LADYDRAGON.COM - Intel and Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Education

Thursday April 09, 2009

Intel and Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Education

Education Efforts Aligned with Government Strategy to Accelerate ICT

Adoption for Greater National Competitiveness

LadyDragon – Dr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, deputy prime

minister and minister of Education and Training (MOET), Socialist

Republic of Vietnam, and Dr. Craig Barrett, Intel Corporation chairman,

today witnessed the signing of an agreement between Intel Semiconductor

Ltd. Vietnam and the MOET. The agreement is focused on accelerating the

MOET's e-learning initiative. The e-learning initiative aims to

modernize Vietnam's education system by 2011 and to provide

opportunities for the country's teachers and students – especially those

in remote and rural areas.

Under the terms of the agreement, Intel and local technology companies

will make available 1 million affordable PCs during the next 2 years.

The "Education PC" program's objective is to provide all Vietnamese

teachers with a PC with educational software and broadband Internet

connectivity.

The MOET and Intel also announced a contest to encourage 1 million

teachers nationwide to create e-learning content. The goal is to

stimulate the creation of 1 million unique e-learning applications.

Evaluation will be done by a dedicated contest jury board with the

involvement of local education experts. The winner will be announced at

the end of the year.

During the event, Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Barrett expressed a shared vision

of accelerating Vietnam's ICT adoption in key sectors, including

education, as a cornerstone of the country's strategy for sustained

competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. The initiatives they

announced represent the acceleration of an agreement Intel and the MOET

made in 2007 to increase technology access that advances the quality of

education in Vietnam.

"We recognize the value of a technology-enabled learning environment

where education is student-centric, and where learning is collaborative

and connected," stated Dr. Nguyen. "Public-private partnerships, such as

those between the MOET and Intel, have strong potential to unlock a

nation's talent for sustained competitiveness. We believe today's

announcements represent significant cornerstones of Vietnam's future

success through technology-enabled education."

"Education is the foundation of a knowledge-based economy," said Dr.

Barrett. "Nations that invest in education and technology as engines of

growth are better positioned to participate in the global economy. With

trained teachers, local e-learning content, connectivity to the world's

resources, and PCs – Vietnam's youth will have an opportunity to realize

the potential of its ideas."

Intel has long worked with governments globally to improve education,

health care, entrepreneurship and government services by accelerating

accessibility to computers, Internet connectivity and localized Internet

content. In Vietnam, Intel has cooperated with the MOET to increase

Internet-connected PCs and development of rich, localized content and

software applications among local schools, teachers and students. These

efforts include the donation of more than 1,900 PCs; training 43,000

teachers to date under the Intel® Teach program; and an intention to

train an additional 15,000 teachers this year.