Nineteen outstanding delegates from Australia and Vietnam came together to build people-to-people connections and consider real world problems and solutions as part of the 2017 Australia-Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue (AVYLD). The Education Day for the inaugural event was held at the UTS Business School in Sydney on 16 May 2017.
The four-day Dialogue featured some of Vietnam’s and Australia’s brightest young leaders, representing the arts, finance, technology, not-for-profit, business, education and healthcare industries. Its aim is to build economic, social and cultural prosperity between Australia and Vietnam by connecting the next generation of young leaders.
Chair of the Board of Insearch Limited, Emeritus Professor Ross Milbourne AO presented a keynote address on education and role of innovation in the 21st century and disruption in the markets. He noted that future of education involved a focus on a global curriculum, digital knowledge, employability skills and problem solving.
“Developing greater cultural awareness, a global mindset and international connections are some of the benefits we see when Vietnamese and Australian students learn together. The Dialogue offered this experience to a group of impressive young leaders who can drive innovation between both countries in the future,” said Professor Milbourne.
Ms Thao Nguyen, Co-founder and Board Chair of the AVYLD warned that Australia often focussed on other bilateral relationships at the expense of Vietnam, and that there was an opportunity for closer engagement.
“Australia has traditionally overlooked business and trade opportunities with Vietnam in comparison to its focus on other larger Asian markets,” she said.
Ms Nguyen said that the strength and potential of the bilateral relationship was demonstrated by delegates such as Hoang Dao from Vietnam, who studied at the University of Technology Sydney and is the creator of Monkey Junior, an early childhood reading app, which has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times.
The 2017 Dialogue focused on innovation as an overall theme, exploring areas such as leadership, education, business and national development. UTS Insearch is proud to be a Distinguished Partner of AVYLD.
Supporters of the 2017 Australia Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue
AVYLD is a not-for-profit initiative supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Australia-ASEAN Council. Partners include UTS Insearch, KPMG, Muru-D, EY, Cardno, BlueScope Vietnam, Horwood Partners, Study NSW and the NSW Government Department of Premier and Cabinet.