Samsung’s Youth Education Activities Go On Amidst a Pandemic
In 2019, Samsung Electronics announced a new CSR vision – Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People. The company’s long-standing commitment to make a difference in the world has since focused on providing education for future generations; empowering children and young people to achieve their full potential and become global citizens capable of driving positive social change.
Along with the expansion of its youth education programs to an increasing number of nations worldwide, Samsung has been launching initiatives, including a range of Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) programs, dedicated to nurturing young talent around the world – even in the face of a global pandemic.
Introducing Samsung Innovation Campus Saudi Arabia
This year, Samsung launched its latest Samsung Innovation Campus initiative in Saudi Arabia, a program dedicated to supporting and nurturing young Saudi talent. The program, which this year has a particular focus on Internet of Things (IoT) and AI, aims to help young people find long-term success by equipping them with advanced and professional skills.
The Campus was launched in collaboration with Misk Academy, a non-profit founded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a vision in line with Samsung’s focus on helping young people thrive. “The SIC program aligns perfectly with Misk Academy’s mission to accelerate learners’ careers with industry-relevant skills that are in high demand in the Saudi job market,” said Dr. Bandar Al-Hejin, Director of Programs at Misk Academy.
Even amidst the closure of in-person schooling brought on by the pandemic, the program still offers its students 240 hours of comprehensive and practical eLearning lectures, exercises and a capstone project over 12 weeks.
Evolving Youth Education Programs to Bridge Educational Divides
In line with the company’s mission of empowering and equipping future generations with the skills and resources they need, Samsung has not just been launching online programs but has also been shifting existing programs from in-person to online to ensure that students’ education can prosper.
In 2019, Samsung successfully launched its Samsung Innovation Campus in Turkey in partnership with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Turkey, the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV) and Istanbul Technical University. The Samsung Innovation Campus in Turkey was launched in order to equip young Turks with critical technical skills and bridge educational divides to enhance the employment opportunities of all students, an objective that the initiative continues to pursue even as classes moved online in 2020. From February to June this year, the program held a course titled ‘Internet of Things’ that saw an application rate of 175 applications per available place, and while the course was not conducted in-person, experts from the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals program and Samsung Electronics employees were still able to mentor, motivate and keep students on track through distance learning tools.
“SIC offered me the opportunity to create my own project out of my own software, hardware and ideas,” affirmed Ebrar Omer, a student of the Samsung Innovation Campus in Turkey’s program. “The experience really refreshed my self-confidence and strengthened my belief that I can actually achieve something.” Fellow student Naime Akgun expressed her appreciation for the program’s focus on IoT; “As my software knowledge grew at SIC, so did my interest in the field. I firmly believe that, in the future, we can develop effective solutions to the world’s problems using IoT.”
Elsewhere around the world, 2020 saw the expansion of the Samsung Innovation Campus in Thailand’s program. Established in 2019, the initiative was launched to bridge educational divides in order to equip young Thai individuals with basic coding, programming and technology-oriented skills. This year’s expanded iteration of the program, which took place online over a total of 75 dedicated learning hours, involved the inclusion of new modules to help equip the students with even more skills. The new ‘Understanding of Technology’ module helped introduce the importance of technological skills within the modern job market, while the ‘Innovator’s Toolbox’ module helped showcase to students how they could put their new-found skills into practice.
“SIC makes me confident in being able to prepare myself for the many new innovations the future will bring,” affirmed Chanudom Tassanawitoonkrit, one of the Samsung Innovation Campus in Thailand’s 2020 program graduates whose dream is to become a computer engineer. Fellow student Kittisak Suedee found the program’s comprehensive introduction to technology-oriented skills most useful; “SIC has provided me with new knowledge and experiences of coding and programming, something I have never studied before.”
Adopting New Modes of Education to Keep Young People Motivated
In South Korea, the Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY)’s 4th program had its entrance ceremony, which celebrates the beginning of its trainees’ journey towards becoming leading software experts, take place online this July. Samsung DreamClass, a program that has been supporting South Korean middle-school students with their after-school learning since 2012, also began the first of their online classes to support students week-round.
In order to ensure educational continuity and safeguard the dreams and aspirations of young people everywhere, Samsung has been and will continue working towards providing young individuals with the resources and skills they need, even during the heavily-disrupted learning circumstances of late.
Samsung believes that young people have the power to navigate the world through the crises it currently faces using their own creative potential, and will continue to empower young people around the world to pioneer positive social change and build a better world for all.
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