Lecturers upgrade their ecommerce skills at special Alibaba workshops

The “Global E-Commerce Talent – Train the Trainers” programme offered training in e-commerce and digital economy to 48 university lecturers from 10 academic institutions in lectures and hands-on workshops held at Burapha University in Chon Buri within the Eastern Economic Corridor. 
Launched on June 10, the one-week programme concluded on Saturday in a graduation ceremony with Anukul Tamprasirt, adviser to the secretary-general, Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand, as the guest of honour. Also on the podium were Brian Wong, vice president of global initiatives of Alibaba Group, and Charoen Chinwanitcharoen, assistant president, planning and strategic development affairs of Burapha University.
“Thailand is dedicated to developing its digital economy capabilities and human resources as part of Thailand 4.0, so we are pleased that Alibaba Business School has joined forces with Burapha University in this important endeavour,” said Anukul.
“We expect the university lecturers who have participated in this training programme to adapt the lessons learned to their classes in order to empower their students with e-commerce skills.” Conducted by Alibaba-certified trainers, the programme was an intensive learning session designed to groom university teachers to offer e-commerce courses to their students, to help them start their own businesses.
Participants were offered lessons on the e-commerce ecosystem, business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) platforms, e-commerce operations, cloud computing and customer management skills. In addition to theoretical lessons, participants were also given an opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in practical business simulation sessions.
“We are proud to be part of Thailand’s efforts to develop talent for the new economy era, and to work in close partnership with local stakeholders such as Burapha University and the EEC office,” said Alibaba’s Wong. “Alibaba Group is committed to long-term and close collaboration with Thailand and supporting its digital transformation.
“By sharing the experience and story of Alibaba’s development from an e-commerce platform into an ecosystem, we hope to inspire teachers and the next generation of digital talent in Thailand to work with SMEs and promote inclusive development as they grow the local digital economy,” he added.
As a leading academic institution in the EEC, Burapha University’s Charoen Chinwanitcharoen said his school considers it “crucial to develop future talent with essential e-commerce skills to support Thailand’s development in the digital economy era” and in line with the government’s 4.0 policy. 
“Therefore, we have partnered with Alibaba Business School with the support of the EEC Office to operate this programme to support Thai university lecturers with special training sessions. After the programme’s completion, the attending lecturers will share the knowledge and experience gained from the sessions with their students in the first semester of the 2018 academic year, followed by careful evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the training.”
The programme represents a continuation of Alibaba Group’s support for Thailand’s digital talent development under a series of MoUs signed in April 2018 between the Chinese company and the Thai government. The Industry Ministry’s Department of Industrial Promotion, the Commerce Ministry’s Department of International Trade Promotion and Alibaba Business School committed to work together to develop effective strategies for Thailand’s talent development. They also agreed to provide students and academics with opportunities to participate in various courses for digital technology proficiency.