Samsung’s Citizenship Programs Help Individuals to Unlock Their True Potential
Lack of access to quality education prevents millions of people around the world from escaping the cycle of poverty. In countries where classrooms are crowded, resources are scarce, and higher education and career opportunities are limited, many youth are dissuaded from pursuing their dreams.
Understanding the urgent need for education reform globally, Samsung advocates high-quality, youth-friendly education for all, with an emphasis on eliminating disparities of all kinds.
Working with local governments, members of academia and non-profit organizations around the world, Samsung has established numerous programs that aim to equip the world’s youth with the knowledge and skills they need to advance personally and professionally. Such programs, which have already touched the lives of more than a million people, make full use of Samsung’s technology—a component that holds the power to unlock an individual’s potential to the fullest.
From building IT classrooms in rural communities to engaging students in hands-on STEM learning, Samsung hopes to not only help individuals build great careers, but also to discover future innovations that will allow for a better tomorrow.
Samsung Smart Schools and Samsung Tech Institute are two of the company’s major ongoing citizenship programs that aim to enhance digital learning skills and thus ensure a brighter future for all.
Samsung Smart Schools: Powering Education with Technology
The Samsung Smart School program was designed to bridge the IT accessibility gap between social classes, and foster creative talents by providing interactive education that draws on digital devices. In addition, the curriculum of the program, created especially by Samsung, enhances the educational experience for students aged 6 to 16 by utilizing more effective—and entertaining—teaching methods.
Amelia Smith, a head teacher at Braunstone Frith Primary School in Leicester, notes that her students have been incredibly receptive to the program.
“The Smart School has shown us where we want to be. Samsung has helped us along the path we wanted to go, to enable all children to become independent learners.”
The environment of the Samsung Smart School not only allows students and teachers to better connect and communicate via tech devices, but also provides opportunities for marginalized students to build IT expertise, an essential employability skill.
Promoting Digital Education in All Corners of the Globe
Currently, Samsung is working to expand the initiative so that even more students can benefit from it.
In Germany, specifically, Samsung Electronics GmbH has emphasized the value of IT education and the importance of digital competiveness in today’s workforce. It has captured the attention of both the nation’s government and educational organizations through its implementation of various projects aimed at reforming less developed digital education.
Two of these projects include the Rethinking Digital Education program, which supports digital public education, and the Code Week Award, a training program that encourages Germany’s youth to creatively explore the possibilities of the future.
Samsung Smart School initiatives have also been established in 13 Latin American countries, where great focus has been placed on training teachers and building an effective digital curriculum, as well as throughout Russia.
Perhaps the most notable Samsung Smart School in Russia is located inside the Dmitriy Rogachev Federal Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology.
It is here that long-term patients can access a full curriculum developed by the nation’s most renowned professors, with Samsung’s electronic boards and tablets.
Patients who complete courses at the Samsung Smart School become qualified to take Russia’s Unified State Exam. They also receive the same graduate certificate they would from an ordinary school, meaning that unpredicted health setbacks don’t have to disrupt their studies—or their dreams.
At the Samsung Smart Learning Centers in Thailand, more than 80,000 students have participated and worked to solve social problems with digital devices. These students have also been provided with Samsung Discovery Kits to explore various career options.
Likewise, Korean students participating in Samsung’s Junior Software Academy utilize digital materials that help them to think logically and solve problems in a creative way, thus gaining leadership skills and discovering new passions.
“Before I took part in the Junior Software Academy, I didn’t have any particular dream for the future,” notes Yoo-bin Roh, an elementary school student and participant of the program. “Now, however, I have discovered two treasures: my dream of becoming a programmer and my ability to create great programs that can change the world.”
Samsung Tech Institute: Hands-On Training for Career Development
The Samsung Tech Institute, which currently operates 191 branches worldwide, was established to cultivate a young and talented workforce and spur job creation through hands-on IT job training.
The institutes are operated in conjunction with universities and local governments, and each is customized to meet the specific needs of the country in which it operates.
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 partaken in Samsung’s Tech Institutes have not only have had better employment opportunities, but are also now contributing to the development of their own regional communities.
In 2014, the company founded Samsung Campus, a two-year tech institute in France, to help non-graduates find employment.
Operated by ZUP de CO, an NGO supporting underprivileged youth and EPITECH, a specialized IT educational institute, Samsung Campus provides over 1,600 hours of curriculum, covering areas such as web design and mobile app development. In addition, the program offers coaching sessions and a one-on-one mentoring program with Samsung France employees, imbuing students with confidence and a better understanding of the business environment in which they will evolve.
Already, a large number of program participants have been accepted into long-term internship programs, while others are exploring career opportunities they never thought possible.
“I used to spend all day distributing my resume to different businesses. Now I am contacted regularly about jobs I haven’t even applied for,” notes one program graduate. “The Samsung Campus helped me regain confidence in myself—and my future. My professional outlook has completely changed.”
Securing Jobs, Instilling Confidence
Samsung also operates eight Samsung Tech Institutes in China—a country that has recently seen a growing interest in technology and job training. Like those in France, these institutes aim to foster a young and innovative workforce in order to help resolve youth unemployment and improve awareness about technical jobs.
The facilities offer service skill training to young people in association with the Samsung Electronics (Beijing) Service Company (SBSC). Many individuals who have completed the course currently work at SBSC as service engineers while others, like Ren Kang of Shaanxi Province, hope to pursue their own enterprises.
Kang traveled to Brazil in 2015 to compete in the WorldSkills Competition—a tournament in which China claimed first prize—but felt truly empowered only after attending the Samsung Tech Institute.
“While learning about my current job, I became more confident in what I was doing through feedback from my boss, as well as from customer compliments,” Kang explains. “Now I dream of opening my own product repair center, thanks to the Samsung Tech Institute.”
Through the continuation of programs such as Samsung Smart School and Samsung Tech Institute, the company hopes to continue to open doors to a world of new possibilities for all individuals, regardless of their geographic location, educational background or financial situation.
