Students nowadays talk much about artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, deep tech and technological terminologies. However, there has been no breakthrough in utilizing high technologies to solve daily questions.

This was the major topic for discussion at the Vietnam Young Leaders Forum 2019 organized by the HCM City Young Entrepreneurs Association and Startup Viet which took place some days ago. The event attracted over 700 students from universities all over the country.

Since 2015, Vietnamese students have launched a series of technological startups, while many excellent students have opportunities to work for the world’s large technology groups such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft. However, there has been no breakthrough product created by them.

Students nowadays talk much about artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, deep tech and technological terminologies. However, there has been no breakthrough in utilizing high technologies to solve daily questions.

According to Le Diep Kieu Trang, former director of Facebook Vietnam, many Vietnamese technology engineers can make products for sale all over the globe, many prestigious technology awards have been given to students from the universities in Vietnam in recent years, and the creativity of Vietnamese people is undeniable.

Vietnamese students make technological innovations, but people still face a lot of problems in daily life, such as waste, CO2 emissions, serious air pollution in Hanoi and HCM City, the lack of food and more forest fires. In other words, the technological innovations still cannot solve real problems.

There are many questions that need answers, such as how to cook cleanly and reduce CO2 emissions, but students don’t think about the solutions.

“It is time for students to see and evaluate their technology products in a strict and comprehensive manner, broaden their visions to understand the future better,” she commented.

According to Prof Vu Ngoc Tam from Colorado University at Boulder in the US, the number of students who know exactly what they want to do after graduation is very modest.

Meanwhile, this is the most important step to determine their intellectual limit. Students who want to develop in technology, the field which witnesses changes every day, need to always keep their heads open, and change and broaden their thinking.

A university lecturer in Hanoi noted that while Vietnamese students are very good at science knowledge, Vietnam’s technologies are low. This is attributed to the unreasonable curriculum which focuses on academic knowledge, not on practice.

The lecturer cited the 2019 PISA test results of Vietnamese students, saying that while they can answer questions about academic knowledge, they found it difficult to answer questions about practice and life skills.

Mai Lan 

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