Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) and Course Syllabus Development at Champasak University, Lao PDR

The workshop on Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) and Course Syllabus Development for Champasak University was held on 9 – 11 March 2026 in Pakse, Lao PDR. The opening of the workshop was graced by Mr. Saly Detmoongkhun, Vice President of Champasak University, after the opening remarks by the Dean of Faculty of Law and Administration, Champasak University, and Dr. Reginald Pastrana, Senior Sectoral Advisor, Lux Development Programme LAO/037.

It aims to equip participants with the competencies to design future-ready curriculum and to develop course syllabi. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Nguyen Thi My Ngoc and Mr. Johnson Ong of Education Quality International (eqi) and attended by about 40 faculty members from Champasak University.

Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) and Internationalization of Study Programmes at National University of Laos (NUoL)

The workshop on Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) and Internationalization of Study Programmes for the NUoL, Post-Graduate Office was held on 9 – 11 February 2026 in Vientiane, Lao PDR.  The workshop was graced by Assoc Prof. Dr. Ounla Sivanpheng, Vice President of National University of Laos, Dr. Somdeth Keovongsak, Dean of Faculty of Law and Political Science, National University of Laos, and Mr. Thomas Lammar, Charge d Affaires of the Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The 3-day workshop aims to advance outcomes-based education (OBE) and internationalization of study programmes at the Post Graduate Studies Office, National University of Laos in a holistic and unified way to raise the quality of higher education. It aims to equip participants with the OBE and internationalization framework to design study programmes. 

The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Nguyen Thi My Ngoc and Mr. Johnson Ong of Education Quality International (eqi) and attended by more than 40 faculty members from NUoL.

Happier Carrer, Happier Life

The 20th "Happier Career Happier Life" workshop was held on 19 December 2025 at Royal Plaza on Scotts, Singapore. The outline of the workshop is as follows:

• Happiness and its importance
• Career happiness framework: Self, Job and Environment
• Career fit, culture fit and environment fit 
• Job crafting 
• Stress and happiness
• The future of work

The workshop was organised in collaboration with ASK Training Pte Ltd and Living Better and facilitated by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, Founder and Chief Happiness Coach. Various profiling tools were shared to aid career choices and techniques to manage stress were practised such as muscle relaxation, meditation, laughter yoga, stretching exercise and breathwork.

Building Personal Resilience and Wellbeing

The 6th "Building Personal Resilience and Wellbeing" workshop was held on 18 December 2025 at Holiday Inn Atrium, Singapore. The outline of the workshop is as follows:

• Resilience and Wellbeing
• Define resilience and wellbeing
• Evaluate current levels of resilience and wellbeing
• Building Your Resilience
• Emotional Resilience
• Cognitive Resilience
• Adaptive Resilience
• Action Planning for Ongoing Resilience and Wellbeing
• Creating an action plan to enhance resilience and wellbeing.

The workshop was organised in collaboration with ASK Training Pte Ltd and Living Better and facilitated by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, Founder and Chief Happiness Coach. Various instruments are used to assess the levels of wellbeing, resilience, fixed/growth mindset and burnout and techniques to manage the 4 zones of energy (Performance, Survival, Burnout and Recovery) were shared. The workshop ended with a personal action plan for each participant to raise their resilience and wellbeing.

2026 Training Schedule - OBE Ecosystem and SAR Writing Workshops

 

Skills-First Ecosystem Framework

The skills-first economy is an emerging paradigm where economic growth and workforce strategies anchored on skills mastery over formal qualifications.  It has reshaped recruitment practices to hire on what individuals can do rather than what degrees they hold. This approach is expected to expand talent pools, improving equity, and aligning workforce development with fast-changing industry needs, technological advances and demographic shifts. Since 2019, there has been a growing trends towards skills-based hiring and several major companies like IBM, Google, Cisco, Walmart and Boeing have implemented a skills-first approach in their hiring and talent management strategies. 

The shift towards skills-first led to the establishment of a Skills-First Readiness and Adoption Index which is jointly developed by OECD and the Centre for Skills-First Practices (CSFP) at the Singapore University of Social Sciences-Institute for Adult Learning (SUSS-IAL). 

Source: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/dashboards/skills-first-readiness-and-adoption-index.html

The rise of a skills-first economy has profound implications for higher education, especially in curriculum design, credentialing, assessment and graduate employability. HEIs must shift from emphasizing knowledge to future-ready skills, co-create skills-based curriculum with stakeholders, integrating microcredentials, badges, skill certification and authentic performance or skills-based assessment as employers seek out graduates who demonstrate job-ready skills rather than academic knowledge. 

The Skills-First Ecosystem Framework is conceptualized to facilitate HEIs to implement skills-first ecosystem with the support from their national agencies.

Happy Employees Work Better

The 15th "Happy Employees Work Better" workshop was held on 6 - 7 November 2025. The workshop is a collaboration between ASK Training Pte Ltd and Living Better. The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, Chief Happiness Coach of Living Better.

The workshop began with the evolution of the happiness economy, discussed extensively on the 8 dimensions of happiness DNA with a self-assessment instrument to measure the happiness level of each of the 8 dimensions, and the strategies and practices to raise and sustain the level of happiness for individuals and organizations.