The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Tra Vinh University is working hard to promote an entrepreneurial spirit and innovation among students. The center helps students gain confidence in their career path through a comprehensive support model and achieve sustainable development.
Inspiring entrepreneurship
Established in 2016, the former Center for Youth Entrepreneurship Support has evolved into the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It serves as a bridge, connecting student entrepreneurial ideas and projects to relevant units, authorities and the business community. The center has led many successful projects, including mango leather, pineapple honey water, a dual-mode sensor faucet, and a nano-biotechnology project for agricultural product preservation. It has also helped over 130 ideas achieve impressive results in national and international startup competitions.
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Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, the leader of the mango leather project team, which won third prize at the 2023 National Creative Startup Ideas Competition, shares: “To achieve this success, our project team received a lot of support from entrepreneurship and innovation experts, especially the faculty from the center. They provided guidance and advice and imparted the necessary knowledge and skills to help us refine our project. The center also created opportunities for students to participate in training courses and short-term programs, which allowed our team to improve the startup model, build a network of investors, and connect with potential customers.”
In the initial stage, the center plays a role in inspiring and providing information to students through events, specialized talks, workshops, and connecting them with foreign experts and successful alumni entrepreneurs. To date, the center has organized over 10 events, 14 tea discussions, 8 forums, and 43 workshops, including 7 international workshops with experts from Canada, the US, and the Southeast Asian Incubator Alliance, as well as 3 regional workshops in the Mekong Delta region, attracting more than 12,350 student participants.
In addition to scientific research activities, Tra Vinh University also organizes annual startup competitions to promote an innovative spirit and unlock students’ potential, leading to the participation of viable ideas/projects in national and international competitions.
Tra Vinh University also has a Student Cooperative (HTX Sinh viên TVU) entrepreneurship model, offering services such as a general store, a phone store, a ride-hailing service, a delivery service, and a bakery. After 6 years of operation, this model has proven effective in fostering creativity and a sense of responsibility among students. It also helps students to apply the skills they have learned in school, connect and bring research results from the laboratory to products that meet consumer preferences.
Emphasis on in-depth training and mentoring
The center is actively developing a team of expert faculty to provide advisory services and training in entrepreneurial knowledge and skills for students, focusing on cultivating an ownership mindset. The university has organized 80 entrepreneurship training classes with domestic and international experts, conducted TOT (Training of Trainers) for over 380 staff and faculty, and offered entrepreneurship courses for more than 500 students. It has also trained over 350 enterprises and cooperatives in the province to provide practical content and solutions for startup projects and businesses.
Notably, the university has incorporated entrepreneurship courses into the core curriculum of many academic programs.
In addition, regular 1-on-1 mentoring programs are organized, allowing young startups to learn from successful entrepreneurs and industry experts. This creates a network of mentors, including business leaders, startup experts, and faculty, connected with student mentees, recent graduates, and young entrepreneurs.
Nguyen Van Vu An, Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Tra Vinh University, states that the mentoring program is the foundation for building an engaged advisory community, improving and driving the entrepreneurial ecosystem within the university, leading to the formation of a Young Entrepreneurs Club to support mentoring activities and other specialized programs.
Furthermore, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Tra Vinh University has compiled and published 11 reference books, introducing entrepreneurial knowledge and skills as official teaching materials for all students. In 2022, the Vietnam Records Organization (VietKings) recognized Tra Vinh University and Nguyen Van Vu An as record holders – the university for “the most number of books on entrepreneurial knowledge and skills published for use in entrepreneurship education programs at colleges and universities,” and Nguyen Van Vu An for “authoring the most books on entrepreneurial knowledge and skills published for use in entrepreneurship education programs at colleges and universities.”
The university has also developed and implemented programs to enhance capabilities and transform ideas into viable startup projects, such as the online business platform “Sales Pro – OSP,” idea incubation, a startup academy, and online courses on “Building a Personal Brand on Social Media” and “Strategies for Closing Sales,” attracting thousands of student and business participants.
By TD
ĐL-MN