Automotive Technology and Engineering College whose forerunner was Tien Bo School under the General Technical Department was founded in October 1951; it launched the first course on November 25th, 1951. Nowadays, it is tasked with training vehicle - machinery technicians, mechanics at associate, intermediate, and elementary levels, and drivers for the Military. It is also assigned to take part in training technical and technological human resources for the country’s industrialisation and modernisation. Over the past 70 years of construction and development with a lot of changes in organisational structure, cadres, instructors, cadets, and soldiers of the College have always heightened a sense of unity and overcome difficulties to train more than 150,000 drivers, vehicle - machinery repairmen, automotive technical officers, and petroleum and transport cadres, thus opportunely serving the two resistance wars and providing support for Laos and Cambodia. It is home to “heroic transport corps” and nurtures skilled human resources for the Homeland construction and protection. With its achievements, it has been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and many other noble rewards by the State and the Military.

In recent years, the College has been assigned more duties amidst changes in its contingent of cadres. However, its facilities and training equipment are still limited. Hence, in order to train high-calibre human resources, it has drastically, synchronously taken various measures as follows.

First of all, enhance party committees’ leadership and commands’ direction at all levels over the training work and the building of a high-quality pool of cadres and instructors. Grasping resolutions and directives on education and training, especially the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 86-NQ/ĐUQSTW, dated March 29th, 2007 on education and training in the new situation as well as the motto of “fundamental, systematic, unified, intensive” education and training, the College has developed yearly resolutions on this task together with specific targets and measures of leadership over college entrance examinations and education links, while closely running training courses, fostering a healthy pedagogic environment, and building a regular, exemplary school. It has directed offices and units to strictly implement plans for school years and training courses, ensure accommodations for cadets, organise field training, work placement, and particularly practical training, and adhere to training contents, programmes, and procedures. To meet the task requirements in the new situation, it has designed and supplemented operation statutes and criteria for examination and assessment, adjusted training programmes properly, and identified intensive training contents. It has enhanced the application of information technology to managing and running training courses, examinations, and especially automated driving tests, thereby gradually building a “smart school.”

Leader of the College inspecting a driver training course

Being acutely aware of the importance of instructors to raising the quality of education and training, the College has accelerated the execution of the Project on building and developing a pool of instructors and managerial cadres in the period of 2021-2025. Significance has been attached to reviewing criteria for job titles of cadres and instructors and well conducting the personnel work. At the same time, priority has been given to sending cadres and instructors to reliable universities for further education, dispatching staff members to join higher echelons’ refresher courses and hold positions at technical units, and organising on-the-spot training courses to improve workforce’s professional competence, command of foreign languages and information technology, pedagogic methods and skills, political zeal, and professional ethics. The College has also standardised the quality of its cadres and instructors, particularly young ones and instructors in charge of new subjects. It has well organised contests and received feedback from cadets, students, and employees to evaluate the task performance of its cadres and instructors. It has implemented policies to attract talents, encouraged cadres and cadets to undertake scientific researches, self-acquire qualifications, and apply information technology and foreign languages to the teaching and learning process, and opportunely rewarded typical individuals. In 2020, it held refresher courses on professional knowledge, information technology, and foreign languages for 149 cadres and instructors, while recruiting 12 new instructors. Currently, all instructors of the College have university qualifications and 30% of them hold postgraduate degrees.

Second, supplement and update training contents and programmes in accordance with weapons and technical equipment and improve cadets’ practical skills. Being fully aware that “the quality of schools goes hand in hand with units’ combat readiness capacity,” the College has directed its competent offices to carry out surveys into the quality of its graduates and into technical staff members’ needs for skills at units across the Military. Grounded on those surveys, it has adjusted, supplemented, and completed training programmes for each speciality and training level, while properly identifying duration for both theoretical subjects and practice to develop and standardise learners’ skills. In response to the development of its task and weapons and equipment, it has proactively made driver training schemes relevant to combat reality, provided refresher courses for drivers of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department and offices in charge of the diplomatic work, and increased duration of practice and placement up to 70% of the total training period. Due attention has been paid to improving learners’ method of diagnosing breakdowns, designing scenarios relevant to maintenance, repair, training, and combat readiness, practising exploiting and maintaining command vehicles. The College has developed the Project for coordination in training staff members of the Vehicle - Machinery Branch, while cooperating with Factory Z151 in teaching cadets specialising in military automotive engineering at intermediate and elementary levels. Doing so has enabled cadets to get more practice, access modern vehicles, technical equipment, and repair technologies, and improve their practical skills to meet the task requirements at units. Between 2011 and 2020, the College rebuilt, adjusted, and supplemented its driver training programmes at intermediate and elementary levels for 14 times, while designing 2 new training programmes at such levels. Currently, it is developing 1.5-year and 3-year college training programmes for automotive engineering and technology and specialised driving.

Third, actively employ learner-centred approach and better staff members’ capability in undertaking scientific researches and applying technologies to education and training. In addition to renewing its training contents and programmes, the College has directed faculties to resolutely adopt the learner-centred approach. Importance has been attached to giving instructions to cadets on seeking documents and information and designing group debates, research topics, and assignments so as to encourage self-study amongst learners, develop their creative thinking, and improve their group skills. The College has spent the majority of duration of its training programmes on practice and flexibly organised training sessions in accordance with the quantity of its training equipment. Doing so has allowed cadets to get more practice on equipment and make a comparison between theory and practice to adjust their understanding. In addition, the College has placed emphasis on seriously performing the work of testing and quality management, designing and closely managing examination questions, increasing the rate of computer-based multiple-choice questions, exercising democracy during training, and frequently conducting regular and irregular inspections and investigations to ensure honesty and outcome standards and opportunely prevent shortcomings in the training process.

To keep pace with the development of modern vehicle - machinery technology, the College has closely combined education and training with scientific research and implemented appropriate policies for this work. Emphasis has been placed on undertaking research projects on managing education and cadets, renewing methodology, raising the quality of teaching and learning, and innovating technical equipment. The College has established an intranet and widely applied pieces of software to designing electronic lectures and multiple-choice examination questions, evaluating learning outcomes, simulating details of vehicles as a favourable condition for teaching, reference, and the sharing of experience. Between 2011 and 2020, it carried out 25 research projects and 138 technical innovations, including 2 ministerial-level ones and 11 sectorial-level ones, while designing 149 textbooks.

Fourth, make investments in facilities and training equipment towards modernity and focalisation. Thanks to its higher echelons’ aid, in the period of 2011-2020, the College built and upgraded 11 specialised classrooms and 6 study halls as well as its garages, physical training ground, and training operation room. Besides, it has acquired and upgraded pieces of software to be applied to teaching, quality assessment, and simulation of details of vehicles and machinery. Nevertheless, in order to quickly approach advanced education models, in the upcoming time, the College will actively mobilise resources to modernise its facilities, training equipment, and training grounds as well as to standardise textbooks and training documents. In the short term, it will concentrate on constructing a new driver training ground with complex terrains and relevance to combat reality.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, due attention will be paid to stepping up military standard order building and modernisation, raising the quality of training, and developing Automotive Technology and Engineering College into a high-quality training centre to meet the requirements set by the Military build-up in the new period.

Sr. Col., D.Sc NGUYEN NANG THANG

Rector of the College