National Conference on Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship

National Conference on Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship

The National Conference on Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship took place at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Ho Chi Minh City on October 30^th and 31^st, 2019. It was sponsored by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ project V2WORK, and by Vinacacao Vietnam, Vietnam Consulting Group and Saigon Asset.

The objective of this national conference was to stimulate dialogue and debate at the national level in Vietnam on the current situation of employment of university graduates, as well as on the entrepreneurship ecosystem present in Vietnam for young entrepreneurs. This was done through the discussion of the results of forums held in 8 different provinces in Vietnam over the summer of 2019, panels which brought together employers and graduates to discuss expectations vs reality in the transition from higher education to the labour market, the sharing of experiences of successful young Vietnamese entrepreneurs and various keynote speeches to the topics at hand.

The national conference also included the final phase of the V2WORK Enterprising Ideas Competition – Be Green!, sponsored by Vinacacao, that brought together students from around the country to share the ideas they had for a green enterprise. These students were the winners of similar competitions organized by the career centres in their universities, as part of the V2WORK Network’s efforts to inspire Vietnam’s youth. The V2WORK Enterprising Ideas Competition (or EIC) targeted the first stage of the entrepreneurial process, ideas generation, and aimed to increase the confidence and creativity of the participants, inspiring them to think and act entrepreneurially. The competition was designed to build up the entrepreneurial skills of participants, providing them with real life experience in development and implementation of innovation concepts with limited resources and based on market viability. All conference participants were highly encouraged to engage with these future young entrepreneurs during a specially dedicated networking session, to share in their energy and inspiration, and provide them with any feedback that could be helpful for their own development. Participants were also invited to vote on their favourite project to help select the winner of the popular “People’s Choice Award”.

The National Conference Agenda is available to download below.