Vol.

06 | Issue 04 | 2022
www.theknowledgereview.com

Most
Valuable
Schools
to Watch in
Vietnam,
2022

Stuying and Learning

Importance of Internship and
Part-time Job During Schooling
Work Hard-Study Hard
Inclusion of Games in Formal Education
for Holistic Development of Students

Facilitating Holistic Learning while empowering students for Tomorrow!

 Study Local
to Go Global!
TT here is an interesting story of
science, art, learning and
unlearning. Although through
educational means, they all seem to be
entangled with each other to the core,
Keeping study or education as a
catalyst in the equation of problem and
solution, the people of Vietnam Starting from scratch and collaborating
but in a context of problem and with some of the most prominent
prioritised education as their tool to
solution, one thread joins all the schools in the country, The Knowledge
drive change.
threads to its centre. Review Magazine, in its venture to find
In the growing swing of globalisation the 'Most Valuable Schools to Watch
That thread being submerged in the in Vietnam, 2022', went out and
and digitalisation, the education system
global atmosphere still remains local. crossed paths with some of the most
in Vietnam not only started to shift
Explaining this entire process in a prominent schools in Vietnam.
gears but also made a state by
single line and simple words, Ellen J
introducing international education for
Kullman says, "Science is global, but This edition covers those schools that
its students.
the solution is local." made a name for themselves.
International education is the local
Recognising this equation of problem Get immersed in the expressive and
solution to some of the global
and solution, the tide has turned again inspirational stories of such schools.
problems in the world's changing
in favour of localities. However, the Look at the articles curated by the in-
scenario in multiple domains, sectors
education facilities provided house editorial team of The Knowledge
and industries. As the schools began to
worldwide differ in their pedagogies, Review and have an insightful read!
start their venture to drive change by
subjects and educational practices.
imbibing international education in
them, few schools gained the position
of being some of the most valuable
schools in the country.
 Editor’s Note

h K hadse
Ashles
Ashlesh Khadse
ashlesh.khadse@insightssuccess.com
 08
Cover Story
Renaissance
International School
Saigon
Facilitating Holistic
Learning while empowering
students for Tomorrow!

26 Articles
American
University
20 32
in Vietnam Stuying Work
and Learning Hard-Study
The Epitome of
Quality and Liberal
Importance of I
Hard
Education in
nternship and Inclusion of Games
Vietnam
Part-time Job in Formal Education
During Schooling for Holistic
Development of
Students
 Contents

24
Leadership
Explained
Who is a
Leader?
 Most

Schools to

Watch
in

2022

Name of the Institution URL Brief

FPT Education offers a wide range of programs

FPT School, Đà Nẵng from primary education to postgraduate study. Its
danang12-school.fpt.edu.vn MISSION is to provide global competitiveness to
Campus (ala- ja yläkoulu)
massive learners, contributing to the intellectual
development of the country.

Green Shoots educates a community of

Green Shoots children from two to 16 years old and will
greenshoots.edu.vn
International School soon launch a high school programme for
children up to 18 years old.

Renaissance International Renaissance is a medium sized family school with

School Saigon renaissance.edu.vn a close-knit community, experienced fully qualied
teachers and great academic results.

The American University in Vietnam (AUV) is a four-

The American University year degree granting university providing liberal
in Vietnam AUV auv.edu.vn
arts education and majors to quality-conscious
students.

St. Nicholas School offers a full American academic

The St. Nicholas curriculum for both Vietnamese and International
students. Partnering with University of Missouri, Florida
School in Danang, sns.edu.vn/en Virtual School (FLVS), after successfully completing the
Vietnam academic programs at St. Nicholas School, your child will
receive a fully accredited high school diploma.
 PeopleBehind
Editor-in-Chief Pooja Bansal
This Edition
Senior Editor Anish Miller
JUNE, 2022
Managing Editor Ashlesh Khadse sales@theknowledgereview.com
Assisting Editor Madhu Guleria

Visualiser David King

Art & Design Head Rahul Shinde

Co-designer Paul Belin Business Development Manager Phill Miller

Marketing Manager Mary D’souza

Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Mark Clain
SME-SMO Executives Atul, Gemson
Research Analyst Eric Smith
Circulation Manager Tanaji Fartade
Business Development Executives Helen Jones,
John Mathew
Technical Head Jacob Smile
Assistant Technical Head Prachi mokashi
Technical Consultants Amar, David, Robert

Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege

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 Facilitating Holistic Learning while
empowering students for Tomorrow!

“
At Renaissance, we are
innovative and constantly
changing while never losing
sight of our core beliefs. This is a
school which knows who it is,
where it is going and why.”
A ' ct Local, Think Global' has
been an unofficial motto of
many institutions across the
world. May it be educational or not,
the concept of globalization has taught
us that the actions taken on the ground
can bring effective change in the world.
Today, the world around us is changing
at a very high speed. From
technological advancements to the
ever-evolving quality of lifestyle,
change is seemingly the only constant
concept we have witnessed.
The younger generation that will be
tomorrow's future needs to learn to
adapt, mould themselves to change and
excel in order to be the leaders of this
global village. With the ideology of
'Act Local, Think Global,' the concept
of international schools was created.
With globalization, the idea of
international schools was embedded in
the education system worldwide,
aiming to bring everyone around the
world together. With the vision of
bringing the world together and
preparing future generations for the
upcoming challenging life,
Renaissance International School
Saigon was established.
Spearheading the educational
objectives while transitioning the
school to its new heights is the Head
of School, Mr. James Coulson, and
his team of two senior members: Head
of Secondary, Ms. Sarah Campbell,
and the Head of Early Years and
Primary Division, Ms. Jennifer
Longmuir.
In an endeavour to search for the most
valuable schools in Vietnam, The
Knowledge Review crossed paths with
this innovative educational institute. In
an interactive conversation with the
Heads of the schools, we learned how
this school trains, prepares, and guides
students towards the future.
Let's slide into the inspiring journey of
Renaissance International School
Saigon!
Building Academic Excellence
Academics have been the bedrock of
every educational institution.
Academics is the structured process
whereby a student learns important
subjects encapsulating all the basics of
learning—loosely translating to
experiencing the art of learning.
Inculcating this idea of learning in the
minds of budding citizens of tomorrow
through the structured frame, the Head
of the School says, "Its original
inception was based around the
concept of building a school of
academic excellence which also put
equal emphasis on the whole child.
Renaissance was always conceived as
a medium-sized school because it did
not want to become a large one. Here,
we believe that no child should be
invisible. There are no cracks to slip
through, no way of passing by without

“
We are "glocal":
global and local.
Everyone here
knows that they do
not belong only to a
city or a country;
they also belong to
the world.
being seen and known and listened to.
In massive schools (as I previously
experienced as a Head), people get
lost. They can disappear into the
crowd: their problems unnoticed, their
pleas for help unheard. Here at
Renaissance, that simply does not
happen."
The ideas and the inception story have
defined the school's journey and it has
placed itself as a vital part of its
community. Explaining the school's
service to the community, the Head of
Most Valuable Schools to Watch in Vietnam 2022
school says, "Renaissance is a place
with extremely high expectations of all
our community: of our parents,
guardians and families; of our staff
and leadership; and, of course, of our
beloved students. We want the best for
everybody, whatever their individual
best may be. Unfulfilled potential is
one of the saddest things to witness,
and here, it is not permitted."
The Three Support Pillars of
Renaissance International School
Saigon
Unlike other schools where the
responsibility is shared with the
positions assigned, Renaissance
International School has three support
pillars that have shaped the school into
what it is today.
Ms. Jennifer Longmuir, Head of Eary
Years and Primary Divison
Ms. Jennifer Longmuir, commonly
referred by the students as Jenn, has
been associated with Renaissance for
seven years. After years of
demonstrating her vast knowledge of
contemporary Education, absolute
passion for young people, coupled with
her outstanding personal qualities of
warmth, creativity, dynamism,
optimism, and an unshakeable sense of
humour, everyone who has ever known
Jenn agrees that she is a genuine force
of nature! Jenn is a deep-thinker and
has an inquisitive, striving, innovative
nature. But she is also very much a
doer who makes things happen and
keenly understands the difference
between a dream and a plan and what it
takes to convert the former into the
latter.
Ms. Sarah Campbell, Head of
Secondary Division
Ms. Sarah Campbell comes all the way
from the United Kingdom. After
teaching for several years in Thailand,
she joined Renaissance. Being an
experienced teacher with roots in an IT
background, she brings creativity and
strong ideas to the leadership team and
has been instrumental in Renaissance's
adoption of the MYP as its future
programme for the middle years
section of the school.
Mr. James Coulson, Head of School
Being an international student from
Spain, Mr. James Coulson has lived
abroad for almost a quarter of a
century. He started his career as an
English professor in Greece and then
moved to the Czech Republic, Spain,
Chile, and Argentina before joining
Renaissance in Vietnam. He is also a
proud father of two Renaissance
students, and his other eldest daughter
is an IB DP graduate.
Talking about James' leadership skills,
the school management says, "James
believes passionately in the
transformative power of a truly
international education and subscribes
completely to Renaissance's model of a
family-focused, familiar, personalized
learning space where no child is
invisible."
"Are we pushing them hard
enough?"
"Academic results matter enormously
at Renaissance. This is a top level
school with IBDP results consistently
well-above world averages and our
families demand that their children
gain access to some of the most
prestigious universities and colleges in
the world. We want every child to fulfil
their potential and our expectations
regarding effort, commitment and work
ethic of each one of our students is
second-to-none. Renaissance is a
demanding school to belong to; there
are no easy rides here."

"Are we pushing them too hard?"

"However, at Renaissance, we also
understand something else: all of this
learning, studying, working has to be
for something more than just grades. If
we produce a generation of students
who score 45 in the IB Diploma,
achieve places at Ivy League
universities, and get great jobs; but
who are burnt-out, jaded, and
unhappy. In that case, we will have

failed. Failed the most important
people to us: our students. Here,
happiness matters. Well-being matters.
Health in all its forms matters. These
are not just words; they are reflected in
our daily actions."
Balancing out the answers derived
from the previous question, 'Are we
pushing them too hard?' is another
question the management takes before
acting on the decision. These two
questions have become sort of an
unsaid philosophy of the school before
taking any decision. The school has
developed these two sides with a desire
for academic excellence and the
determination to develop happy and
well-balanced youth.
On a Visionary Mission: Be Happy,
Belong and Be Excellent
Renaissance with the changing needs
of the world and modern Education has
encapsulated a new vision for the
school to Be Happy, Belong and Be
Excellent.
Ÿ Be Happy: Health—physical,
social, emotional—is imperative.
The school works tirelessly so that
the student comes to school happily
in the morning and goes home
happy every afternoon. 'Happy
people learn better!'
Ÿ Belong: The sense of belonging is
embedded in the school's culture.
At Renaissance, students are taught
to be a part of something bigger
than themselves.
Ÿ Be Excellent: Recognize and fulfill
one's true potential and push them
towards excellence.
Maintaining Global Quality
Education Standards
Special care is taken to maintain good
quality educational standards at the
school. Recognizing the main purpose
of Education, the school develops
“
students to be excellent in academics
and prepares them for life.
Taking about the educational standard
maintained at the school, the Head of
the school, Mr. James Coulson, says,
"Education is designed to prepare Well-being
young people for life, for the world,
and in order to do this, schools must matters. Health
mirror the world around them. This
implies dexterity, openness, and
in all its forms
flexibility as we seek to keep up with an matters. These
increasingly changeable world.
Schools have to have a strong identity are not just
and know who they are, but we cannot words; they are
remain tied to the past or held back by
our own traditions. We must be brave reflected in our
and open to experimentation, to trying
to do new things in new ways, to the daily actions.
beautiful act of failure. Failure is not
the opposite of success; on the
contrary, it is a vital ingredient of it. At
Renaissance, we are innovative and
constantly changing while never losing
sight of our core beliefs. This is a
school which knows who it is, where it
is going and why."
Initiatives to Maintain Global
Education Standards
To maintain the quality of Education as
per the international standard, the
school takes great effort to find quality
staff and faculty. Many of the school's
international faculty have at least a
Master's degree. Moreover, nearly all
the faculty are from a native English-
speaking community. Talking about the
maintenance of quality education at the
school, Mr. James Coulson notes, "In
spite of being a largely non-selective
school, Renaissance consistently
scores well-above IB World Averages
in the IB Diploma and at Cambridge
IGCSE examinations. We pride
ourselves on the excellence of our
teaching across the board, and many of
our faculty stay with us for many
years."
E mphasizing the learning
pedagogies of the school, the
Head of the School adds:
"Learning can be very hard work. It
should be challenging, and it should
Square school in the whole of Vietnam.
Round Square is part of our
institutional DNA, and we embrace its
ideals of Leadership,
Environmentalism, Democracy,
content just to produce good doctors,
good lawyers, good engineers, good
artists; here, we also produce good
people!" added Mr. James Coulson.

take students out of their comfort zones Adventure, Leadership & Service. Its
Inculcating 4Cs of 21st Century -
to where they can truly grow strong focus on student voice & agency
Collaboration, Communication,
academically and personally. To and its values-driven development of
Creativity, and Critical Thinking
support this type of modern learning, young people informs everything we do
Renaissance already has the here at Renaissance. We are not The school has the vision to prepare
International Baccalaureate (IB)
Diploma Programme and is currently
in the process of applying for
accreditation in both the Primary
Years Programme (PYP) and the
Middle Years Programme (MYP),
which, together will make us a full-IB
Continuum World School. The IB is
recognized in international educational
circles and among top-ranked
international universities as the gold-
standard educational programme in
the world today, and we are proud as a
community to embrace it as a central
part of our culture."

"Another central part of our culture is

our membership of the prestigious
international educational body, Round
Square: Renaissance is the only Round
students for the 21st century. Talking
about the 4Cs of 21st century learning
skills, Mr. James Coulson says: "We
have clear that we are not preparing
our children for the world which we
came from; that world no longer exists.
Like many current parents, I come from
a far-away planet where there was no
internet, no mobile phone technology,
no google translate or Spotify or Grab
or Amazon or Netflix or Twitter or
Facebook or so many other things that
for our children are just part of their
world and always have been. We are
preparing them for the world of
the 21st century, and amidst so much
uncertainty and while accepting the
impossibility of seeing the future, we
still believe that we can predict several
key things: our children are not going
to spend nearly as much time
memorizing the same amount of things
as we did; just being able to reproduce
information passively and uncritically
– as we were expected to in the 1970s
and 1980s in the UK – is no longer
very useful in the modern world. Now,
children need 21st Century learning
Skills: Collaboration;
Communication; Creativity; Critical
Thinking: the 4 Cs."
Embedding the Sense of Belonging Following this philosophy of Mahatma
Belonging is one of the core values on Gandhi and being a prominent
which the school's inception is based. international school in Vietnam,
Emphasizing and sharing how the Renaissance International School
school embeds these core values in Saigon is on a mission to build a global
students, Mr. James Coulson says, "No community. Initiating the starting point
one is invisible at Renaissance. This is from themselves, the school has chosen
a school in which we all look out for to be a 'Glocal' school.
each other: families, faculty, staff,
and—of course—our amazing students.
Explaining the global influence on
During the long, dark months of Covid
Vietnamese culture and envisioning the
and the attendant lockdown, we
possible future of the school, Mr.
managed to keep our own spirits up by
James Coulson says, "We are 'glocal':
constantly checking in on one another,
global and local. Everyone here knows
remaining fiercely optimistic, focusing
that they do not belong only to a city or
on the positives—and there were
a country; they also belong to the
many—and celebrating the small
world. But conversely, we are proud to
improvements and green shoots of
live and belong to the rich, vibrant,
progress as we inched our way through
and admirable culture as that of
the long tunnel towards the light. By
Vietnam. Its rich culture is ever-present
acting as a community—sharing,
in the daily life and calendar of our
giving, helping, listening—we were
school as we delight in celebrating
able to weather this tremendous storm,
Moon Festival, Tet, and so many other
pass this most demanding of tests and
wonderful events throughout the year.
come out the other end closer, stronger
Its wonderful food, literature, music,
and better. Even during the darkest
architecture, and fascinating history
hours, Renaissance always managed to
permeate a child's learning here.
be a happy place. That is because we
Culture is part of who we are, part of
believe in this school, we believe in one
what makes us, part of what decides
another, and we believe in ourselves."
our future and here, we embrace the
host country which we love and respect
Building a Glocal Community so much."
"Be the change you wish to see in the
world."
- Mahatma Gandhi
 Testimonials

“
Renaissance is a special place. On a personal note, I was first
attracted to Renaissance as a parent. The school unified all the attributes
which I was searching for as a proud father of three children: student-centred;
family-oriented; large enough to have fantastic facilities but small enough for
no child to be invisible; a place of very high standards, a strong belief in
excellence in all things and a keen desire to push ourselves and one another
to fulfill our potential – whatever that potential may be; but also a human and
humane place where children feel safe and noticed and loved and where
families feel they have a voice and that doors are always opened to them. A
school is a stool with three legs: staff, family, and students. All three legs must
work together, communicate, support one another, and understand their
own inter-dependence. If not, the stool falls over.

“
- Parent

I believe in Renaissance. It inspires me to hear my children talking at

dinner time about how they did a Sports & Health lesson learning about the
concept of resistance by spending half an hour in our swimming pool with our
teachers; or how the concept of supply & demand that they just discussed in
Economics has made them understand certain things about the absence or
presence of Covid vaccinations; or talking about the podcast they have just
recorded for the school magazine, Talk Town. They return home inspired and
excited by what they have spent their day doing in class. They are also tired! But
it is a good kind of tired, the right kind of tired.

- Parent
 Stuying and Learning

JUNE 2022 | 20 | www.theknowledgereview.com

Importance
of Internship
and Part-time
Job During
Schooling

JUNE 2022 | 21 | www.theknowledgereview.com

RR emember that time while
watching high school dramas,
when protagonists would
work part-time, and you'd think you
want to be that? Yes, that moment that
just flashed across your eyes; what if
you are told it is important? Why?
Apart from being a cool TV trend,
doing a part-time job or an internship
along with college could offer much to
learn on a personal and professional
level. Bonus: some extra cash flow in
the pocket. This additional support
helps in creating more opportunities
and opening the gate to the employee
market.
Here are the perks of having a part-
time job or an internship:
Experience on Hands
Learning from schools and the
application of knowledge are two
varying concepts. What might seem
perfect in the text might seem to be
totally different from reality. As the
application of knowledge requires time
and experience, internships and part-
time jobs provide a great opportunity
to acquire this.
Sense of Responsibility
Having a job, no matter what, creates a
sense of responsibility, pushing an
individual to maintain it while
completing it gives a sense of
accomplishment. These are the driving
forces in a person's life irrespective of
field.
Extra Money
Looking for a job at the correct place
could create a great opportunity for
earning some extra pocket money,
specifically in the case of thinking of
managing one's own expenses. Based
on the qualifications and requirements
of the employer, the pay could vary.
JUNE 2022 | 22 | www.theknowledgereview.com
However, not all jobs and internships
pay. Some of them provide with letters
of recommendation and experience,
while some could offer coupons.
Freedom
Freedom is something everyone seeks,
and the first step towards it is
understanding oneself. Having a job
along with responsibility and money
gives freedom, financial freedom and,
freedom to stand on own.
Impact in Career
A good internship opportunity is a
great contribution to a CV. It will not
only make it attractive but also talk
about the experience and performance
of an individual. While hiring freshers
is a basic process, most companies
prefer to hire fresher with at least some
kind of experience.
Change in Personality
Both internships and jobs bring about
new elements in the life of an
individual, mostly the practical ones.
This prepares one enough to handle the
situations, create a work-life balance,
understand stress, and manage it. These
small changes create a huge difference
in daily habits and overall personality,
proving to be beneficial in the future.
The change is created with
responsibility and a sense of
understanding. The impact of these
little changes has the ability to
transform a person.
Better management of time
Time management is one of the major
issues numerous people deal with;
having work to do pushes one to a tight
corner and sometimes makes things
difficult due to haste. Managing time is
very important for everyone, even with
no job to do.
For those pursuing college, along with
doing their job, time management is an
effective tool to have everything fall in
place. Better time management leads to
better planning.
Network building
Working means connecting with
people and, thus, a dense network.
Having a good network can ensure the
exchange of great ideas and the social
well-being of an individual. This
usually proves helpful during later
stages of employment.
Having a job or an internship can
create the basics of this network,
allowing one to connect professionally.
Understanding
Looks could be alluring. As it is very
natural to want to pursue a profession
with attractive outlines and looks, it
might not be true for everyone.
Understanding of job and whether you
want to do it is something one should
really be aware of. And this is
something that could only be
understood through some real
experience. Though you might not be
the one doing frequent trips to the trial
room, this trial could prove life-
changing for some.
Being a part-timer or an intern might
be the smallest designation one might
not think to accept in the absence of
dire need. However, it exposes an
individual to the world of employment.
Learning what to seek and
understanding how to gain it are all
parts of working life; knowing it
sooner at early stages is always a gain.
So, the next time you are thinking
about getting a job, get it!
Read
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 W is a LEADER?
W
W e have hosts of people
whom we all term as
leaders – Adolf Hitler, Bin
Laden, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nelson
Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, King
Shivaji, Malala Yousufzai, Abdul
Kalam, Vladamir Putin, and the list
will go on and on.
Note I have, without prejudice, listed
all the names whom the world
considered as leaders. I am not here to
judge who was a right or wrong leader.
In this writing, my aim is to just take a
survey of the five contexts that make a
person a leader.
1. A leader is the one who sits on the
chair: We all have to accept the
authority of the person sitting on the
chair of a leadership position. It could
be the CEO of a company, a Manager,
a Principal, a Politician, an officer, etc.
It is the chair that gives this leader his
power. People respect and do the
leaders‟ bidding because they have no
choice. Suppose I join a company and
there is a leader who is in the position
of the CEO, who is on the chair, I will
have to accept his authority
unquestioningly. I may not be aware of
why the person is the CEO of the
company. He may be the owner; he
may have risen through ranks; he may
be the relative of the founder etc. But
whatever his merit in sitting on the
chair, I have to accept his leadership
because he is sitting on the chair. The
positive thing about such leadership is
that you have a chair that can give you
the power over your people, and you
can use the same power to do good.
The negative side of such leadership is
that once your chair is lost, your
JUNE 2022 | 24 | www.theknowledgereview.com
influence over the people will be lost
too. Though we have examples of
people who positively influenced
people‟s lives while they were seated
on the chair, and even when they have
no chair today, people still look up to
them as leaders. There are leaders in
India like our former Prime Minister,
Lal Bahadur Shastri, who used his
chair to serve people when he was the
Prime Minister of India. He never
misused any resources and privileges
afforded to him. He is revered and in
the hearts of every Indian, even when
today he is no more.
2. A Leader is one who has inherited
the title - The second type we see is
those who have inherited the
Leadership title. They are leaders
because as Shakespeare said, "Some
are born great, some achieve
greatness, and others have greatness
thrust upon them." These are people
who have the leadership title thrust
upon them because they belong to a
family that was in leadership through
the ages. Some of them will indeed
take it as an opportunity, learn the
necessary leadership skills and turn out
to be really good leaders. We have the
example of the business leaders in
India – The Tatas. The Tata family has
been leading India's business sector for
decades. Some great leaders that we
know are Jamshetji, Dorabji, JRD Tata,
and Ratan Tata, who have taken the
leadership title with great
responsibility and used it for the good
of society and the nation.
But this is not the case every time.
Some of those who inherit the
leadership role because of their family
do not understand the clichéd saying,
"Leaders are made, not born." They
may do more harm than good. We
usually find that the King's family
automatically inherits the throne and
leadership. Today, politicians
encourage their children to inherit the
seat they have cherished and used to
wield their power for years. So the
second types of leader are those who
have inherited it.
3. A Leader is one who has risen
through the ranks- The next type of
leader we see is the one who has
earned her leadership due to her dint
and labour. This person has dedicated
her time, energy, and resources to
contribute to the organization's growth
and profitability. She may have started
at the bottom but has earned the
respect of her peers and seniors due to
her unflinching commitment to the
organization and its cause. She has
gone the extra mile for the
organization. She has grown as a
person, and her seniors have taken note
of it. They have seen her develop her
knowledge and skill and brushed up on
her gifts and talents. She may have
started at the bottom but has earned a
higher respectable position and is now
in a leadership position. But the
important thing is not rising through
the ranks to earn the leadership
position but what the person does for
others after she has gained the
leadership title. "Before you are a
leader, leadership is all about
developing yourself; after you are a
leader, leadership is all about
developing your people." (Jack
Welch)

We see such type of leadership in the
example of Steve Jobs, who founded
the Apple Company with Steve
Wozniak in a garage. In the aftermath
of the initial success of Apple, Steve
was thrown out of the company by the
then CEO John Sculley. He kept on his
belief, worked on his gifts and skills,
learned more, and got more freedom to
experiment and start new companies
like NeXT which was later
incorporated by Apple in 1997,
bringing Steve Jobs back to a
leadership position in Apple and
helping to revive it. Such leadership
evokes respect from all quarters for the
person who has rightfully earned the
chair due to what he has done and
achieved.
4. A Leader is one whom the people
have elected to be their leader – This
type of leadership is seen in a
democratic government. The people
elect their representatives who become
a leader to represent the people. They
are leaders and in the chair because the
people have given them the position
and privilege. When the ex – American
President Barrack Obama pitched
himself as the 'Agent of change' for the
2008 Presidential Elections, the people
really loved him. He was going to be
the first Afro-American President of
the country. Some of his election
promises were to revive the economy,
provide affordable and accessible
health care to all, strengthen the public
education and social security systems,
define a clear path to energy
independence and tackle climate
change, and end the war in Iraq
responsibly, etc. People saw in him a
leader who would transform the
American Nation and elected him to
power. He was the President of the
USA from the year 2009 to 2017. It is
always great when you are the people's
choice but many leaders, once they get
the position and privilege, forget to
Leadership Explained
serve the very people who have
helped them reach where they are.
5. A Leader is one who has a
passion for serving the people –
This type of leader is in the position
because he wants to serve the
people. In fact, such a person may
not have the title 'leader', but still,
in his actions to serve others, he is
looked up to as a leader. Think of
people like Baba Amte, Nelson
Mandela, Mother Teresa, and
Gandhiji; you can add more to the
list. Gandhiji never held any office,
but he is considered to be the
Father of the Nation. No one in
India and around the world can
deny his leadership role in the
independence of the nation. This is
what we can call as 'authentic
leadership.' Of course, all of the
previous leaders who are leaders by
their position, legacy, dedication, and
election can graduate to this level
where they develop a real insight of Sohan Tiwade,
leadership role and take on the
responsibility to serve others. Jesus Corporate Soft Skills
Christ in the Bible says he did not Trainer & Professional
come so that people may serve him but
rather that he may serve the people. Speaker, The Edge
That's a true mark of a leader who has
a passion for serving the people. Such Asst. Professor, Sanjay
leadership just doesn't rule from the Ghodawat University
chair position but rules on the hearts of
the people. We find others find
themselves in the presence of such a
leader, and others develop to a
leadership position because of the
Conclusion- It was Peter Drucker who
backing of such a selfless leader. This
said, "... Leadership is doing the right
is the 'Level 5' leadership that Jim
thing." What's the right thing to do is
Collins, in his 'Good to Great' book,
rule over people because you are in the
talks about, which is characterized by
chair, because you inherited the title,
Humility and Strong Will. Here the
because you rose to be a leader,
leader is a leader not because he is
because the people elected you or
attracted to the leadership title but
because you have a passion for serving
because he sees it as an opportunity to
your people? I leave that question of
serve the people, better their lives, and
the right leadership to you!
help them reach the newly envisioned
destination.
JUNE 2022 | 25 | www.theknowledgereview.com
 American University
in Vietnam
The Epitome of Quality and Liberal Education in Vietnam
P
assion has led people to do
extraordinary things. It is more
like a journey of building
something unique that needs to be
nurtured and cared for a lifetime,
resulting in something amazing that
amplifies the result and opens doors to
innovation, inspiration and liberation.
People are passionate about a lot of
things, like coding or towards the game
of chess.
However, passion related to one
particular thing always seems
fascinating. Still, when the passion is
about inspiring and enhancing the
lifestyles of others, it becomes pretty
intriguing and often lasts a lifetime.
Did you know why the teacher's
profession is considered a noble one? It
is because one dedicates their life to
educating the younger generation. With
the same passion for teaching infusing
beautifully with an entrepreneurs'
approach, Dr. Binh Tran followed her
passion for embarking on a lifelong
project, providing educational
opportunities to the young people in
Vietnam. And that passion set the
founding stone for the American
University in Vietnam in Viet Nam.
Out of the dedication and a vision to
meet students' unique learning needs,
the APU International School—a
leading K-12 institution with campuses
in Ho Chi Minh City—was established
in 2003. Following the success of
APU's Ho Chi Minh City campus, the
APU American International School
was established in Da Nang City in
2014. In 2019, APU American
International School launched the
additional Bilingual Program to meet
student's unique learning needs and
conditions, further expanding
opportunities for students to enjoy the
APU experience
The Beginning of the first American-
style University in Vietnam
The journey of Dr. Binh Tran from
setting up the first American
International School to the first
American style university in Vietnam
has been quite commendable.
While Dr. Binh Tran was having a
successful career in the United States,
she frequently travelled to Vietnam on
charity trips to assist the poor and
disadvantaged in her home country.
During these trips, she witnessed many
miserable cases. Children under the
age of ten were forced to work hard all
day, wandering the streets to earn
money to support their families. They
were denied the chance to go to school
and learn how to read or write. She
also met students who had completed
high school but were unable to attend
universities. When she returned to the
United States, she was still concerned
and thinking about setting up a high-
quality education in Vietnam.
It takes a lot of time and effort to be
able to prepare and satisfy the
requirements of the Vietnamese
government and the strict standards of
the American University. In 1999, she
completed all the paperwork to apply
to open the first American Standard
University in Vietnam. After a long
time of careful preparation, AUV was
recognised as the first American-style
university by the government in 2015,
and the courses and degrees began
embarking on its educational venture
in 2016.
The latest venture for AUV is in
process, as it aims to spread its wings
in the south of Vietnam and create
another campus, which will be called
the American Education Village. This
campus will be equipped with all the
latest technology needed for effective
course delivery for students and for
research projects by faculty in Vietnam
and partner institutions worldwide.
Vision: AUV aims to create a global
community where the individuals are
inspired to apply their educational
learning in ways that will enhance the
economic, social and lifestyle of their
families and community.
Mission: AUV is on a mission of
stimulating an intellectual community
that prepares graduates for the
challenges of life, work, and leadership
in a diverse and rapidly changing
world. The university will equip future
professionals and leaders with value-
based knowledge, instil lifelong skills
and develop a sense of personal values
to function effectively as local actors
and global citizens.
That is the reason why the American
University in Vietnam adopts the
American culture of liberal education.
The emphasis is given to analytical and
creative thinking, rational and
methodical reasoning and discovery of
the diverse fields in arts and
humanities, natural sciences, math,
information and technology, social
sciences, and financial and health
literacy.
Prioritising Consistency in Quality
and Liberal Education
Ensuring quality education is quite a
tough task where the advancement in
technology and continuous innovation AUV has
make it difficult for educators to keep
up with the industry requirements. For
developed a
that reason alone, AUV has developed curriculum where
a curriculum where students,
management and the faculty work students, management
together to keep the courses relevant to
today's industry requirements.
and the faculty work
together to keep the
Moreover, in addition to course
revision, faculty members have curated courses relevant to
a personalised learning course in such
a way that gives the students the liberty
today’s industry
to choose and match their needs and requirements.
interest.
Aid and Acceptance of Modern
Facilities
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed
 Most Valuable Schools to Watch in Vietnam 2022
many challenges on the education
sector across the world. Even during
those tough times, AUV provided up-
to-date facilities for both offline and
distance learning studies. With such
soundproof, smart classes, high-tech
Studying or workstations, project-based team-
focused desks, seamless interactive
working always hardware/software systems, and other
Ed-Tech means.
involves the task
of organizing Emphasising the adaption of modern
facilities at the university, Dr. Binh
yourself and Tran says, "We are also updating every
classroom at AUV with networked
mastering the instructional systems technology. Our
demands. newest smart distance learning studios
will contain 25 tech stations for
students, each consisting of a high-
performance computer with fast
Ethernet connection and direct access
to university printers. Also, the
upcoming multi-purpose stadium
JUNE 2022 | 28 | www.theknowledgereview.com
constructed on our green campus is
one of its kind in Vietnam and will host
other sports, entertainment, civic,
cultural and commercial events."
Engaging with Student Success
Centers
To commit and improve the
engagement of students, faculty and
guests on the campus, AUV, with its
Student Success Centers offers various
studios, project lounges, and university
success workshops.
Explaining the engagement model at
the campus, Dr. Binh Tran says, "The
Center for Career Development, for
example, provides students
opportunities to complete internships,
externships, work-study, and service-
learning experiences in their major
fields of study. These opportunities give
students the chance to get a head start
on their professional careers while
developing social and office skills.
Collectively, these centers foster the
rich tradition of liberal education and
support student growth, as well as
social and civic engagement."

The Guiding Lamp of APU

American International Schools and
the American University Vietnam
Dr. Binh Tran has recognised that
being a founder is just not enough
when it comes to passion. Today,
sitting in the seat of the founder of
APU American International School,
she is the guiding lamp for the
education society going forward. For
the American University of Vietnam,
she chairs the Board of Trustees.

With the inception of this lifelong

project, she aims to provide quality
educational opportunities to students in
Vietnam. Highlighting her influence on
the growth of the school, AUV's
management says, "Dr. Binh Tran has
been able to secure millions of dollars
in scholarships during the past several
years to allow talented students the
chance to study at top-rated
institutions in the United States. Every
year, she renews her devotion to
leveraging AUV's relationships with
our US partner universities to offer
generous scholarships for high
performing graduates. So far, Dr. Binh
Tran has guided and mentored more
than 5,000 students on their career
paths in the US and other English-
speaking countries around the world."

Bridging Theory, Practice and AUV aims to create a global community

Exposure with the Real World
The school faculty curated the where the individuals are inspired to apply
educational curriculum so beautifully
their educational learning in ways that will
that it bridges theory and practice and
exposes students to work and solve enhance the economic, social and lifestyle
problems in the 'real world'. During the
whole learning process, the faculty of their families and community.
ensures that students are groomed in
the way the real world operates and

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 Today our future
looks even brighter
as APU and AUV
strive to instill
academic excellence,
social responsibility,
and empowerment
so that students can
become the leaders
of tomorrow.

equips students with all the necessary

means to indulge and fit ideally in the
system. Highlighting the learning
outcome of AUV, Dr. Binh Tran says,
"Upon graduation, students have first-
hand leadership experience from co-op
education, an internship with
international companies, and
transnational student exchanges!"

South Vietnam's American

Education Village
AUV has been continually growing its
campuses, facilities, program, and
course offering as an international
university. With a vision to spread its
wings across Vietnam, the next big
thing in progress for the AUV is the
construction of the American
Education Village, a large campus in
the south of Vietnam. The university
aims to provide a world-class campus
designed and instilled to create an ideal
learning and working environment for
students, lecturers, and staff through
this project.

JUNE 2022 | 30 | www.theknowledgereview.com

Work Hard-Study Hard

JUNE 2022 | 32 | www.theknowledgereview.com

Inclusion
of
Games in Formal
Education
for Holistic
Development
of Students
C
C
ompetition and hustle in this
fast-moving world are not
limited to adults anymore, as
students are facing new challenges
every day.

With a technology-driven education

system, students have become more
adaptable and are learning to embrace
the new change. The pandemic
changed the delivery of knowledge to
students from offline to online, with
technology bridging the gap.

As things are back to normal, offline

schools are restarted/reopened, and

JUNE 2022 | 33 | www.theknowledgereview.com

children have to adapt again to this
change after a long time. Being
physically present at school is
beneficial for the students as they are
involved in activities/games apart from
school studies that involve interaction
with other students and teachers, which
results in the sense of engagement for
building confidence. Confidence and a
sense of engagement are required for
sparking curiosity in children, and
curiosity drives enthusiasm to learn
new things. All of these sum up to the
Holistic Development of children.
Read through this article and get a gist
of how games and activities help in the
Holistic Development of Children.
Holistic development covers all aspects
of a child's growth, that includes
physical, mental, social, and emotional
growth. A child spends most of the day
time at school and is influenced by the
teachers and students around on many
levels. Surely, studying assists in
gaining knowledge and learning. It is
the interaction and communication
with others and teachers that will help
in a child's growth concerning gaining
confidence to face real-world
problems. This can be done by an
inclusive approach where both teachers
and students are involved in
conducting various activities that help
in achieving the holistic development
of students. A very common challenge
observed in students these days is less
attention span. They lose interest in
things easily and are easily distracted.
Few games help to solve these
challenges and are aligned with holistic
learning. Holistic learning helps in
building focus skills and engaging kids
with sensory activities/games that
encourage them to develop problem-
solving skills whilst learning
mindfulness.
JUNE 2022 | 34 | www.theknowledgereview.com
How Games Help in the Holistic
Development of Student
Developing motor skills/Physically-
Both indoor and outdoor games will
contribute to developing better motor
skills in students. Playing with small
toys such as blocks, puzzles, etc will
help in eye and hand coordination.
Whereas playing outdoor games will
help in building stamina and games
like football or other team sports will
introduce teamwork and trust amongst
the students.
Mentally/Emotionally- Learning to
feel one's emotion and understanding
what the emotion is, is the first step
toward being mindful. Children can
become emotionally strong once they
gain self-confidence, and imaginative
games or the mind games challenge
them to explore their emotions and
express them confidently without fear.
Intellectually- Observation is key to
thinking skills, children will
understand this by being in nature and
observing things practically that they
learned in books. Games like treasure
hunts can be aligned with finding
objects of different shapes and
organizing and clubbing similar shapes
objects. Experiments in nature will
help them understand the cause and
effects of certain activities. Throwing a
stone in still water creates a pattern and
the stone skips on water, scientific
concepts like gravity force and lift
force can be explained in this way.
Painting activities will help in color
recognition and textures.
Socially- Communication is important,
and if learned at an early stage in life,
it will help in being socially confident.
Team sports or games will be helpful
for children to understand the role of
every individual to solve a given
problem. It's important to listen first to
interact or react in any situation and
this can be learned by conducting
group activities where children will
learn to coordinate with each other to
achieve or complete a task. And this
skill will reflect in the long term when
they are socializing and help them to
make better choices.
Creatively- Challenging activities or
games will help the children
understand and explore their creativity
and will help them solve problems in
their way. Some children are
comfortable working and playing by
themselves, whereas some are more
active when in a group. This is where
creative activities come in handy.
Assign challenging activities to create
something out of given materials and
give options of working individually or
in groups and let them discover their
creative sides. They will understand
the power of choice, the choice to work
alone or in a group, and the challenges
that come around while solving the
problem.
As fancy as it may sound to work in a
team and achieve goals, it's also
important to acknowledge the
personalities who give better results
when working alone. And why not start
exploring this at a young age.
Creativity helps in translating your
self-independence into the task
assigned to you.
Wrapping Up
Like adults, children have different
personalities and go hand in hand with
each of them, and making them
comfortable while learning is also
important when paving the way for
Holistic Development. It's a need to
include games in formal education as
books only won't teach the children the
challenges of the ever-growing and
developing world.