Yujin Lim, the director of Asia Pacific Women’s Information Center (APWINC), visited joint universities in Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, and Cambodia from July to August as a part of 2019 Sookmyung UNESCO-UNITWIN: ICT as well as women’s empowerment through leadership program with great success.

For the past two months, a training team comprised of ten Sookmyung Women’s University professors and lecturers along with 50 student assistants visited Sookmyung Women’s University UNITWIN network partners: Quy Nhon University, National University of Laos, Souphanouvong University, Universitas Gahjah Mada and Royal University of Phnom Penh. They provided ICT techniques and female leadership training which targeted 400 women’s university students for five days per university.

The ICT Programme involved an IoT project launching and programming session, using Arduino and mobile application development. The leadership training included lectures on five topics: Female Leadership and Vision, Self-esteem, Creativity, Communication, and Time Management as well as a special lecture given by local female leaders and a cultural exchange program led by Sookmyung Women’s University students.

Students had a meaningful time listening to the special lectures by local female leaders as a part of the leadership training. Active female leaders in various parts of society, Mme. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh (the President of the Commerce and Industry Committee and Female Entrepreneurship Meeting of Vietnam), H.E. Khanthaly Siriphongphanh (the Vice-Minister of Education and Athletics of Laos), Dr. Unifah Rosyidi (the President of the National Teachers Association of Indonesia), and H.E. Veasna Bunchhith (the Secretary-General of National Commission for Women of Cambodia) shared their wisdom and experiences, and encouraged the students with warm advice, which were met with great empathy that aroused their sympathy.

Those 47 participants who received a Certificate of Excellence in the program will be invited to Korea during December to attend the ICT and Leadership training workshop and also in the international competitive exhibition.

Yujin Lim, the director of Asia Pacific Women’s Information Center (APWINC), said that ICT(Information and Communication Technology) skills and leadership is the required skill sets to be built for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. The director explained that this 2019 UNESCO-UNITWIN Programme has not only been planned in a theoretical aspect but also as an active curriculum involving direct participation from the students. Furthermore, Director Lim went on revealing that they will continue to supplement and expand the program in order to enhance the participating students’ individual strengths.

The UNESCO-UNITWIN program is an UNESCO project that aims for long-term growth in institutions through the sharing of information and exchange of research between the world＇s higher education institutions. Sookmyung UNITWIN Programme is an international development cooperation business that has been carried out since 2016 within the support of the Ministry of Education with a focus on nurturing female leaders and developing info-communication education under the theme of ‘Empowerment of Women’s Competency by ICT and Leadership Education’.

Sookmyung Asia Pacific Women’s Information Center was established in November, 1996 for the development of information and culture and enhancement of digital economic capacity for the women in the Asia-Pacific region in 1996. On 1998 the institution was designated as UNESCO Chair agency for women in the communication technology field. Moreover, it is doing its part as a professional research institution leading the global era by carrying out diverse projects such as doing a study on gender and ICT and cultural content industry, developing contents, international academic conferences, education training and building a global network with domestic and international governments, international organizations, and NGOs.