SEEDING STRATEGY IN PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Do Ngoc Hien, Tran Quoc Cong, Nguyen Dinh KhoaHochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam National University

AbstractPromotion to education unit is an essential requirement in any university. Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE) Department, Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Hochiminh City University of Technology, has been recognized its brand name and reputation in society. However, it has not been as popular as it should be. Therefore, this research presents a seeding strategy to promote the ISE Department. It would bring good results in terms of enhancing entrance exam sector and improving number of graduate students. Based on this research, the seeding strategy could be considered as the application to other education units.

Keywords: Seeding strategy, Promotion, Industrial Systems Engineering.

1. INTRODUCTIONSeeding strategy is becoming more and more common in many countries including Vietnam. A considerable number of traditional or new seeding strategies which were applied by operations, companies… were amazingly successful. They drew their customers’ attention to their products, and developed their brands simultaneously.Besides the common seeding strategies in producing, a few service companies are starting to get used to it. However, there are few studies about seeding strategy in education with limited resources, considering its effectiveness to the major attraction and lacking of particular guides to do it. Promotion to education unit is an essential requirement of University of Technology in general and Industrial Systems Engineering in particular. The seeding strategy in promotion of Industrial Systems Engineering is a promising project which is proved in the result of the Entrance Exam. It is also an example for other faculties for their promotion to Education.At the beginning, Seeding strategies will be presented. The results of these strategies will be analyzed to get their individual characteristics. On this basis, the main strategy will be defined. Conclusion and recommendation are in the final.

2. METHODOLOGYThere are many ways to do in seeding strategy, so before launching it, we need specify the goals and our available resources to get the most efficient strategy. Improving the entrance exam results in many aspects such as: getting more applications, higher entrance exam mark requiring, decreasing the number of quitting students, recommending graduate engineers to their friends and their relatives in ISE is what ISE department expect

from the seeding strategy. The available resources are students and teaching staff in ISE deparment. On the above basis, many discussions with brain-storming method, as well as the chosen strategies are presented below.2.1 Career consultationRecommending ISE to the university entrance examinees, and attracting outstanding students, career consultation are conducted annually. Expectations from this event are increasing more and more applications to ISE every year.There are 3 parts in career consultation which are shown below:

- Having a friendly talk at high schools, especially at specialized upper secondary schools;

- Supporting the university of Technology in consulting;

- Seeding online.

- Having a friendly talk at upper secondary schoolsA small group of 5 or 7 people would come back their upper secondary school to have a talk about the university of Technology and ISE department. These talks took around 45 minutes.The list of preparations for the conversation:

1. Letters of recommendation from university

2. Specific plans3. Posters, flyers, brochures4. Video clips

The first 15 minutes of the talk, counsellors introduced themselves, such as: their university, their major, school experiences,… Besides, they provided students with the information which was related to the proceedings, ologies... Counsellors should stress the role of Hochiminh City University of Technology as a leading university in Vietnam

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in training a highly qualified human resource in the field of Industrial Systems Engineering. The next 15 minutes was the time to talk about what need to be repaired for the university entrance examination. The video clip introducing ISE department would be showed in the last 15 minutes. Meanwhile, counsellors explained specifically and answered the questions related to their major. Finally, flyers and brochures would be sent to students.

- Supporting the university in consultingCareer consultation is an annually event which is organized before the university entrance examination in order to provide information about universities for examinees. Taking part in these events is a part of seeding strategy in promotion of ISE which shows the image of ISE to not only examinees but also operations, companies, employers.In the event, ISE’s students and professors’ creative projects, models will be displayed on a counter which had been prepared by ISE department. Furthermore, the counter is for not only showing models, but also helping our guests to join the event by giving them posters, brochures, guiding them to ISE department.

- Online seedingInternet is an efficient tool which makes many seeding strategies successful. Using internet for commercials, advertisements saving lots of resources such as time, finance, and labor. Besides, using internet shows the profession which leaves a deep impression on our guests.In order to serve our examinees quickly and efficiently, our website, and facebook page were built. In addition, many funny, interesting video clips about ISE were uploaded to Youtube.On our facebook page, we have received 186 questions, and comments about ISE in 5 months before the university entrance examination; this is an important factor.

2.2 Initiation CeremonyThe Initiation Ceremony is organized at the beginning of the academic year in order to welcome freshmen who well passed the univeristy entrance examination and become members of ISE family. Furthermore the event is also a chance for freshmen to know more about ISE. What we expect from Initiation Ceremony is to decrease the number of quitting students during their education process.

Initiation ceremony gives us a chance to spread our images to operations.The Initiation ceremony last about 2 hours in the University’s Yard. There, students will meet professors of ISE deparment and their seniors. Their head teacher, who is in charge of their class until their graduation, will have a presentation about ISE, about their missions. After that they can directly ask their seniors about learning, jobs… or their experiences. Students with high marks in the entrance exam and class monitors will be encouragingly awarded by their seniors. The event enhances the link of the solidarity between students. Expectations from the Initiation ceremony are: 90% of the freshmen know more clearly about ISE and a decrease the number of quitting students.

2.3 The anniversary of ISEAnniversary of ISE which is one of the seeding strategies in promotion of ISE is organized annually to memorialize the day our ISE department was founded. The purpose of holding the event is to ignite the love of every student to our ISE. This is a good chance for members of ISE to meet each other and share their experiences. Besides, the anniversary also enhance the solidarity between students and spreads out a mature image of ISE to operations in the South of Vietnam.

2.4 Graduation ceremonyGraduation ceremony is an event where excellent graduated students and their achievements are honored. On that day, they will have a memorable moment which will enhance their love to ISE. The graduate, they are the factors who show our ISE abilities to our country, our society. Moreover, the event will strengthen the solidarity between students of different years, and will encourage the freshmen and show our image to the recruiters.

2.5 The other seeding strategiesBesides the strategies above, other seeding strategies such as “scientific research and technology transfer”, conference organizing… From the “scientific research and technology transfer”, operations and employers will know clearly about our abilities and necessities to their companies; and graduate engineers can be directly ordered from ISE deparment. This is a great chance for students who take part in these projects to apply the knowledge from what they have learnt into the

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real situations and find their motivations to study harder.Organizing Conferences about ISE is a way to introduce ourselves to operations, universities not only inside but also outside our countries, having chance to show our achievements and to attract experts from all over the world.

3. RESULT ANALYSISTo valuate and measure the efficiency of seeding strategy in promotion of Industrial Systems Engineering, the input data (the number of enrollees, standard scores), the ouput data (the number of graduate students, salaries, promotions,…) and the effects of strategies on students’ perception will be collected and analysed. According to the statistical data from 2010 to 2013, the output quality of Industrial Systems Engineering, Falcuty of Mechanical Engineering, Hochiminh city University of Technology, has improved considerably through Career consultation activities. This period witnessed a sharp increase in the number of enrollees, competition rate and ISE landmarks, which were shown as table 1 and figure 1 below.

Table 1. Statistical data between 2009 and 2013

Year 2009 2010 2011 2012201

3The number of enrollees 56 127 172 186 250Competition rate 0.7 1.59 2.15 2.33 3.13

Figure 1. ISE standard scores from 2001 to 2012

It seemed to be very good when the seeding trategy was applied. The number of students who chose ISE department climbed from 56 to 250 between 2009 and 2013. It’s expected to reach the number of 300 in 2014. Besides, there was a stable rise in ISE landmarks. Although ISE landmark in HCM

city Univesity of Technology was lightly less than the one in International University in 2012, we expect to lead again in this field in 2013.In addition, the strategy also aims to raise the number of graduate students, because the proportion of graduate students was too low by the past few year. The results are anticipated.

YearThe number of students

The number of graduated students

Proportion

1997 27 23 85%1998 39 38 97%1999 40 32 80%2000 59 50 85%2001 68 60 88%2002 81 61 75%2003 84 74 88%2004 88 68 77%2005 98 66 67%2006 61 - -2007 76 - -2008 42 - -2009 82 - -2010 78 - -2011 84 - -2012 90 - -

Table 2. Statistical data of graduate rate of ISE department

Figure 2. Statistical data of graduate rate of ISE department

The other result of this seeding strategy is the effect on students’ perception, attitudes, and behaviors. As a research on ISE freshmen through the questionnaire, some informations was collected and analysed. The results were shown as in figure 3. The figure showed that more than 90% of freshmen have known clearly about ISE department.

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Figure 3. Effect of seeding strategy on freshman

Last but not least, the strategy attracted many graduate students to applying and continuing their studying path at ISE. Now we are able to keep the

number of graduate students at 15 every year and we expect it can reach over 20 students per year from 2014. In addition, many operations asked us to cooperate with them and the cooperation has been quite smooth and promising so far.

4. CONCLUSIONSeeding strategy in promotion of Industrial Systems Engineering first brought some really good results. In condition to resource allowances, all activities which were presented above still are organized simultaneously. However, if resources are limited, the departments should focus on Careers Consultation because this strategy affects significantly and directly promotion of the organization. Finally, it is advisable to look for the financial support and the strategy maintenance.

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XÂY DỰNG CHIẾN LƯỢC GIEO HẠT QUẢNG BÁ NGÀNH KỸ THUẬT HỆ THỐNG CÔNG NGHIỆP

Đỗ Ngọc Hiền, Trần Quốc Công, Nguyễn Đình KhoaBộ môn Kỹ thuật Hệ thống Công nghiệp, Khoa Cơ khí,

Trường ĐH Bách Khoa, Đại học Quốc Gia TpHCM.

Tóm tắtNâng cao sức hút ngành là nhu cầu thiết thực của các ngành nghề đào tạo của hầu hết các trường đại học. Ngành Kỹ thuật Hệ thống Công nghiệp, khoa Cơ Khí, trường Bách Khoa, Đại học Quốc gia TpHCM dần khẳng định được thương hiệu, uy tín của mình trong xã hội nhưng hình ảnh chưa được phổ biến rộng rãi tương xứng. Đề tài nghiên cứu chiến lược gieo hạt nhằm Nâng cao sức hút ngành như một trường hợp điển cứu mà trước hết là hứa hẹn nâng cao kết quả tuyển sinh đầu vào của ngành qua các kỳ tuyển sinh. Trên kết quả này, kế hoạch phát triển chiến lược gieo hạt cho các ngành nghề đào tạo khác trong lĩnh vực giáo dục có thể nghiên cứu áp dụng. Từ khóa: Chiến lược gieo hạt, Quảng bá ngành nghề, Kỹ thuật Hệ thống Công nghiệp.

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