The School’s Master’s program has so far built trust with the community as more and more students come from large, multinational businesses, as well as many students holding management and leadership positions or business owner.

The 2023 Graduation & Opening Ceremony of the Master’s program honors the self-exploration efforts of new Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and English Language (MAE); At the same time, it also motivates students who are preparing to embark on a new and ambitious knowledge journey. The ceremony was honored to welcome distinguished guests who were leaders of partner businesses, Board of Directors, leaders of faculties, institutes and centers of Hoa Sen University, and the Board of Lecturers of Entrepreneurship of the Master’s program, and the participation of their families and relatives contributed to warmth and spread pride to the new Masters and new students.

One of the typical faces of new Masters is Mr. Le Huu Hoa Loc, Valedictorian of the English Language major and currently the Legal – Administrative & Human Resources Director of Thien An Education Services & Development Company Limited . The interesting thing is that Master Hoa Loc was also the valedictorian of the Bachelor of International Commercial Law! It was the passion for teaching languages that motivated Master Hoa Loc to be determined to conquer the English Language major at the Master’s level and successfully maintain the title of Valedictorian once again despite starting from the wrong field. The skills and experience accumulated from the Master’s program in English Language along with in-depth legal knowledge and understanding have supported Anh Loc in building and operating his family’s Foreign Language Center.

On behalf of the new Masters, Valedictorian Master Hoa Loc expressed their gratitude to the Board of Directors and teachers, especially the family for always accompanying, supporting and being a great source of motivation for the new Masters to complete their learning journey.

He shared with great emotion: “Two months before graduating with a Bachelor of International Commercial Law, I received a job offer at an English Center in Thu Duc as a legal consultant. During my time working here, the inspiration from the teachers and the learning atmosphere of English classes gradually nurtured in me a passion for English. I realized the limitations of my English skills and started improving through self-study and courses to improve my abilities. 2 years later, I left that center as Deputy Director to begin pursuing my passion for teaching English. I am lucky to have the companionship of my wife – a Bachelor of English Language – to further strengthen my passion. Thanks to that, our Thien An English Center was born, and is now 7 years old.”

With an application and practical orientation, Master’s programs at Hoa Sen University not only help students systematize specialized knowledge but also have many opportunities to exchange experiences, practical rubbing from prestigious experts, big business leaders thematic sessions in the modules, seminars, talk shows. In addition, students also develop business connections and expand career opportunities for themselves through experiential activities of the elite graduate community �?Hoa Sen Graduate and thereby promoting creativity, applying the knowledge learned from the program to work and especially improving self-management and business management skills.

Master Le Huu Hoa Loc also shared sincerely: “During my time holding center management and teaching positions, I realized that my English knowledge and skills still needed an in-depth and quality investment, and that was when I reached out to Hoa Sen University’s Master of English Language course, a well-known research institution in Saigon through research and referrals from my teachers, who are also alumni of the school. And actually, I was not disappointed with the methodical curriculum, constantly updating knowledge and sharing reality from teachers to support students in practical work through subjects I first heard such as Language Center Manager, Computer linguistics, etc. Besides, there are dedicated, highly qualified teaching staff and facilities, a rich library of materials, and close to the research needs of students.”

Hoa Sen University’s Master training programs are increasingly trusted as more and more students register and many business partners choose to be their human resource training facility. With a fair and transparent admission process, recently, the Institute of Graduate Studies & Leadership also welcomed new members to join Hoa Sen University! In the atmosphere of pride and joy spread from the new Masters, the new learners were also inspired to study towards the goal of conquering new knowledge milestones, becoming better versions of themselves.

HSU Business Challenge is a professional competition in the field of business and management organized by students of the HSU Faculty of Economics and Business, and is also a subject project of the Business Administration major. On the afternoon of November 29, the competition officially launched season 2 with 114 contestants divided into 15 groups of contestants.

Launched on the market on Kick-off day

At the competition, groups of contestants need to research the market, develop a plan and implement a real-life business project for any product or service. At the kick-off ceremony, products were held in the form of booths to “launch the market” and “reach potential customers”. The goal of the warm-up round is for contestants to demonstrate product promotion strategies, stimulate buying behavior.

This is also a stepping stone to start business projects of 15 groups (including 7 self-produced groups and 8 commercial business groups). The strength of this year’s competition is enhancing control over product output. Products launched on the market must have clearly proven documents of origin and documents from the Department of Health or food safety.

Some products “launched” by contestant groups include: Perfume, fabric bags, water bottles, fast food, candies, etc. In particular, grasping the market trend, the extremely “trendy” cheese coin cake with young people was put into business by the contestants.

Methodical business strategies

As a contest advisor, Dr. Phan Vo Minh Thang – Dean, HSU Faculty of Economics – Business shared: “The contest is a place for students to absorb and put into practice the knowledge they have learned in class. Students mobilize their own capital, plan, business strategy and sell their own products. When they graduate, they will be confident to be students studying Business Administration of Hoa Sen University, confident with their business projects or start-ups.”

This year, the HSU Business Challenge competition includes 3 rounds, lasting from the end of September to the end of December 2023.

Round 1 – Business idea: In round 1, groups of contestants implement business ideas, build a specific plan to determine market demand, find out the strengths and opportunities of the product, determine expected revenue and costs.

Round 2 – Business results: Projects will mobilize capital and present business results on: Market, production/trade, marketing, human resources, accounting/finance, risk .

Round 3 �?Final: In the Final Round, with the support of the Evaluation Board who are administrators, Representatives of businesses in the fields of business �?management �?marketing �?production �?operation, 5 lucky groups of contestants will present details from the idea �?planning �?results �?business orientation of the project.

This is also an important contest for students to interact with experts, directly “pitching” as if working with business partners. From there, helping students have valuable experiences not only in strategic planning but also in directly working, selling with partners, and convincing investors while they are still students. The total prize is up to more than 50,000,000 VND including cash and extremely attractive gifts.

With the criteria of Real Learning Real Doing and Entrepreneurial Spirit in training, Hoa Sen University always creates conditions for students to implement their own projects, master themselves and take control of their projects and competitions. From there, helping students really do what they have learned, ready to enter into the recruitment market even before graduation.

The heartfelt sharing from director Tran Huu Tan, producer Hoang Quan and author Thao Trang helped students “dig deeper” into the nooks and crannies when producing a film. Especially with Hellbound Village – historical thriller filmed in Sao Ha Village �?Ha Giang with cold weather below 5 degrees Celsius.

How to make the film stick to the original story, folk and spiritual elements on the film naturally and true to Vietnamese culture is not easy. The film must also focus on horror elements, creepy naturally, without coercion. To achieve that, the film crew must build from the context, costumes, character designs… meticulously, the knots, and character developments to ensure logic and horror in both the visual and auditory parts.

Especially, with the special shooting context, the film crew of more than 200 people had to move, almost “live” in the village for many months in cold weather conditions, no electricity, no water, lack of food, sleeping place … ways to ensure safety and daily life for actors, protect production equipment, and the crew have gone through many challenges.

The exchange is a rare opportunity for students to learn from the experiences of filmmakers. Not only learning, it is also an inspiration for students to persevere in pursuing their passion.

As a companion of many activities of students majoring in Media Technology Management and Film at HSU, producer Hoang Quan said: “I am very impressed with Hoa Sen students, who are very active, creative and willing to learn. I think the school organizing talks like this is a way to bridge the gap between the lecture hall and reality, helping students approach filmmaking in a more realistic way.”

Director Tran Huu Tan shared: “Personally, I always appreciate it when the school invites me and the film crew to interact with students. This is a way to help students approach the profession more quickly and authentically.”

Meanwhile, talking about exploiting folk elements, writer Thao Trang shared: “Everything I can write, from the details, character construction, folk elements, horror…. It’s all about learning from teachers and schools, especially universities. Vietnamese cultural foundations, field subjects motivated me to learn about Vietnamese culture and to be honest, our country’s folk culture is not inferior to any other country. Students are now given a lot of conditions to pursue the major they want, so keep persevering and pursuing it.

Especially during the filmmaking process, Truong Minh Chanh – an HSU student worked directly with director Tran Huu Tan. Commenting on HSU student, the director said: “I don’t see Chanh as a personal assistant but as an associate. The filmmaking process has scenes that need editing, I still discuss and listen to feedback from my collaborators. I highly appreciate the working spirit of Chanh and the young people today.”

Recently, at the invitation of the CEO of INTI International University, Dr. Thai Minh Trang – Dean of HSU Faculty of Finance – Banking had a business trip to Malaysia. The visit also included speakers from other countries such as Indonesia, India, Brunei and Iraq.

The business trip aims to expand the cooperative relationship with INTI International University, especially activities such as fieldtrip, student exchange, lecturer exchange and research cooperation. Ms. Minh Trang also participates in events linking other international universities in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, to increase opportunities for students to study and work abroad. Ms. Minh Trang had an interview to introduce Hoa Sen University to international friends before the end of the trip.

INTI International University is the only university in Malaysia with global connections. INTI is part of Laureate Group, USA – the largest educational organization in the world. INTI provides high quality programs, modern teaching methods, and international standard curriculum for more than 55,000 students around the world.

The meeting will be an opportunity to open cooperation between INTI and HSU, increase international learning experiences for HSUers, and affirm that HSU is also a destination for international students, ready to welcome INTI students from Malaysia to enroll.

Sharing on the topic of globalization 4.0, Dr. Eric Hertzler brought many interesting perspectives to students. “𝐆𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝟒.𝟎” helps HSUers better visualize the exciting journey through the stages of globalization, from the simplicity of moving goods to the complex combination of physical and digital worlds. We have reviewed Globalization 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, recognizing the rapid development of technology and its major impact on the economy and society.

The speaker and HSU students discussed the opportunities and challenges in the context of Globalization 4.0. The rise of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and automation opens up promising possibilities, but also raises concerns about information security and the future of workers.

The workshop also emphasized the importance of taking advantage of opportunities and facing challenges of Globalization 4.0 through flexibility and creativity. This requires us to not only embrace new technological trends, but also consider how we can leverage them to build a sustainable and equitable future.

With the orientation of being an international standard university, HSU constantly enhances exchange activities, talks with international experts so that students can access to diverse knowledge sources from many fields, many different countries, and practice foreign language skills through conversations with speakers.

The leadership team includes: Mr. Marc Sternagel – General Director (GM) Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel; Mr. Gideon Packianathan – HR Director of Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel and Mr. David Causer – Business Development Director of Global Educational Concepts.

At the meeting, representatives of Grand Hyatt Hotel shared about the environment and opportunities to work at Grand Hyatt, one of the MOST LUXURIOUS hotels in Nashville in the US.

Especially, after the exchange process, 5 HSU students including: Quach Thanh Dat, Luu Le Minh Man, Ha Hoang Phi, Nguyen Thanh Truc, Nguyen Thi Thao Van participated in a direct interview with the General Director and Human Resources Director of Grand Hyatt Nashville to apply for an internship at the Hotel. Representatives from Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel also highly appreciated the professional capacity, English and attitude of the students, especially the 5 students who participated in the internship interviews.

Commenting after the interview process of HSU students, Mr. Marc Sternagel shared: “I see that the students have been well trained and prepared from the first steps in their careers. I feel very inspired by that, and if possible I will take you all on board to go back to the Grand Hyatt with us.Coming to Grand Hyatt, we don’t need to teach them how to make coffee, they already know it. But we can help them how to handle everyday situations, deal with superiors, manage people…”

Directly interviewed with business leaders from abroad, Ha Hoang Phi – 4th year student majoring in Hotel Management, Hoa Sen Elite program said: “I applied for the First Office position at Grand Hyatt Hotel. At first I was quite nervous, but with what I had learned and having applied at a few big hotels, I performed quite well in my interview. I think this is a great opportunity that the School has created for us to take and work at one of America’s top hotels.”

By interviewing with international leaders and experts, Hoa Sen University has created conditions for students to improve their interview skills, apply with foreign businesses, have internship opportunities and work at leading hotels in the world. At the same time, it affirms once again 2 core values: International standards and Real learning Real practicing at HSU.

The program was attended by business partners, representatives of the HSU Alumni Association, the School Board of Directors and HSU faculty, staff and students. The ceremony is an opportunity for teachers to reunite, meet each other and look back on memorable achievements in the past school year. At the same time, it is an opportunity for students to express their gratitude to those who have guided them.

Speaking at the ceremony, Associate Professor, Dr. Vo Thi Ngoc Thuy shared: “Investing in education is investing in sustainable value, and we are also investing in our own personal sustainable value. If each of us is happy, then Hoa Sen will be happy. Myself and the School Board of Directors are also very happy when we see teachers who are always understanding and loving towards their students every day. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the teachers, brothers and sisters, those standing on the podium and others, regardless of their position in Hoa Lotus, who are contributing to a future generation of the country.”

After nearly a month of voting from the voting council and students, the 2023 Sen Awards honored more than 100 individuals and 5 best groups in 7 categories: Outstanding Lecturer; Outstanding employees; Dedicated academic advisor; Friendly employee; Outstanding Scientific Research Lecturer; Excellent leadership; Outstanding team.

As one of three individuals receiving the title of Outstanding Leader, Dr. Truong Thi Hong Minh – Dean of the Faculty of Hospitality emotionally shared: “I think that every person we meet in life is a teacher, because they all give us different lessons. This award is due to Board of Directors’ empowerment of me, but also because I have an outstanding team, outstanding Associate Dean, outstanding Program Directors, outstanding faculty and outstanding staff.”

HSU Board of Directors also gave extraordinary rewards to 3 lecturers with achievements in the past school year including: MSc. Nguyen Hong An – TOP 10 Vietnamese researchers majoring in Psychology; NCS. MSc Nguyen Minh Thanh – TOP 10 Vietnamese researchers majoring in Psychology; MSc. Do Trong Danh �?Won the Consolation Prize in the Contest to create and promote literary and artistic works of journalism in Ho Chi Minh City.

In addition, Hoa Sen University’s Trade Union also awarded 15 prizes to individuals and collectives who won prizes at the online photo contest “The beauty of the teaching profession”. Congratulations to the teachers and hope this will be the motivation for the lecturers, staff and students of Nha Sen to create a “Thong �?Thuan �?Thuong �?Toan Thang” learning year.

Hoa Sen University would like to express our sincere thanks to our partners for always following and accompanying the school. Hopefully, on the journey ahead, we will continue to receive attention from you.

The competition jury includes: Associate Professor, Dr. Le Minh Hung (Dean of Faculty of Law, University – University of Industry, Ho Chi Minh City), Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam (Director of the Economic Law program at Hoa Sen University), PhD. Nguyen Van Tien (Deputy Head of the Faculty of Civil Law – Ho Chi Minh City University of Law), Lawyer Nguyen Dinh Hai (Dong Nai Province Bar Association), Judge Nguyen Duc Phuoc (Chief Judge of Binh Tan District People’s Court) and MSc. Pham Hai Son (Lecturer, Department of Law – Hong Bang International University).

The contest attracted 6 teams from schools, including: Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, University of Economics and Law, Hoa Sen University and Hong Bang International University. Based on criminal cases that have been publicly adjudicated by competent courts, the competition teams held trials and demonstrations within 75 minutes at the Go Vap District People’s Court courtroom.

Overcoming opponents from other teams, Team “Lawy Fantasty” of HSU won the second prize overall. In addition, Tran Linh Thuc Uyen – HSU student also won the Best Judge award.

The mock trial is an opportunity for those who are passionate about the Law profession to have the opportunity to practice their skills, knowledge and expertise in Law. The contest is also a place for students to experience the vivid and authentic feeling of a trial. Thereby helping them improve their useful knowledge, exchange and learn with students from other schools, supplement themselves with knowledge and skills about Law.

Poster for the movie Hellbound village. (Photo: Hellbound village fanpage)

The Hellbound Village is Vietnam’s first historical horror film and the highest budget horror series ever. The Hellbound Village series is 12 episodes long, made by director Tran Huu Tan and producer Nguyen Hoang Quan. The movie is being broadcast on K+. Even though it has only aired 3 episodes, the film has already impressed viewers with its investment in content and ‘goosebump’ context. Besides, the movie Soul Eater is expected to premiere on December 8, 2023.

Among the members of the film crew, Truong Minh Chanh – HSU student was fortunate to be accompanied as personal assistant to director Tran Huu Tan. With this job, Chanh closely followed the director and crew throughout many months of filming in Ha Giang. With cold weather, some nights reaching -9oC, the filming process for the movie faced many challenges.

Truong Minh Chanh – HSU student in the filming scene in Ha Giang under cold weather, white fog covering the mountains.

To get a realistic and vivid image of the “hell village” in the film, the crew spent a lot of time and effort setting the scene among the craggy mountains in the highlands of Ha Giang.

Minh Chanh shared that the filming process had countless memories, but the most memorable were the final filming sessions: “At that time in Ha Giang, it rained heavily for many days, leading to the filming location at waterfall No. 6 storing too much water.” and poured downstream like a fierce flood. Luckily, the crew finished filming before the flood hit. When filming ended, everyone had to go back to the hotel to return to Saigon, but they couldn’t cross the waterfall because the water was still very fast. The director led the actors and everyone on a circular walk through the forest for more than 3km to get to the main road and board the group’s 16-seat car to go to the hotel.

In addition, the entire film crew had to live in “3 no” conditions: no electricity, no water, and no shelter in the cold weather. The actors and crew members had to live, eat, sleep, and work together under makeshift canvas tents in the cold weather.

Image of Chanh and the film crew at the opening ceremony of the movie Soul Eater in Ha Giang.

Thanks to accompanying throughout the film production process and the guidance of director Tran Huu Tan, Minh Chanh learned how to operate a film crew, specialized terms and techniques used in the industry as well as how a crew leader reconciles when there is a conflict within the group…

Talking about the reason for choosing to study Media Technology Management at HSU, Chanh shared: “I chose to study communication at HSU because I like to create media products in general and want to work with many famous people in the profession. Participating in these projects helps me consolidate and practice what I have learned in school.”

Not only in the process of working, even during the learning process, HSU media students have been able to own film projects through final exams, subject projects… It is the practical experience from the learning process that helps them have all the skills and knowledge to join media companies or film crews right from 3rd and 4th year. Also from those experiences, students are increasingly mature and easily pursue their passion and work.

The photoshoot has just received the consolation prize at the Creative Contest to promote Literature and Journalism works organized by the Propaganda Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Committee.

MSc. Do Trong Danh – Lecturer in Digital Marketing, HSU Faculty of Economics and Business (on the right) received a certificate of encouragement from the competition.

Maket of the photo set One Hundred Years of Cultivating People by MSc. Do Trong Danh.

Talking about the message of the photoshoot, he shared: “Since birth, each of us has dreams and ambitions, and to achieve those dreams, we need to strive hard. Then from the green buds with their own learning and constant care from family, school and society, one day those buds will be shined.”

In addition to teaching Digital Marketing and working with HSU for more than 16 years, Mr. Danh is also a member of Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists (Vapa); Member of Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association (Hopa); Member of Gia Dinh Photographers Club (under Binh Thanh District Cultural Center).

MSc. Do Trong Danh and HSU students.

HSU is always proud of its lecturers who are not only good at their profession but also multi-talented and enthusiastic to students. The photo series is a way for Mr. Danh and HSU lecturers in general to show their pride in the teaching profession, while also spreading the image of Hoa Sen University students to more people.