Sustainable Network Workshop

Wed, 15/07/2020 - 13:45

Like so many others, V2WORK has had to adapt to the new limitations of working in a Covid-19 world. With travel restrictions in place both within Vietnam and globally, a workshop planned for March was postponed to May, and then again to July, until finally the consortium devised a contingency plan to implement it, taking into consideration the present situation. With internal travel in Vietnam once again possible, a blended format was selected, with the Vietnamese partners all gathered in Danang to facilitate discussions and joint working sessions, and the European partners joining in online for several hours each day.

From June 30^th to July 3^rd, the V2WORK project held a Sustainable Network Workshop hosted by the University of Danang, with participation of the EU partners through the online videoconferencing platform Livestorm. The objective of the workshop was to establish a collaborative environment in which the V2WORK partners can work together to define and create a network that will support future collaboration between Vietnamese universities regarding student and graduate employability and entrepreneurship. In order to adapt to the time difference between Vietnam and Europe, the workshop was structured so has to have online sessions in the afternoons (in Vietnam), and group working sessions in the mornings between the Vietnamese partners.

The workshop was designed in such a way as to facilitate the sharing of useful tools and examples of networks (during online sessions), followed by corresponding working sessions, in order to address various aspects of the creation of a network and provide signposts to follow for the creation of a new network of Vietnamese HEIs. Points addressed included:

Introduction and added value of networks
Examples of networks resulting from other EU-funded CBHE projects
Examples of national and regional university networks to foster cooperation on employment and entrepreneurship in Europe
Networks in Vietnam
Business model generation
Governance structures, management and documentation
Financing models
Cooperation with industry and the labour market
Communication and marketing
Sustainability

The workshop was very successful, resulting in a clearly defined network of Vietnamese universities dedicated to supporting career services in their efforts to promote students’ and graduates’ employability and entrepreneurship, the Vietnam Employability and Entrepreneurship Support Network or VEES-Net, and a roadmap to guide its creation and launch in October.