Factors affecting scientific research activities of students. case study of "Euréka Student Science Research Award"

This thesis examines the factors affecting students scientific research activities at universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The topic is made based on data from the Euréka Scientific Research Student Award. With the criterion of the award is to promote the scientific research movement of students, the award has been gathered by nearly 50 of universities, colleges and institutes in Ho Chi Minh City. However, the level of participation of many schools is limited. This study will explore the factors affecting students scientific research activities at universities in Ho Chi Minh City, thereby proposing solutions to promote this activity in universities which limited.

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Thi Ai Truc FACTORS AFFECTING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS CASE STUDY OF "EURÉKA STUDENT SCIENCE RESEARCH AWARD" MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Thi Ai Truc FACTORS AFFECTING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS CASE STUDY OF "EURÉKA STUDENT SCIENCE RESEARCH AWARD" MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: PROF TRAN HA MINH QUAN Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020 APPENDIX SUPERVISOR’S REPORT ON THE FINAL THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER of BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Final thesis title: FACTORS AFFECTING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS CASE STUDY OF "EURÉKA STUDENT SCIENCE RESEARCH AWARD" Student name: Nguyen Thi Ai Truc Supervisor name: PROF TRAN HA MINH QUAN General comments: „ Remarks on the student’s attitude: „ Remarks on the assignment’s academic quality: Overall assessment: „ Meet requirement for submitting „ Not meet requirement for submitting Other remarks: - Did the student follow the report schedule? „ Yes „ No „ Other - The plagiarism percentage: Supervisor’s signature Executive summary Introduction 1.1 Center of Science and Technology development for Youth 1.2 Euréka Student Scientific Research Award 1.3 Problem Finding Process 1.4 Symptom Problem justification 10 2.1 Initial Identification of Problem 10 2.2 The Existence problem 14 2.3 Cause validation 16 2.4 Final Cause-Effect Map 22 Solution for Solving Problem 22 3.1 School 22 3.2 Lectures 23 3.3 Students 24 Appendix 28 Executive summary This thesis examines the factors affecting students' scientific research activities at universities in Ho Chi Minh City The topic is made based on data from the Euréka Scientific Research Student Award With the criterion of the award is to promote the scientific research movement of students, the award has been gathered by nearly 50 of universities, colleges and institutes in Ho Chi Minh City However, the level of participation of many schools is limited This study will explore the factors affecting students' scientific research activities at universities in Ho Chi Minh City, thereby proposing solutions to promote this activity in universities which limited Introduction 1.1 Center of Science and Technology development for Youth Center of Science and Technology development for Youth (known as TST) is a unit directly under Ho Chi Minh City Communist Youth Union TST was found in August 03th 1989 by People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Our mission are mobilize and promote the movement of scientific and technical activities and creative capacity of the youth There are several programs that Center being as organizer such as Euréka Student Scientific Research Prize, International Students Science Forum, etc 1.2 Euréka Student Scientific Research Award Student Scientific Research Award (known as Euréka Award) is the national wide prize for scientific research and creativity of students from universities and colleges It was established in 1999 and fasten become the only prize of Youth Union for student who have passion in term of scientific research Table Euréka Award data from 1999 to 2019 Euréka award data from 1999 to 2019 2263 2069 1758 1385 1435 1407 1200 1198 1064 878 708 709 430 334 221 257 493 734 768 1106 1165 844 373 324 398 345 371 409 777 496 500 596 507 516 517 903 858 648 621 156 116 97 85 106 100 19 21 18 17 24 21 23 23 22 27 26 30 34 34 34 36 46 75 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Number of Subjects Number of Schools Number of participants Source: Euréka Award’s announcement from 1999 to 2019 The purpose of Euréka Award is to discover and foster the creative ideas of students, promote the scientific research movement among students of universities, colleges and institutes in the direction of development, with the high scale and quality of research works Besides that, the prize contribute to improving the quality of training, encouraging students to develop their potential in research and innovation Moreover, Euréka Award is also contribute to the application of science and technology into production, business and life The table illustrate that Euréka Award is develop in terms of the number of participating schools as well as the number of topics From the beginning until 2014, Euréka Award organized only in Ho Chi Minh City The award officially deployed widely in 2015 in the southern region and expanded nationwide in 2016 The Prize includes 12 fields, which presentative Chemical Engineering, Food Technology, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering, Training and Education, Law and Legal, Economics, General Engineering, Agriculture - Forestry - Fishery, Urban Planning – Architecture – Construction, Resources and Environment Management, Social Sciences and Humanities 1.3 Problem Finding Process In order to find out the problem of Center of Science and Technology Development for Youth, the process will be conducted: - Collecting the data from Euréka Award’s annual report and Projects’ collection announcements of Euréka Award from 2014 to 2019 - Referring the feedback from contestants on December 2017 - Conducting in-depth interview with contestants, employees, representatives of participating schools, and science council’s members - Conducting the survey for contestants and representatives of participating schools - Reviewing literature related to problem - Conducting second in-depth interview with the manager to determine existed problem - Reviewing some theory framework to validate the problem importance 1.4 Symptom I used the result from the survey that TST conduct on December 2017 (see appendix B) and also conducted depth interview with two students, who are contestant Euréka Award in 2017 and received the First prize and the Third Prize (see appendix G and H) I used finding from the survey and depth interview to create questionnaire (see appendix I) for participants who took part in Euréka Award The purpose for this action is to have an overview and find out the symptoms I collected data for this research through email survey in the early of September 2018 by sent for about 500 contestants and received 100 responses The result illustrated that only seven respondents know about Euréka Award through website and 60% of participants know about the Euréka Award by school deployment The application of social media in implementing prize information is limited The information about Euréka Awards is directly transmitted in the form of issuing documents and announcements from Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union to the School Youth Union This shows that the access to Prize’s information of the student depends heavily on the implementation of the school In addition, I created depth interviews with two employees, who have been working in the center over years The interview guide (see appendix C) was about evaluation of the Euréka Award from 2014 to 2019, especially to explored the reason why the number of project in 2016 is dramatically decrease although the Prize was expanded national wide at that time They believed that the expansion is quite fast, and the Euréka Award’s awareness is still low and lack of widespread The schools play an important role in term of encouraging student take part in research activities; especially participate in Euréka Student Scientific Research Award Table Proportion of top 4th university dominate Euréka award Total number of subjects (1) = (a)+(b)+(c)+(d) Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (a) Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City - University of Sciences (b) Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City - University of Technology (c) Ho Chi Minh City Open University (d) Ho Chi Minh city’ Number of projects (2) Proportion (3)=(1)/(2)*100% 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 216 244 184 266 313 261 46 65 56 97 137 97 76 65 49 82 62 67 48 58 44 41 60 60 46 56 35 46 54 37 517 608 466 593 687 649 42% 40% 39% 45% 46% 40% Source: Euréka Award’s announcement from 2014 to 2019 The Statistics of the number of projects involved Euréka Award from 2014 to 2019 (appendix A) showed that there are four universities included Ho Chi Minh City University off Technology, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City – University of Sciences, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City – University of Technology , Ho Chi Minh City Open University dominated the prize The total number of projects participating in awards from these four universities is high in Ho Chi Minh City, accounting for over 40% This means that the total number of projects for the remaining 44 schools is only 60% The development of students' scientific research movement is uneven across schools in Ho Chi Minh City Table The number of school have low performance 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total number of School 40 40 40 40 48 49 Total number of Project 517 608 466 593 687 649 12.92 15.2 11.65 14.82 14.31 13.24 21 27 26 27 32 33 Average number of project per school The number of schools with project less than the average Source: Euréka Award’s announcement from 2014 to 2019 The table above illustrations that the average number of project in each school participating in the Euréka award is 13 projects in 2019 However, that up to 33 schools (accounting for 67%) have a lower number of projects less than 13 projects Most school have low performance in term of participating the Euréka Award Interviewee: My instructor introduction the Euréka Award’s information for me, Interviewer: Why you decide to participate in the Euréka Award? Interviewee: I would like to evaluate the re-evaluation of scientific content in the thesis and develop into practical application to serve people instead of just a research topic, Interviewer: What you learn after participating the Euréka Award? How does the Prize bring meaningful for you? Interviewee: Throughout the competition, I learned a great deal about the development and operation of real-world projects, applying and exploring the value of theoretical research, Interviewer: How does the Prize bring meaningful for you? Interviewee: The Prize is of great significance to me, marking the first experience in applying theoretical research to the practical, motivating and joyful to continue to try, Interviewer: What are the difficulties you face when participating in the Euréka Award? Interviewee: The biggest obstacle is to balance and ensure the progress of work in a limited time and work pressure, I have the support and enthusiasm of the instructors in the field and the application development as well as help with the process and guidance from the field manager, Interviewer: Of the activities of the finals, which you like most? Interviewee: The most interesting activity is presented to the science council because it helps to sharpen the skill of presenting the problem logically and grasp the strengths and weaknesses of the topic itself, Interviewer: What you think about the results of the Euréka Award? Interviewee: I am very happy about the results of the competition and look forward to the competition being deployed and further developed as a source of motivation for the next generation of students, Interviewer: Thanks for your information 49 Appendix I Questionnaires for candidates In order to gather feedback from students/graduated students about the Student Scientific Research Award(known as Euréka Award), we look forward to receiving your valuable contributions by answering some of the survey questions below, We greatly appreciate your cooperation and rest assured that your answers are only used for research purposes to improve the effectiveness of the organization of the Prizes for the coming years, Part A: Filter question: Please provide your comments by circling the answers below each survey question, Have you ever participated in the Euréka Award? a Have been involved b Have never been involved Part B: Main questions: Please provide your comments by circling the answers below each survey question, How you know about the Euréka Award? a School implementation b Website / Facebook of Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union c Website / Facebook of the Center for Science and Technology Development d Friend advise e Other: …………………………………………………………………………,, Why you decide to participate in the Euréka Award? a Passion for scientific research, desire to contribute to society b To make good grades to get a job after graduation c To accumulate experience and improve your specialized knowledge d Prize money structure is attractive, valuable e Desire to exchange with other students f Participation in the school or instructor's designation g Other: …, Of the activities of the finals, which you like most? a Presentation of the project of protection before the scientific council 50 b Exchange program with students of universities and colleges in Ho Chi Minh City c Visiting key projects, historic relics of Ho Chi Minh City d Review and Prize ceremony e Other: …………………………………………………………………………,, Why you like it? ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… After participating in the Prize, what is your aim? a Continue develop the project b Continue to improve education c Support to start-up d Go to work, not study anymore e Other: …………………………………………………………………………,, Answers are determined by the degree of agreement that the word is incremented 1, Strongly disagree 2, Disagree 3, Neither agree nor disagree 4, Agree 5, Strongly agree Effective communication methods 51 5 disagree Strongly agree school level and city level is appropriate Agree The process of selecting the proposed project from the Disagree The timeline of the Euréka Award is appropriate Strongly disagree Content Neither agree nor Please mark "x" in the answer that is most relevant to you, The Science Council evaluates objectively and accurately Schedule of visiting dynamic, and useful The field manager support, enthusiastic guidance Projects classified into 12 fields are logical, complete The direction to research clearly 5 5 5 Transportation during the finals is comfortable, pleasant Prize ceremony grand, thoughtful The evaluation criteria for research projects specific, and clear Prize money structure is attractive, valuable Forms of the Organizing Committee meet the requirements of the study The task of welcoming candidates and arranging accommodation in the days of attending the final round Activities to visit, exchange during the final round attractive and meaningful What further suggestions can you make to improve the effectiveness of the Euréka Award? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Part C: Individual questions: What is your name? ……………………………………………………………………………………, What is your gender? a Male b Female c Other 10 What is your school’s name? …………………………………………………………………………………………, 52 11 What year are you in? a First year b Second year c Third year d Fourth year e Graduated f Other: …………………………………………………………………………,, 12 What year did you participate in the Euréka Award? (Select multiple answers) a 2014 b 2015 c 2016 d 2017 Thanks you for your information! Appendix J Time: 10:30, 30/09/2018 Venue: 01 Pham Ngoc Thach Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District (Center of Science and Technology development for Youth) Interviewer: Nguyen Thi Ai Truc Interviewee: Le Thi Ngoc Tram, employee at Science and Technology department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Interviewer: Good morning! Could you please introduce about yourself? Interviewee: Good morning! My name is Le Thi Ngoc Tram, employee at Science and Technology department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH), Interviewer: In the recent years, HUTECH is an active university in scientific research, According to the annual data available in my center, the university has more than 50 topics every year, While, in the last year the number of subject was 97, the number of topics reached just under 150 subjects in 2018, What kind of support does the university provide for students to achieve such a significant number of topics? 53 Interviewee: Firstly, the school deployed the scientific research movement to the students, so the scientific research activities are very developed, From the beginning of the school year, the students have had scientific research plans from the department level, institute level and school level from which the school has chosen the good subjects to take part in the Ministry of Education and Training’s prize and the Euréka Student Science Research Prize, In addition, the university has chosen carefully to Prize for students who own great subjects at the faculty, institute and university level in 2018, Moreover, for students who register for a scientific research subject at the beginning of the year, if the student meets the criteria set by the school, the student can receive financial support from the school, Although this is not much, this support creates a spiritual encouragement for students, Besides that, students will be supported by the school with a small print fee to complete their subjects, Interviewer: Is the participation of students in science research favorite student or by the encouragement of teachers, faculties and school? Interviewee: Students involved in scientific research come from many reasons, The first reason is from the student themselves, Students feel that the study is necessary for their learning, Second, students are also supported by the teachers, the faculties, the institutes and the university, From these factors that promote the development of scientific research activities in students, Interviewer: Like you said that if the student meets the criteria set by the school, the student can receive financial support from the school, Does the school have a budget for research activities of student? Interviewee: Currently, the university just has a small the amount of money, Supporting students in printing fees is the school's spending statute, Furthermore, financial support for student research that is not fixed, depending on the school's plan for each academic year, Interviewer: When students scientific research, how they get support and guidance from supervisors? Interviewee: All scientific research subjects from the faculty, institute, and university to the Ministry of Education and Training’s prize and the Euréka Student Science Prize levels have supervisors, Specifically, the supervisors will assist; follow up the student’s implement on the progress to ensure the completion of the subject, 54 Interviewer: Does the school have a policy on movement reward points for students participating in scientific research in levels? Interviewee: Basically, for the students, depending on the different faculties, there will be more preferential policies for students on the process points, Interviewer: What are your university’s difficulties, when participating in scientific research Prize such as Euréka? Interviewee: Until now, the scientific research movement of the students is still developing in a good and stable way, However, the school still has certain difficulties, The school still has limitation in financial support to scientific research activities of students, Because, scientific research need a large amount of money to implement, especially in natural science field, students have to experiment while in social science field, students face financial difficulties to survey, Interviewer: In your opinion, students really love scientific research and volunteer to join or need encouragement from the school for bonus points or other policies to promote students? Interviewee: My personal view is that most of students really love scientific research and volunteer to join, However, some of them think doing scientific research is take time and influence to their study result, Students’ awareness about doing research still low, Interviewer: Are you satisfied with the results your school has achieved in the past few years? Interviewee: Of course, all the prizes received from scientific research Prize and academic Prizes, the school honors and value those Prizes, However, we have to always strive for the results of the next year higher than last year, Interviewer: Do the contribution of the council in the final round, which help students, resolve the limitations of their subject? Interviewee: As I see it, the council in the final round is organized seriously and fair, Additionally, supervisors share their expertise in depth so that students not only complete the subject at the Prize but also further improve their professional to bring the subject to the higher goals to serve community, technology transfer or work in the future, Interviewer: What does this Prize mean to students when they join? 55 Interviewee: The Euréka Student Science Prize is very meaningful for students to participate, Firstly, students get a scientific research project during their students’ life, It is very important because students know how to make a subject, a report, and how to prepare it, It is also a necessary resource for students preparing a job application, Specifically, I checked the application very carefully to ask students to immediately add the missing documents, In addition, the strictness of the regulations as well as the support of implementation of professional works as I those help students get the correction of the form and depth of science, All these factors are important for students’ life as they step into society to find work, Interviewer: Thanks for your information, Appendix K Time: 10:30, 02/10/2018 Venue: Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology’s library Interviewer: Nguyen Thi Ai Truc Interviewee: Prof, Thai Van Nam, Deputy Director of Applied Sciences Institute, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) Interviewer: Good afternoon! Could you please introduce about yourself? Interviewee: Good afternoon! My name is Thai Van Nam, Deputy Director of Applied Sciences Institute, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, I have been working at the school for 19 years, Interviewer: What is your evaluation about HUTECH’s scientific research activities? Interviewee: Scientific research activities have been established since the founding of the school and has been developed for 23 years, Every year, the school has submitted projects to the Ministry of Education and Training’s prize and the Euréka Student Science Prize, For most of the Euréka Awards held over the past 20 years, HUTECH has been involved in almost every year and has won Prizes such as the First, the Second, the Third, and the Consolation prize, In particular, up to now, HUTECH has had about ten projects, which are win the First Prize in Euréka Award, 56 Interviewer: In recent years, HUTECH has been consistently ranked among the top five schools participating in the Euréka Science Student Prize, What support does the school have to get an enormous number of students to participate in scientific research? Interviewee: Firstly, the school has always planned to work on what needs to be done to support students doing research, how is the roadmap… In addition, the school has a system of teacher evaluation at the end of the year, in which the instructor guiding students to conduct scientific research is an important criterion, The second is internal force of teacher, Young faculty members are active in science and technology, Thirdly, the school has financial support in recently via HUTECH’s fund and fund from enterprise, Fourthly, every year, the institute also organizes the launching ceremony for students to scientific research, In particular, we invite businesspersons, alumni who have participated in scientific research, won the prize to share, make examples for students to study and follow, Interviewer: What difficulties does the school have? Interviewee: For the young today, the implementation of scientific research is limited, In the past, there was little college entrance, so the quality was better, Passion in research is also difficult for students, Nowadays, students tend to learn quickly to graduate and go to work, Many students think that scientific research takes them time, influencing their study, In addition, financial deficits are also one of the causes, especially for some areas where experiments are required, Interviewer: How did the school support students in scientific research? Interviewee: The school supported as offering 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND for a project so that students can purchase chemicals to perform experiments, It is only encouraging, If we compare student like a machine, the machine needs engine oil to lubricate it to make it work better, From there, the students feel the passion in scientific research, Interviewer: What is the teacher's role in guiding and encouraging students to scientific research? Interviewee: The teacher has two roles in two metaphors, which are pull and push, In the image of pull, the teacher plays the role of orienting the project to students, The teacher based on the topics and projects that he is implementing and then divided into sub-topics for students to implement, The goals were clear and the main task was student pass it, In this case, the teacher required having a research project but otherwise it would be very difficult for 57 the student to it, In the image of push, teachers provide feedback based on their individual perspective, vision, judgment, and how the implementation is based on student choice, Students need to have an idea as well as individual competencies, Interviewer: How you evaluate the organization of the Euréka Student Research Prize? Interviewee: I can divide it in two sides: good and not good, On the good side, the Euréka Award was organized by Center of Science and Technology development for Youth, coordinated by the National University of Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City Science and Technology Association and now had the Ministry of Science and Technology, The increasing support of the show has shown that the prestige of the program has also been increased, Secondly, the coverage of the prize was initially only in Ho Chi Minh City, after that it expanded to the southern area and now in the whole country, Moreover, the number of subject is increasing as well, showing that the prestige and influence of the Prizes also increased very high, The third is the budget issue and the number of lecturers participating in the examination process is huge, Every year, the Prize has grateful activities to the teachers who participate in the council, who participate in the grading in the council, That is what I think is a great honor, The prize is a big competition compared to the Ministry of Education Prize, The Ministry of Education Prize is administered by the Ministry of Education and Training, but is not as large as the prize, I must admit that the Euréka Award is equal or better, based on the number of supervisors involved in the evaluation board and the value of the Prize, Specifically, the number of Prizes and prizes of the Euréka Award are higher than the value of the Ministry of Education Prize, The Prizes also include summer camps and creative camps to bring together students into group activities to enhance exchanges, increase engagement, and exchange academic skills, I think that is very interesting exchange for students, Those are the points I see very well of this Prize, On the other hand, the prize also exists points that need to be improved, The first is the copyright issue, All subjects submitted online are published, which can lead to copyright issues, Therefore, the TST needs to reconsider this issue in permission and agreement with the author to publicize their research in the Euréka Awards as well as in other major projects, 58 The second issue is the issue of recording instructor contributions at the Prizes ceremony, Every year, supervisors whose students participate in the final round will be formally named and receive the prize with the student, but in last year, this section was missed and only the supervisors of first prize and second prize were Prizeed in the Prize ceremony, In addition, I think there should be certificates sent directly to the teachers when they cannot participate in the Prize in a timely, A diploma or certificate that recognizes the accomplishments of both the teacher and the student should be done more formally and higher quality, Next, third issue is impartiality and lack of objectivity of council, Based on feedback from teachers and students, who are given the opportunity to attend to the presentation of other topics when entering the final round, There are very interesting topic but did not win, and vice versa, The organizers should ensure that all board members are fully come from various majors, Interviewer: Thanks for your information Appendix L Time: October 30th, 2018 Venue: Coffee shop Interviewer: Nguyen Thi Ai Truc Interviewee: Nguyen Thanh Luan, Manager of External Comunication and Sience Technology Serveices Interviewer: Good morning! Could you please introduce about yourself, please? Interviewee: My name is Nguyen Thanh Luan, currently the Manager of External Comunication and Sience Technology Serveices of the Center of Science and Technology Development for Youth, Up to now, I have been working here for years, Interviewer: Have you made any comments about the Euréka Student Science Research Prize in the past years? Interviewee: The expansion of Euréka Award for all students across the country is an remarkable stage, The award is a movement to motivate students to participate in scientific research, as a foundation for future self-development as well as starting up a business, 59 Interviewer: What is your assignment in Euréka Award? Interviewee: I manage the program's communication activities such as synthesizing images, creating content and posting on the website as well as the fan page of the prize, In addition, the Communication and Science and Technology Services Department also mobilized external resources to finance the Center's activities, In addition, I have been in charge of the Economic field for the past years, Interviewer: What communication methods you implement? Interviewee: My department assigns each employee to take care of each job, such as taking pictures and fixing images, creating content, collecting new information for the award, and uploading information continuously on the website and fan page, The main communication channels are using social networks, Interviewer: How you evaluate the effectiveness of social media communication? Interviewee: The strength of using social media networks can be mentioned as very low cost, and fast updated information, Today, along with the development of technology, smartphones and social networks become more popular, It can be said that most students use smart phones and have social network accounts, so the provision of information or notice of award Euréka as well as the activities timely updates, However, this is only effective for those who already know the prize and participate in social networking, Interviewer: For students who not know about Euréka Award, how can they approach the information? Interviewee: In the organization work, the Organization Board sends the deployment of information about prizes to Youth Union or the Science Management Department of the schools, On that basis, the school will deploy the Euréka Award information to the students, So the implementation of the prize information to students depends greatly on the support of the school's Youth Union and the School of Science Management Department, Besides, the Center also sent to the school banners, Interviewer: In years in charge of The Economics field, how you make comments? Interviewee: The field of Economics always has the most number of project involved, The Economic field is divided into sections, namely Economic Development, Business Administration, and Banking and Finance, The number of topics focused on Business Administration, and Banking and Finance 60 Interviewer: What you think about the quality of the project of participating in the Euréka Award in recent years? Interviewee: Although the field has the most number of topics, many topics participate without investing in ideas, research methods, and research content, Many topics only have 20 pages; the content is like a subject assignment, In addition, some areas such as Training and Education, Urban Planning – Architecture – Construction, Resources and Environment Management not have the first prize, In the last years, there is not project has won the Special Prize, Interviewer: What is mobilized external resources activities? Interviewee: We design benefits for each sponsorship package of each program, We look for suitable sponsors and there is a need to make connections, Interviewer: How does sponsorship affect the award? Interviewee: Every year, the budget for communication is very small, Therefore, to ensure effective communication, we need more funding, Consequently, sponsorship is very important in communication, Interviewer: What difficulties mobilized external resources? Interviewee: It is not easy to meet sponsors demand, They want benefits and images to appear more, Sponsors refer to sponsoring television programs, gameshow, or environmental protection activities, They mostly not like to fund social or educational activities, Donors desire to have images on television, newspapers, etc, The current sponsorship benefit not meet the demand of sponsors, This led to sponsors sponsoring the Euréka Award but only for one year and could not maintain in the long term, Interviewer: Thanks for your information, Appendix M Time: November 3rd , 2018 Venus: Center of Science and Technology development for Youth’s office Interviewer: Nguyen Thi Ai Truc 61 Interviewee: Nguyen Thuy Ai, candidate participated in Euréka Award in 2017, student at Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Interviewer: Good morning! Could you please introduce about yourself, please? Interviewee: My name is Nguyen Thuy Ai and I was a student at Ho Chi Minh City Open University, I participated in the Euréka Student Scientific Research Awardin 2017, Interviewer: How you know about Euréka Award’s information? Interviewee: Euréka Award is an prize for students who are passionate about scientific research, organized by Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union and Ho Chi Minh City National University, Concretely, I know about this prize through my professor and was deployed by the school, Interviewer: Why you decide to participate in the Euréka Award? Interviewee: Generally, I participated in the prize according to my professor's appointment, Besides that, I also want to challenge myself, gain more experience and improve my knowledge, Interviewer: What you learn after participating the Euréka Award? How does the Prize bring meaningful for you? Interviewee: In fact, when I participated in the prize, the most important thing I learned was to know how to implement a scientific research project, Moreover, I know my ability, since I am aware that I need to try harder, In addition, I also have the opportunity to interact with students of the same majors from many schools across the country, Although at the moment, I only go to work and no longer scientific research, but participating in the Prize helps me know how to find problems and solve problems more scientifically in my work and life, Interviewer: What are the difficulties you face when participating in the Euréka Award? Do you received support from your instructor? Do you received support from the field manager? Do they encourage you participate the Euréka Award? Interviewee: At first, my team also spent a lot of time finding ideas for the topic, Then a friend in the group proposed a topic, However, our instructor thinks the idea is not clear, and the teacher helped correct it a bit, Because we had to go to school and perform the project, we asked the teachers for a lot of support to be able to make it in time, In the process of implementing the topic, the professor also encourages us, monitors the progress of the project, 62 Interviewer: What motivation helps you decide to participate in the prize and complete your research? Interviewee: I participated in the Prize because I want to have a new experience in my student life and want to evaluate my own ability, I not really care about the results and prizes, Although, the source of funding to implement the topic from the group members and myself is quite limited, we still try to complete the topic, For the first time conducting scientific research, we were quite surprised, I found myself lacking in both skills and knowledge to complete the topic, Interviewer: Of the activities of the finals, which you like most? Interviewee: Clearly, I like the most is the presentation of the topic before the science council, Because, it is an opportunity for us to protect the group's opinion before the council, Besides, we can receive comments and evaluations of the council on our topic, so that we can learn from it, In addition, during the presentation, we were able to listen to other groups giving presentations, helping me learn more about interesting projects, Finally, the presentation helps us to train our skills and be more bravely, Interviewer: What you think about the results of the Euréka Award? Do you satisfy with the result? Why or why not? Interviewee: The teachers in the council are highly specialized, I'm happy with the results of the prize, Personally, tour schedule for days of the final round have too many activities, However, there is no activity for us to exchange with each other, Furthermore, in the closing ceremony and prizing ceremony, the sticking of the serial number and the order of receiving the prize made the prizing ceremony predictable, no surprise, I hope that the Organizing Committee will have a better prizing plan in the coming years, Interviewer: Thanks for your information 63 ... appendix B) and also conducted depth interview with two students, who are contestant Euréka Award in 2017 and received the First prize and the Third Prize (see appendix G and H) I used finding from... knowledge A research project offers both undergraduate and postgraduate students an opportunity to identify and select a research problem and investigate it independently under the guidance of... the student to it In the image of push, teachers provide feedback based on their individual perspective, vision, judgment, and how the implementation is based on student choice Students need to