneurs, helping them develop a different mindset while still at university – the mindset of self-reliance.