Over 200 Samsung Tech Institutes Help Youth Around the World Reach Their Full Potential
The Samsung Tech Institute was established to cultivate a young and talented workforce and spur job creation by providing IT-related vocational training. With 231 branches and more than 70,000 beneficiaries worldwide as of 2016, 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 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.
