Social Problem Report- BUS1002

The unemployment among

knowledgable graduates
Nguyen Thu Trang - ID
1)

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2) Social problems and Design Thinking
With the rapid development of the contemporary world, design thinking
emerges as a helpful skill set to assist users in understanding and solving problems
from a universal perspective by empathizing and understanding with insiders. The
elemental, peculiar point of using design thinking is not to find solutions as fast as
possible, but to determine the right core reasons why the problems go on, then answer
the question " how might we …" to draw empathic and human-centered
implementations(Oxman 2017).
Different from the conventional means of solving problems, Design thinking
is iterative and circuitous, which means there is no guarantee that the empathic
problem will be solved entirely after just one time using; it may take time; however, a
holistic point of view can generate deep understanding into the problems in multiple
ways; thus innovations and new initiative will show up.
Precisely, the idea of design thinking consists of 5 following clear step :
 Empathize - Experiencing and understanding the problems by simulating a real
context of insider.
 Define - Looking deeper and gathering more information to display why the
problems need to be solved and precisely what people struggle with.
 Ideate - Brainstorm about all the potential implementations from a holistic and
innovative point of view.
 Prototype - Choosing what is the best to use, then demonstrating how to use it on
a small scale
 Test - Observing and gathering feedback to evaluate and finalize the best
solution.
Nowadays, the development of society goes abreast with the emergence of
multiple pitfalls that we struggle with, those issues spread over different areas, and
there is no generally applicable formula to solve all of them completely. The
mentioned pitfalls on a large scale are called social problems that cause a displeasing
and undesirable feeling to society or a particular group of people. Particularly, those
problems have not been solved due to market failure, which means meeting the need
cannot return desired benefits(Egri 2014).
For entities which is willing to solve these problem without being driven by
profit as known as Social Entrepreneurship , Design thinking which gives prominence
to innovation, creativity is a priceless property as they help relieve the time, effort,
and financial burdens and find the genuine solutions which can sustain performance
over time and scale . Moreover, the concept of Design Thinking takes humans as the
core; thus, the stings in our lives will be the center for contemplation(AJ&Smart
2020).

3) Personal Empathy and connection with the Social Problem 

I have a big brother in the family who used to be my best friend when I was a
kid; He is a model student at all levels of education with excellent school script and a
knowledgable mind, which can be considered the guarantee a bright career in the
future. After graduating from high school, he went abroad to study with a valuable
scholarship from the Monash University in Melbourne; during his higher education,
he still performed admirably among the top 50 students in marketing.

Everyone in my family is so proud of him; they think that after he comes back,
no company can reject his perfect curriculum vitae, not to mention the thought that

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the lowest position for him is a senior manager in big corporations. However, the
reality is different; the expectations jeopardized his life; after a few months of
applying to various companies, the highest offer he got was a junior employee in the
department of communication with a monthly salary of around 200 $ a month as the
demand for experience and real-life performance. He would never accept that position
and officially accepted the truth of unemployment.

The heartbreaking reality vastly changed his life, and it jeopardized his mental
health; his mother told me that he was now in treatment for depression. After two
decades of devotion to knowledge, what got left is an uncertain life and long-lasting
desperation.

*The social problem and its impact 

The chosen social problem in this report is the matter of unemployment among
graduates, especially abroad graduates in Vietnam, which rasing an ever-increasing
number of concerns from different stakeholders, including students, parents, job
seekers, and the government.

A university degree is formally considered an affirmation of an optimistic

future; it proves the capability and level of a graduate in front of employers and plays
the role of a shield against poverty. However, the recent statistics show that there are
more than 237,000 graduates who could not find a job in 2017, occupying nearly 5%
of the total number of graduates, while this figure for lower levels of education is
much lower, with around 83,000 people having the degree of associate (VCCorp.vn
2021). 

Significantly, these numbers are still rising since higher education is too
accessible, and the curriculum can be considered outdated, which provides merely no
practical values in the modern era. The problem here is that most promising students
will create no value to society, while the followers, younger generations, and their
parents are losing trust and hope in the University degree, passively retarding the
incentive to learn and the importance of education(Nguyễn 2021). 

I want to create a solution to lower the employment rate among youngsters

and improve the degree's credibility in employers' eyes for the sustainable
development of Vietnam.

*The UN

In relation to The Sustainable Development Goals for Global Goals of the UN,
the mentioned social issue directly link to Goal 8, which is about decent work and
economic growth, which aims to achieve a sustainable growth rate of the economies
and productive fulfilled employment. Also, there is a connection to Goal 4, which is
Quality Education which is expected to ensure practical education to students. The
government has intervened yet to enhance the situation(United Nations 2015).

*Personal strengths 

As an undergraduate of Swinburne University, I deeply understand the

sacrifice and agonies that students have to go through; thus, my personal experience

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can help me empathize with insiders. Also, in the era of multimedia, my capability
can help raise awareness about the problem and urge the authority to take needed
actions and implement improvements to the educational system in Vietnam with my
friends who are about to enter real lives.

3)Exploring Empathy and creation of insight into Point of View

The issue's impacts spread among different stakeholders; first and foremost,
the heaviest consequences lie on the group of undergraduates and graduates as they
cannot ensure the future roadmap for their lives. With the ubiquity of the University
degree, the labor market is getting more and more competitive, rendering a group of
unemployed students who cannot create value to charge their living expenses and
develop their careers for a bright, fulfilled future.
This problem also impacts the next generations and their parents since the degree that
stands for a student's educational value is losing its value; in other words, that means
education is not as practical and helpful as they think. Then, they will stop prioritizing
education and lose the motive to study, directly affecting the sustainable development
of society; it will later deter the growth of economies, threatening the wealth of the
country and its population.
*Personas
Personas are the clear, detailed illustration of the fictional people affected by
the problem. By understanding their lives, we can understand their problems with
more ease and help us empathize with their situations in a pragmatic way(Maier &
Thalmann 2010).
Julian Pham
Like the majority of naive graduates, Julian is an ambitious job seeker; with years of
devotion to study and knowledge, he expected to be a manager in the first year.
However, the reality frustrated him and rendered him unemployed, leaving him in his
illusion. Appendix 1.1 will give detailed information about him.
Ben Tran
He is the model type of parent, giving prime positions to his child's education. With
him, knowledge is power. With the increasing number of concerns about
unemployment after graduating, he was puzzled about his investment in education
while occupying his son with bunches of the extra class. Everything he did was just
for a bright future for his children.
Linda Pham
Linda is a freshman about to enroll in the University she got accepted to recently. As
other students, she expected a lot in this study with the desire for a bright career
eliminating the poverty and hunger in her hometown. However, since she heard about
the issue of unemployment, she had no idea about what to do and how to make the
expectations come true.
Empathy map
The empathy map helps us further understand the analyzed personas as it
simulates how people feel, think, say, hear, do ; thus, we can deeply empathize with
the users and gain more insights into the problem; this stage will create a clear picture
of what the pains are and how painful those are(Trout 2009).

Journey Map

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 Here , the story of Julian is chosen as he is the perfect example about how
expectations kill happiness. With the illustration of the Journey map attached in the
appendix , we will understand, empathize and experience the road to their dream
position of Julian with multiple frustration and depression. Thus, the reasons why this
problem need to be solved will turn out clearly .
Customer profile map

Customer profile map

After carrying out the journey map presenting the pains of Julian, the profile
map will give a clear and concise overview of Julian's expected goals, what can be
done to achieve those goals and how it will be if the goals are not achieved. The
attached picture in the appendix … regard different aspects directly affecting his live
during COVID as an unemployed driver .

4)Problem Statement
By using various sources of information including both primary and secondary
data, the matter of unemployment stands out clearly with severe impacts on the
unemployed's lives . Unemployment does not just mean that they have no income; it
results in a heavy burden on their lives in terms of finance, education, basic needs and
well-being . Moreover , the problem passively affects external users such as the
governing people and parents, as well as, their childrens. With the detailed
development of personas, empathy map, journey map and customer profile map , the
most actual simulation of their lives has been made assisting designer gain deep
insights into the root of the problem and objectively experience their pain.
The concluded problem can be stated as :
“ How might we make education more practical and pragmatic to achieve productive
employment for graduates and sustain the growth of Vietnam ?”

As the statement indicates, the curriculum and syllabus of University students

must be adjusted and updated frequently to satisfy the criteria of companies and
organisations. By this way, the trust in higher education will be enhanced. A certain
road map for graduates can be made ; more employment creates more value to the
country, triggering flourishing and thrive while eliminating social evils and poverty.
Holding the responsibility for numerous unemployed students, the priority is
to reform the national education creating long-lasting value for the following
generations and placing a primer place on education. As the core problem is detected,
the following step will support the designers to think and work innovatively and
holistically to generate an all-rounded solution eliminating the concern for the useless
degrees.

Appendix
1) Personas

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 1.1 Linda Pham

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 1.2 Ben Tran

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 1.3 Julian Pham

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2) Empathy map

3.1 Linda’s empathy map

3.2 Ben’s Empathy map

3.3) Julian’s Empathy map

3)Journey map

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4)Profile map

Reference list

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