Being deeply imbued with President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings, over the past 60 years, the generations of cadres, lecturers, cadets, staff members and soldiers of the Military Academy of Logistics (hereafter the Academy) have always strived to overcome difficulties, improve the task performance, make the Academy regular and exemplary, deserving to be one of the top training and research centres of military logistics and finance.

Graduate officers lay a wreath at Ho Chi Minh’s Monument

On September 7th, 1958, visiting the Military Logistics Officer Training School - the precursor of the present-day Military Academy of Logistics, President Ho Chi Minh taught the Academy’s cadres, lecturers, cadets, staff members and soldiers to: “teach well, learn well as well as pay attention to agricultural production and practice of thrift, deserving the name of Military Logistics Officer Training School”.

Right after Uncle Ho’s visit, the Academy has launched and widely implemented the emulation movement of “Following Uncle Ho’s teachings”. Accordingly, the criteria of training and regularity building have been heightened. Cadres and lectures have actively reformed contents and methods to improve the quality of teaching, and stayed closed to learners with the spirit of “All for the beloved cadets”. The cadet management units have been determined to realize “4 goods” (good ideology, good study, good discipline maintenance, good production), striving to become the exemplary military logistics officers. Along with teaching and learning tasks, the Academy has promoted the agricultural production movement with many conducted effective models, both serving the training and practically improving the life of troops. Since then, the emulation movement “Following Uncle Ho’s teachings” has been maintained with diversified contents and forms and increasingly higher quality. Uncle Ho’s teachings have really become a great goal, motto and spiritual motivation, encouraging cadres, lecturers, cadets, staff members and soldiers to overcome difficulties and fulfil the assigned tasks. With excellent achievements, the Academy has been honoured with the Gold Star Order, Ho Chi Minh Order, title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, and many other noble rewards by the Party, State and Army.

In recent years, especially since the issuance of Politburo’s Directive No.03-CT/TW (12^th tenure) and Directive 05-CT/TW (12^th tenure), the emulation movement “Following Uncle Ho’s teachings” has been promoted and identified as important point in studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle. Following Uncle Ho’s teachings in the new situation, the Academy has thoroughly grasped the resolutions and directives on education and training, synchronously carried out a number of measures to promote the determination to “teach well, study well, research well and work well” with the aim of “carrying out comprehensive reform and making fundamental changes in the quality and efficiency of education, training and scientific research”. Based on the directions of the Academy’s Party Committee and Board, the agencies, faculties and cadet managment units have concretized “the following of Uncle Ho’s teachings” into specific and practical work relevant to the assigned functions and tasks, creating active revolutionary movement in teaching, learning, and scientific research.

In the context of the constant development of training scale, types and objects, increasingly higher requirements, limited logistic resources, and separated training bases, the Academy has attached importance to strengthening the leadership and direction of the Party Committees and commanders at all levels towards education and training tasks, well conducting the work of assigning tasks to, establishing motives and responsibilities for the objects, especially lecturers and cadets. At the same time, the Academy has also implemented many policies and measures to enhance its potential, especially the potential for education, training and scientific research, and make the Academy regular and exemplary with a healthy pedagogical environment, strict discipline, and green, clean and beautiful camps, meeting requirements and tasks in the new situation. Being imbued with Ho Chi Minh’ thought on the role of the contingent of cadres and lecturers in education and training and facing the insufficiency and imbalance in cadres and lecturers of some majors, over the past years, priority has been given to the development of cadres and lecturers, and a number of breakthrough solutions have been offered in the implementation. Accordingly, the Academy has synchronously carried out measures of ideology, organization and policy; formulated and actively implemented resolutions, drawn up plans for developing the contingent of cadres and lecturers, especially the lecturers with high professional qualifications and scientific titles and good lecturers at all levels. On the basis of practical experience, the Academy has focused on the work of preparing human resources and stringently implemented the process of personnel selection, planning, and arrangement. In the meantime, the Academy has also strengthened the training and development of comprehensive capacity for the contingent of cadres and lecturers; closely combined training and improving professional qualifications, pedagogical methods and foreign language and information technology skills with dispatching cadres and lecturers on missions in units in order to accumulate field knowledge and experience. The work of training and building up political willpower, working style, professional morals, personality, lifestyle has been strengthened so that the contingent of cadres and lecturers have really been exemplary. Up to now, 100% of the Academy’s cadres and lecturers held bachelor’s degree and above (in which, 81% at postgraduate level) with 70 doctors, 280 masters, 4 professors, 52 associate professors, 19 meritorious lecturers and many good lecturers at all levels. This is an important resource that will serve as the core for the Academy to renovate and improve the quality of education, training and scientific research, meeting both short-term and long-term development requirements.

Being engraved with Uncle Ho’s teachings, during the course of building, developing and conducting the task of education and training, the Academy has paid due regard to attaching theory to practice, closely following the practice of logistics and financial work in order to supplement, develop and perfect the training process, program, and content and renovate teaching methods. In recent years, facing the development of the tasks of national defence, military building, Fatherland protection and the requirement of education and training reform, the Academy has opportunely adjusted and synchronously renovated training program in the direction of “fundamental, systematic, consistent, intensive” and “streamlined, modern and practical”, ensuring the continuity between training levels. Besides, the Academy has updated and added new issues concerning logistics support for military and national defence tasks in different situations and forms of resistance wars and knowledge of economic and financial management in the context of market economy and international economic integration into training program, satisfying the requirements of training logistics and finance cadres. Along with that, the Academy has intensified the renovation of teaching and learning methods in the direction of transferring from mainly equipping learners with academic knowledge to “developing cadets’ quality and capacity”, considering this as a breakthrough in education and training reform. The emulation movement “teaching well, studying well” has been promoted, focusing on renovating teaching and learning methods. The Academy’s contingent of lecturers has combined teaching forms and methods flexibly, actively applied information technology and simulation techniques and used e-lesson plans in teaching. In particular, the method of problem-based learning have effectively been applied, overcoming one-way conveyance of knowledge and encouraging learners to be active and creative in acquiring knowledge and developing critical thinking and working skills. In addition to innovating teaching methods, due attention has been paid to innovating cadets’ learning methodology, promoting self-study and making learners more capable of self-study. At the same time, there have been many positive measures in renovating learning result examination and evaluation. In particular, the tests have been set towards heightening practice capability and applying comprehensive knowledge into handling practical problems, turning the training process into self-training process.

With strong determination and appropriate measures, the Academy’s quality of education and training has constantly been improved. As for recent training courses, over 70% of the graduates have been rated as credit and distinction. According to the survey, 95.7% of the learners at regiment and division level and 94.8% of those at battalion level have well fulfilled the tasks at their units after graduation. The work of scientific research has also witnessed a comprehensive development. In the period of 2007 - 2017, there were 18 ministerial-level projects, 97 branch-level projects, 269 grassroots level projects, 865 “creative youth” projects. Hundreds of books, course books, and war-reviewing documents were compiled and edited, effectively serving the task of education and training and contributing to the development and improvement of military logistics theory.

In addition, the Academy has always paid attention to enhancing agricultural production and practicing thrift in order to deserve the name of military logistics officer training school as Uncle Ho’s teachings. Accordingly, the work of agricultural production has been carried out practically and effectively. Despite the limited land area for agricultural production, the Academy has instructed units to promote their internal resources, make best use of and improve lands and ponds to go into breeding and cultivation in accordance with the particularities; directed the Logistics Department in collaboration with Ordnance Faculty and Institute of Military Logistics Studies to formulate the planning of land area for agricultural production at the Academy’s second campus and set up closed concentrated production zones. Up to now, the Academy has basically completed a system of gardens, ponds, cages, pergolas with more than 23,000m² garden, 1,700m² net house, 41,000m² fish pond, nearly 1,500m² cage. In terms of agricultural production, the Academy has synchronously implemented a number of measures to improve productivity and quality in an environment-friendly and hygienic manner; paid due regard to applying scientific and technological advances and taking initiative to do first. Thanks to that scale and method, in the first half of 2018, the Academy has got over 80 tons of vegetables, 11 tons of fresh fish, more than 40 tons of meat and processed tens of tons of pork pies, tofu, and so on. The Academy’s agricultural production has not only directly improved the quality of troop’s life but also created a favourable environment for cadres and learners to train and enhance their practical capacity. Thereby, it has created a model for visiting and training, contributing to improving the quality of education and training.

With the honour, pride and great affection for beloved Uncle Ho, the Academy’s cadres, lecturers, cadets, staff members and soldiers will step up the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle and make the Academy comprehensive strong, meeting the task requirements in the new situation.

Maj. Gen., Prof, Dr. Pham Duc Dung, Director of the Academy