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More than 50 students from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore Polytechnic have finished a program to improve craft villages in southern Vietnam.

The 2015 Learning Express program, which began on October 4, focused on finding solutions to support and develop local communities and craft villages that make lacquerware and ceramics in Binh Duong Province.

The solutions created by participating students were displayed at an exhibition at the Vietnamese university in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City on October 15.

According to the organizers, Learning Express was designed to help students exercise their thinking ability, research skills, and apply new learnings through the Design Thinking method which includes 4 steps: sense and sensibility, empathy, ideation, and prototype.

Beginning at step 1, students observed the daily activities of local people, and through group interviews learnt more about the people and culture there.

Then, students were directly involved in the implementation of some stages of the actual works, and performed in-depth interviews, putting themselves in the position of local people to gain greater understanding.

In step 3, the program’s participants applied their knowledge learned at school, alongside their creative thinking abilities to propose solutions that were specific, feasible and cost-effective.

In the final step, after reaching an optimum solution, the students designed models and demonstrated solutions to local people so that they could easily see the benefit of the project in a way that was intuitive, vivid, highly reliable and highly persuasive.

Initiated by Singapore Polytechnic in 2011, Learning Express aims at educating and preparing students for international integration, especially in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

According to the organizers, Learning Express is a multinational, multicultural and multidisciplinary program that aims to solve a specific problem in a particular locality through innovative ideas and the application of knowledge gained at school.

Students participating in the program have the opportunity to develop academic and real-world skills, and contribute significantly to the sustainable development of local communities.

Annually, Singapore Polytechnic’s students will be taken to ASEAN countries to immerse and practically apply what they have learned to a specific project in a local community.

A student learns to make lacquerware. Photo: By courtesy of the organizers

2015 Learning Express students interview a local artisan. Photo: By courtesy of the organizers

2015 Learning Express students discuss solutions for developing craft villages in Vietnam. Photo: By courtesy of the organizers

2015 Learning Express students are seen making models to demonstrate their solutions. Photo: By courtesy of the organizers