Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship 2015 Launched in Vietnam

Organizing Board for the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC) 2015, including the Ministry of Education and Training, IIG Vietnam, Military Telecoms Group (Viettel) and Youth newspaper, on April 19 officially kicked-off the inaugural opening and National qualification phase of the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC) 2015 nationwide in six competition sites -Hanoi, Haiphong, Thai Nguyen, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang.

One day earlier, in Da Nang City, a similar event was also organized for teams from Da Nang, Quang Nam, QuangNgai, BinhDinh, Phu Yen, Lam Dong and KhanhHoa.

This year competition drew hundreds of thousands of contestants from junior colleges, universities and secondary schools nationwide, with 1,500 contestants selected, representing 260 school teams to attend the National qualification round.

MOSWC 2015 in Vietnam has demonstrated how practical and engaging it is by drawing in its debut year in the country 1,500 contestants, both from organized teams and as individuals.This year sees the greatest number of competing teams – 260 teams, compared to 174 in 2014. As a result of high resolve by the organizing board, MOSWC this year will for the first reach out to all the 63 municipalities countrywide.

In Hanoi, school and college students take up as much as 25% of the total number of contestants in this national qualification round from all over the country.Notably, the Hanoi secondary education team this year has 15 elite members carefully selected through three city-level qualification rounds from a host of 700 students coming from 124 primary and secondary schools in the capital city.

Addressing the launch ceremony in Hanoi, Vice Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien said:“In the mobilizing stage, the Ministry of Education and Training communicated about the competition to all the 63 provincial Education and Training Departments, and all universities, junior colleges and vocational schools, while IIG Vietnam, in the partnership with the Secondary Education Department, Tertiary Education Department and Viettel, conducted workshops and meetings launching the competition at provincial Education &Training (E&T) Departments, universities and junior colleges all the way from the North to the South of the country, as the Youth newspaper continuously spread the news on the competition on all its channels.With such closely coordinated efforts, this year competition has been known to more school and college students, as can be seen through the strong participation of the numerous academic institutions and provincial E&T Departments”.

“We believe that MOSWC will not only robustly nurture office computing learning among school and college students but also give them access to the ever evolving information technology of the world.The competition will also help the participating schools to get familiar with international standard training programs and make sure that graduated students can meet the requirements of the current tough labor market in a time of global integration and find a good job for themselves”,Vice Minister Nguyen VinhHien stressed.

Mr. Doan Hong Nam, IIG Vietnam President, head of the MOSWC 2015 organizing board, said:“In addition to the participation of universities, junior colleges and vocational schools as in previous years, MOSWC 2015 will for the first time witness the engagement of 12 provincial Education and Training Departments.This is a major breakthrough in this competition, as it is proof of the strong support from local governments to MOSWC in the expectation of taking an international competition as a launchpad for higher computer science studying and learning quality in schools.“

With the inclusion of secondary school students, this year MOSWC has had significant changes in terms of the contestant composition, with secondary students taking up a higher proportion, at 54%, of the bulk (compared to last year 38%).

MOSWC is the largest office computing contest in the world, held annually all over the globe by Certiport (USA) – a world leading provider of computer science certificates.To date, the competition has been in existence for 14 years globally and has entered its sixth year in Vietnam.Over the last five years, Vietnam has increasingly shown what it can do among international friends by winning high positions in the World finals in three consecutive years -Gold medal for Microsoft Word 2010 at MOWC 2012, MOSWC 2013 Bronze medal for Microsoft Word 2010, two Bronze medals for Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint 2010 at MOSWC 2014.

Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship employs MOS tests to assess competitors’ competencies with of the aim of providing the opportunity for young people from all countries to get access to, practice and improve the office computer skills they need for studying and future career.

At the kick-off ceremony, Mr. Phung Van Cuong Vice Director, Viettel Telecoms, said: “Keeping close company with the students and the educational sector as a whole is a key component in the social activity agenda of Viettel, which has been translated into various projects with high social impact over the years.Sharing the philosophy of “investing in education is investing for the future”, Viettel has engaged in numerous efforts of keeping company with the students across the country. This year MOSWC marks the first time Viettel acts as a co-organizer following four years being a co-sponsor. We are also delighted to see the greater involvement and support from the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Training, provincial Education departments, district Education offices, school management and importantly the students from all over the country.”

Such an international competition as MOSWC taking its roots in Vietnam will provide a jumping board for higher computer literacy of graduated students to become a quality part of the new workforce of the country.We also hope that these students will also keep company with Viettel in our quest for realizing our ambition to introduce information technology to all walks of life”, added Cuong.

At the MOSWC 2015 National qualification round, competitors will take the MOS Specialist test – one designed to evaluate users’ skills with various Microsoft Office applications, includingWord 2010, Excel 2010 and PowerPoint 2010. Fifty top contestants from every component of the test will secure a berth in the National Finals on May 24, 2015, to take on the MOS Expert and Scenario tests (or MOS Specialist and Scenario tests for MS PowerPoint).The three National Top Prize winners for the three components of the test will become Vietnam’s MOS 2015 Ambassadors representing Vietnam to compete in the World Championship Finals held in Dallas, Texas, USA, on August 9-12, 2015.

Nam Pham