11th Job Fair and Education Event 2025 was held at the Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Laos (FEN)!

On 5 May 2025, the Job Fair and Education Event 2025 was held at FEN, attracting approximately 1,100 visitors. The event is one of the university-industry collaboration activities supported by the “Project for Strengthening Engineering Human Resources for Industrial Development in Laos” (HUGETECH) every year. This year, the handing-over ceremony of the “Project for the Improvement of Facilities and Laboratory Equipment at the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Laos” was held on the same day, allowing H.E. KOIZUMI Tsutomu, the Ambassador of Japan to the Lao PDR, H.E. Dr. Phout SIMMALAVONG, the Minister of Education and Sports, and other high officials to visit this event. The event has been organized 11 times since before HUGETECH began, but this year, its scale and content have been enhanced with Japan's technical cooperation, and the initiative of the FEN has increased with each passing year. It was impressive to see how hard the faculty members and students worked to manage the event in favorable weather, withstanding the intense heat.

Fifty-five companies and organizations set up booths to introduce their activities and offer job openings. Students visited the booths according to their interest, where they could attend interviews and provide the companies with their contact information. With the cooperation of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lao PDR and others, 10 Japanese companies and organizations participated, namely, Epoch Toys (Lao) Co., Ltd; Honda New Chip Xeng Co., Ltd; HOYA Laos Co., Ltd; Japan Foundation, Vientiane; Lao ASEAN Leasing Public Company; Lao Midori Safety Shoes Co., Ltd; MISUZU Lao Co., Ltd; Phin Tokyo Plaza; Sisiku Lao Co., Ltd; and TOYO Industry Lao Factory Sole Co. Ltd. The event provides an opportunity for both the university and industry to deepen mutual understanding since FEN departments also set up corners where faculty members and students presented their research results. The companies also visited the laboratories newly donated by Japan and became aware of FEN’s capability to conduct research using modern equipment and advanced technology. This created valuable potential for future collaboration between FEN and companies.

The Career Counseling Unit, established with the support of the project, set up a corner for employment counseling and provided guidance to students on how to write their resumes. Among the participants in this event is a total number of 425 teachers and students from seven high schools in Vientiane. Therefore, it provides opportunities not only for university students to consider their future job, but also for high school students to consider their post-secondary education. Despite the setting up of booth was free of charge, about 50 companies and organizations donated money or goods to FEN. Consequently, there are high expectations that the event will be held independently after the project is completed.

Many of the exhibiting companies said that the event was a good opportunity to introduce their business to the students and at the same time to learn about their abilities. Students were also pleased to have the opportunity to meet with the companies and expressed their wish that more companies of their interest had participated in the event. It is hoped that activities like this, where students and industry can meet directly, will continue to flourish in the future.

Source: The Project for Strengthening Human Resource Development of Engineering and Technology for Industry Development in Lao P.D.R. and Media Team of the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Laos