SCIA’s signature entrepreneurship programme comprising social enterprise, technopreneurship, edupreneurship and business entrepreneurship has been designed to equip all their students with 21st-century skills. For more information about SCIA’s Entrepreneurship programme, submit your questions here
Education systems across the world are changing to cater to current trends and as a frontrunner in Asia, SCIA is preparing students to be future-ready by integrating core skills such as creative thinking, collaboration, critical thinking, design thinking and cutting edge info-communication technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality and animation into the curriculum. SCIA believes that these skills nurture a spirit of entrepreneurship as it empowers students’ voice and actions, which is a key driver of change in the near future.
Like all of their signature programme, SCIA’s entrepreneurship development programme is no different: it is rooted in both the academic and the practical aspects. Design thinking helps in ideating and developing a process that is useful in problem-solving, but with a human-centric approach. As part of the design thinking framework, the students begin to undergo a first stage of the design thinking process, empathy; a course that is taught from grade 1 to grade 8.
Entrepreneurship Programme in SCIA Primary and High School
Empathy helps in understanding and appreciating human emotions thus, making it an important starting point into the design thinking process. Students are not only taught about the importance but also how to cultivate empathy. In general, this is done through interactive class sessions such as audiovisuals and group work but for the younger grades, such as students in grade 1, SCIA uses storytelling methods to inspire the students. Grade 3 students are introduced to successful entrepreneurs through a session where they are asked to research on selected entrepreneurs which they then present to their classmates.
High school students are taught the knowledge and skills needed to plan and manage an enterprise through case studies conducted and recorded by the students in different fields such as resource assessment, market dynamics, finance management, cost determination, calculation of profit and loss etc. Students are also exposed to business activities performed by entrepreneurs in managing the business.
Students are also introduced to Service Learning, an experiential approach to teaching and learning in which students use academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs. Guided by Design Thinking and directed by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, students identify social problems and ideate different ways these issues can be solved in a sustainable way that meets the needs of the people. Most of all, it gives the students an understanding of how they can make a direct impact on the community.
Entrepreneurship Programme in SCIA Foundation Studies Centre
The Foundation Studies Centre (FSC) is the latest addition to SCIA, which provides students at the end of their Grade 10 (international school students) or Grade 12 (after the completion of the Cambodian National School Examination) education with three foundation studies programmes to prepare them for admission to English-medium undergraduate studies. The subjects and experiential learning covered in International Foundation Programme (IFP), Management Foundation Programme (MFP), and Business Foundation Programme (BFP) are aimed at giving students the skills and base knowledge so that they can be more adaptable to a tertiary study environment.
Business has an influential effect on our daily lives, and FSC has specialised classes to equip students with communication skills, management skills, basic economic knowledge, market research and accounting knowledge. The modules offered by FSC are curated by SCIA school leaders and academic staff to help guide the students.
A module in International Relations (IR) is also offered, teaching students the theories of politics, diplomacy, structure and policies. This becomes relevant to entrepreneurship as it teaches students about bilateral relations and also how business can impact regional and international markets.
Cultivating the Spirit of Entrepreneurship
SCIA will be hosting its 3rd Teen Entrepreneur Challenge (TEC) in March and April 2019. TEC is a competition where youths form groups and present their business ideas aimed at solving real-life matters. For the 3rd challenge, participating teams will undergo a 2-day design thinking workshop conducted by SCIA on 16 and 23 March, as well as a visit to Sunrise Japan Hospital to gather insights and create a marketing strategy for the hospital. The teams will then create their prototype on 30 March. At the finals on 6 April, they will present their strategies and prototype in front of a live audience and a panel of industry experts.
In line with the theme of Entrepreneurship, SCIA will host the 2nd SCIA Inspires Series forum with the topic, “Entrepreneurship and the Roadmap to Success”. The SCIA Inspires Series is part of the school’s efforts to contribute to the thought leadership in areas of Entrepreneurship, Leadership and STEM, SCIA’s three signature programmes. In “Entrepreneurship and the Roadmap to Success”, SCIA has invited business leaders and entrepreneurs to share their life journey and tips on staying ahead of the curve in today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertainty, complex and ambiguity) environment. Speakers include Bun Park (Founder of Camazoon & Phzar.com), Edison La Ty (Founder of La Pops Gelato) and Anselm Chu (Managing Director & School Director of SCIA).
Entrepreneurship is key to transforming economies and moving societies forward. It is also the driving force of change to create jobs, generate national wealth and raise living standards.
“Cambodia has one of the youngest working populations in the world. Hence, investing in the youth is paramount in moving the country’s economy forward. Many of these youths are also very entrepreneurial; with some who aspire to be self-employed and others who are already running their own businesses or are groomed to take over their family businesses. Therefore, providing a synergistic ecosystem to nurture and harness the entrepreneurship spirit in our students is critical in preparing them to be future-ready. Whatever their aspirations, entrepreneurship studies will benefit students from all social and economic backgrounds as they develop unique skills to take calculative risks, think out of the box, learn to spot trends and opportunities.”
Ng Bee Sun, Principal, Foundation Studies Centre
