Education for Future Generations

The company had been helping educate young people all over the world through programs such as Samsung Junior SW Academy, Samsung SW Academy for Youth and Samsung Tech Institute, the last of which has been running since 2013, providing valuable experience for over 110,000 young people in more than 30 countries. Following the successes of these programs, Samsung Tech Institute, which has evolved and grown, is now being newly launched as Samsung Innovation Campus as part of the company’s new corporate citizenship vision.

SIC offers young people the opportunity to enhance their employment prospects and gain a practical education in technologies through both classroom learning and, from 2020, online-based courses that can lead to official certifications.

The skills at the core of SIC curriculum are rooted in technologies which are keys to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud platforms and mobile platforms. Additional programs have also been established to help the participants build their skills in creativity, communication and teamwork for future employment.

Curating Collaborative Experiences

SIC will provide tailored curriculums in different countries and work closely with local schools and NGOs in order to operate these programs effectively and ensure the experiences offered by the courses are uniquely customized for the local participants.

“Samsung Innovation Campus aims to empower a generation of problem solvers by equipping them with future-proof skills and giving them practical understanding of the technologies that will shape their future and enrich sustainable growth of the world,” said Seonghee Kang, SIC program manager at Corporate Citizenship Office, Samsung Electronics.

SIC is set to begin on October 1 in Russia, where previous Samsung programs such as Samsung IT Academy and Samsung IT School have been well-received. The new initiative built on the successes of these curriculums will gradually expand to Vietnam, Spain, Indonesia, Chile, Thailand, and other countries in the near future.

SIC is a part of Samsung Electronics’ new vision for its global citizenship initiative, Enabling People. Launched in February, this vision reflects Samsung’s commitment to helping the future generation fulfill their true potential and work towards a brighter future for themselves and their communities. Since the launch, the company is continuously working to build on and expand the programs it offers to young people all over the world.

For example, programs conducted in developing markets might offer training for customer service engineers, while those in more economically developed countries are designed to support software experts. Young people who have participated in Samsung’s Tech Institutes have not only had better employment opportunities, but are also now contributing to the development of their own regional communities.

Learn more about some of the most recent initiatives of the Samsung Tech Institute that are being carried out in various corners of the world.

Bulgaria: Developing for a Difference

Samsung Bulgaria and the Listen Up Foundation, an organization that works to provide equal access for hearing-impaired people in Bulgaria, teamed up to develop an innovative speech-to-text transformation mobile application. Top students at the Samsung Tech Institute in Bulgaria participated in a mentorship program, which they had the opportunity to work with a team of professional developers.

Since its launch, the app has helped some 8,000 hearing impaired students gain access to once-inaccessible educational resources, demonstrating the impact the Samsung Tech Institute students have made on their community.

Ghana: Empowering Women to Thrive in the Industry

Samsung Ghana, in partnership with the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), launched a program that offers technical vocational training to women in Ghana in an effort to increase the number of the country’s female electronic maintenance technicians.

The Female Engineering Academy, which operates at four vocational training centers across the country, aims to certify 120 female electronic maintenance technicians per year through competency based training. Samsung’s technical experts also provide direct support in line with the curriculum. Trainees have the opportunity to intern at Samsung, and graduates are offered assistance in starting their own business.

Greece: Encouraging Innovation in Education

As Strategic Partner of InnovAthens, Samsung Electronics Hellas has played a very important role in its establishment as a hub of innovation, where young entrepreneurs and creatives can network and exchange ideas with industry veterans to help develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Athens and beyond.

Samsung contributes to this project by delivering a series of training courses including the Mobile Service Lab to help ready youth for employment. A number of participants who have taken part in these initiatives have gone on to secure jobs in related fields.

Additionally, the company, in collaboration with the Athens University of Economics and Business, also organizes the mini MBA program “Innovation and Design Thinking in Mobile Applications and Services” to help foster students’ interests and nurture their skills in the areas of creating new services and promoting entrepreneurship in the mobile sector.

For its contributions, ‘InnovAthens Powered by Samsung’ received the Bravo Market award at the 2017 Bravo Sustainability Awards, and was the only awarded tech institute that received the distinction for the second consecutive year.

India: Educational Opportunity for All    

Earlier this month, Samsung India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) for its Samsung Technical School initiative, renewing its partnership for the existing and new MSME-Samsung Technical Schools currently operated across the country.

Addressing the need for talented manpower with practical know-how and relevant industry experience, these schools have so far trained over 2,000 youth, equipping them with the tools necessary to enter the workforce across different technical trades. Around 70 percent of these students have been employed in related fields, with 45 percent of them landing jobs at Samsung service centers.

Reinforcing its commitment to the government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign, which addresses the nation’s declining child sex ratio (CSR) and related issues of women empowerment, Samsung also announced the MSME-Samsung Technical School Scholarship program. Under this program, 1,000 female trainees and trainees with disabilities who have successfully completed the basic course will be granted a scholarship to cover the costs of the Samsung Advanced Repair and Industrial Skills Enhancement 2 (A.R.I.S.E.2) program.

Indonesia: Spurring Job Creation for a Better Community

The Rumah Belajar Samsung program, launched by the Samsung Tech Institute in Indonesia, aims to help students who have not received or completed formal education. For people aged 17 to 24, the institute offers training on a wide variety of electronics such as home appliances, computers,  and mobile phones as well as an opportunity to work at Samsung’s service centers following the training.

Since opening its doors in 2011, the program has graduated over 2,500 students, with around 600 of them securing jobs at various institutions, including Samsung service centers and a Samsung plant in Cikarang.

For its contributions to the Indonesian community, Samsung Indonesia was honored with the Best CSR Award 2016 and also received a silver prize at the Global CSR Summit and Awards 2017.

As a global corporate citizen, Samsung aims to contribute to the benefit of all, creating shared value on the basis of technology and innovation. By continuing to broaden its educational accessibility improvement programs, Samsung aspires to help each member of the global community reach their full potential and take the lead in creating fundamental solutions to the social issues of today and tomorrow.

The prestigious award was Samsung’s second win of the evening in the ‘Excellence in the Provision of Literacy and Education’ category, following Samsung Southeast Asia’s silver, and represents Samsung’s continued commitment to enriching the communities in which it operates.

Now in their ninth year, the Global CSR Summit and Awards honor outstanding examples of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which include efforts that drive change and contribute to the improvement of communities.

The program that garnered Samsung its award was the Samsung Tech Institute, which provides opportunities for Indonesia’s bright young minds to develop in-demand vocational skills. The initiative helps students secure work, and ultimately aids the country’s efforts to reduce its unemployment rate.

Samsung Tech Institutes actively collaborate with youth centers and vocational schools to provide learning facilities and develop a training curriculum that will arm students with customer service and electronics skills, such as how to fix mobile phones, air conditioners, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines.

Since opening its doors in 2011, the program has graduated over 2,500 students. Around 600 have gone on to secure jobs, including opportunities at Samsung Service Centers and a Samsung plant in Cikarang. The program has also been recognized by Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture as well as its Ministry of Social Affairs for its contributions to efforts to reduce poverty and unemployment.

To date, seven Samsung Tech Institutes have been established in Indonesia – in Cikarang, Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Banjarmasin, Kendal and Madiun – and Samsung plans to launch two additional facilities this year. Over 1,000 students are currently enrolled in the program, continuing their higher education and strengthening their technical skills.

“Samsung sees education as the seeds of innovation, and we are working to create programs that support youth education and vocational training through the use of our technology, services and expertise,” said Lee Kanghyun, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Samsung Electronics Indonesia. “The Global CSR Summit Award 2017 that we have just received is encouragement for us to continue other Samsung corporate citizenship programs that we hope will be beneficial for many people in Indonesia.”

His true calling, however, lay in the machinery and electronics he had a knack for fixing. He was fascinated by how the intricate systems worked, but despite his skills, he lacked access to the type of formal education that would nurture his natural talent and open doors to a world of new and exciting opportunities.

That all changed when the aspiring engineer found the Samsung Tech Institute and made the 2,000-kilometer journey from his remote village to the Suzhou-based campus.

Today, having excelled at the institute and become a full-fledged engineer, the former shepherd works at a Samsung customer service center in bustling Shanghai, where he spends his days utilizing his diverse skills to help customers stay connected. Follow Chen’s dream from inception to realization in the video below, which serves as more proof that sparks of talent may be found in all places.

The Samsung Tech Institute works with universities and governments to create jobs and nurture young, local talent with the formal training necessary to fill them. Since 2013, the institutes have opened doors for nearly 40,000 students in 32 countries.

More than 120,000 people who have hearing impairment live in Bulgaria, and the lack of resources often limits many from having equal access to educational, career and other life opportunities.

Samsung Bulgaria and the “Listen Up” Foundation, the first organization in Bulgaria to specifically support the hearing impaired, teamed up to develop an innovative speech-to-text transformation mobile application.

The tool was initially developed by top students from the Samsung Tech Institute in Bulgaria, who participated in a mentorship program allowing them to work with a team of professional developers.

With exclusive support from Samsung Bulgaria, the mobile application was recognized by the “Listen Up” Foundation and launched in the country to aid 8,000 hearing impaired children and students to gain access to once-inaccessible educational resources.

See directly how Samsung and “Listen Up” Foundation’s new mobile application, a first of its kind in Bulgaria, is changing the learning experience for Bulgarian students with impaired hearing.

“For me, personally, this development brings me back to my childhood when I was sitting in a classroom at school, trying to understand what the teachers were saying. Since then, I dreamt for the day that the future generations of hearing impaired students will be able to overcome these difficulties,” said Ashod Derandonyan, founder and chairman of the “Listen Up” Foundation.

“This transformative speech-to-text service that we have launched with Samsung is that solution that will be able to support hundreds of children receive the education they need.”

Enhancing Life Experiences for impaired hearing

A pilot version of the application will be implemented at Dr. Decho Denev, a specialized school for the hearing impaired in Sofia. In 2017, the service is expected to expand to cover more schools, universities and organizations.

However, education is not the only area the application is expected to influence. The Sofia Municipality is the first government institution in Bulgaria to offer specialized resources for the disabled, in order to allow them to easily communicate with City Hall representatives.

The joint project demonstrates the life-changing capabilities of Samsung’s technology; by teaming up with “Listen Up”, Samsung was able to become a part of a socially impactful campaign to help the hearing impaired people.

Over time, the service will assist the hearing impaired to be able to have equal access to all aspects of daily life, offering them a chance to become an active part of the community.