High school students of Asia Youth Leaders 2019 experienced at Vietnam National University of Agriculture

In the afternoon of August 20th, 2019, the International Cooperation Office and VNUA’s volunteer students welcomed 120 high school students from Asian countries coming to learn about food science and agricultural production and experience some practical examples at VNUA. This activity was within the framework of the Asia Youth Leaders 2019 (AYL 2019) program held in Hanoi from August 17th to August 24th with the participation of more than 100 high school students from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Japan, Thailand, China, and Vietnam. AYL 2019 was organized and sponsored by AEON 1% Club Foundation, a body of of AEON Group, Japan. The theme of AYL 2019 was “Proposals to healthy dietary habit for youth in Asia”.

High school students listen to the introduction of VNUA.

Selected by AEON 1% Club Foundation, VNUA was one of the experience destinations for AYL 2019’s students to expand their knowledge on Vietnam’s agricultural sector. After listening to the general introduction of VNUA, the students were divided into four groups and visited some food production and processing centers of VNUA, including the Centre for Mushroom and Medicinal Mushroom Production, the Institute of Research and Development of Microalgae, Institute of Agro-Biology and Research Center for Tropical Bees and Beekeeping. At these centers, students learned about some agricultural production processes which apply high technology such as producing non-disease potato tuber seeds using aeroponics technology at the Institute of Agro-Biology. The students also had more in-depth understanding of agricultural production and food technology in Vietnam through Q&A sections with the lecturers and staff at each center and institute.

The students visit the Research Center for Tropical Bees and Beekeeping.

The students visit the Institute of Research and Development of Microalgae.

The students visit the Centre for Mushroom and Medicinal Mushroom Production.

Also in the framework of AYL 2019, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Lan Huong – Vice Dean of the Faculty of Food Science and Technology was invited to present on “Food, Eating habits and their linkage with health: Situation and challenges in Vietnam" and was a judge to evaluate the discussion results of 10 student groups.

This visit to VNUA has been a valuable experience for the high school students participating in AYL 2019. The students had an opportunity to gain practical knowledge about agricultural production in Vietnam in general and experience new production technologies applied at VNUA in particular.