APWINC Provides Digital and Entrepreneurship Education to 280 Female University Students from Four ASEAN Countries
- Views 31
- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2025-07-28
The Asia-Pacific Women’s Information and Communications Center conducted the "Women in Digital & Entrepreneurship (WiDE)" empowerment training program for 280 female students from partner universities in four ASEAN countries.
This training is a core program of the UNESCO UNITWIN project, conducted as part of the Ministry of Education’s Global Education Support Project (ODA). As a UNESCO Chair Institution, the Asia-Pacific Women’s Information and Communications Center has been operating the UNITWIN project since 2016 to empower women in developing countries.
This year, over a three-week period from June to July, students from seven partner universities across four countries—Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, and Cambodia—participated in focused training covering three areas: digital skills, entrepreneurship and leadership, and gender issues. Responding to the need to supplement the existing short-term training, the center revamped the program into a mid- to long-term format by combining pre-recorded lectures with live sessions to enhance the educational impact.
In the digital field, Prof. Choi Jinwon from the Dept. of Mathematics taught basic Python syntax and data processing skills, while in the entrepreneurship field, Prof. Han Junhye from the School of Global Service instructed on entrepreneurship fundamentals based on the Business Model Canvas.
The gender field was designed as a common mandatory course for all participants, focusing on global citizenship and inclusive leadership. Through this, ASEAN participants from diverse cultures and backgrounds improved their awareness of gender equality and were supported to grow into leaders who can lead sustainable communities.
Twenty-three students from our university also participated as mentors, assisting with live lectures, facilitating team discussions, and supporting Q&A sessions. Additionally, participants created personal portfolios based on their team project outcomes, which were supported for use in future employment and entrepreneurial activities.
A representative from Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia praised the WiDE program, saying, “The program was a well-structured curriculum that appropriately combined pre-recorded online lectures, live lectures, and team projects. Students not only learned technical knowledge but also gained confidence and problem-solving skills to apply that knowledge in real situations.”
Dinda Novi Nurjanah, a participant from Indonesia’s Pendidikan University, who majors in English Language and Literature, said, “Although my major is in English literature, the knowledge I gained from the digital education will be useful for my career planning and major studies. I plan to use Python to analyze literary narratives, which I usually study in my major.”
Linda Toulavong, a student at the National University of Laos who completed the entrepreneurship training, shared, “I’ve had many business ideas but never learned how to turn them into concrete plans. This training has been a ray of light for me.”
The Asia-Pacific Women’s Information and Communications Center plans to invite 56 students who achieved outstanding results to the "2025 Sookmyung UNESCO UNITWIN Invitation Training Program," scheduled to be held in Seoul this November. Director Lee Sook-jung stated, “This training is an opportunity for ASEAN women talents to gain confidence and take a leap forward in digital and entrepreneurship fields, and it will serve as a foundation for their future growth as global leaders.”
Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific Women’s Information and Communications Center is leading efforts to promote “gender equality” and “reducing educational disparities,” two of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by operating online training, local education, and gender equality capacity-building workshops for staff in cooperation with ASEAN partner universities.