Many community organization and UEF students get to know each other through Community Connection Day

With the participation of 10 community organizations and a large number of students, the program "Community Connection Day" organized by the Service - Learning Center, University of Economics and Finance, Ho Chi Minh City (UEF) and held on July 25 has become a bonding space between the University and non-profit organizations, and at the same time, created an environment for students to learn about community activities and show a sense of social responsibility of today's youth.
The program took place in an open and energetic atmosphere with 3 main activities: booth exhibition, introduction of community organizations; Summary report of Service - Learning projects at UEF and the Seminar "Circular Economy - Sai-tex International Enterprise"; Connecting workshop "Sharing experiences in applying Service - Learning model to courses".




Connect with and serve the community through the booth exhibition
The program gathered booths from 10 community and non-governmental organizations, including: Center for Disability and Development, LIN Community Development Support Center, Social Enterprises Nhà của thời thơ ấu, Street Children, Project Diều Ngược Gió, Ibsen Small Stage, Truyền Tin Shelter, Vietnamese Bamboo Social Enterprise, Upshift Project, Ruy Băng Tím Organization.
Speaking at the program, M.A. Bui Quang Dong - Head of Student Affairs Department, Director of the UEF Service - Learning Center deeply thanked the organizations that participated in this meaningful event of the University, and hoped for a long-term relationship and good cooperation between the University and the above organizations.

Not only aiming to display and introduce products to students, through activities at the program, the organizations want to contribute to raising awareness and improving the understanding of young people about the social issues, making them feel different lives, respect differences, and empathize more with special situations, as Ms. Tran Thi Hong Dao - Diều Ngược Gió Project shared.



Understand more about circular economy towards sustainable development:
As a part of the program's series of activities, the "Circular Economy" seminar shared by Sai-tex International (based in the US and having factory in Amatar industrial park - Dong Nai) helped students understand more about the concept of "Circular Economy" - one of the development trends of large corporations in recent years.


Circular economy is an economic model in which special emphasis is placed on the management and regeneration of resources in a closed loop so as to eliminate negative impacts on the environment. For example, instead of throwing away old jeans, we can renew them by decorating and reselling them at a reasonable price; or these old jeans can be collected and recycled into completely new materials applied in the field of construction, green agriculture that Sai-tex International is deploying today.

Also at the seminar, UEF students participating in the project "Thành công với lòng thấu cảm" made their summaries of the activities. Accordingly, they have been cultivating skills and raising their awareness of civic responsibility, developing sustainable communities and training themselves to become good citizens in the future.

Applying Service - Learning model to courses at UEF 
Not only focusing on training academic knowledge in the classroom, UEF also encourages students to participate in community projects as well as integrate the Service - Learning model into each specific subject to diversify their knowledge.
Accordingly, UEF has integrated this learning model into 2 subjects: Brand Management (Faculty of Economics) and Web Design (Faculty of Information Technology) and has achieved certain successes.

As a community organization, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Bao Dung – Ibsen Small Stage said: “The community-based learning model brings many practical benefits to students such as: Practicality, instant learning, and gaining experience immediately. At the same time, this can also help to find a common voice of all three sides: Students - Lecturers - Community". 






Let's check out some more highlights from the program: