The Centre for Defence and Security Education under Hanoi Pedagogic University of Sport is assigned to give advice to the University’s Party Executive Committee and Board on local defence and military work as well as research on military science, and to organize defence and security education courses for students from 18 universities and colleges according to the Joint Circular 123/2015/TT-BQP-BGDĐTBLĐTBXH. In recent years, the Centre has also been tasked with training defence and security teachers for high schools and vocational schools, and performing various missions. With regard from functional agencies under the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of National Defence, Hanoi Capital High Command, first and foremost the University’s Party Executive Committee and Board, up to now, the Centre’s facilities and system of teaching aids have been built rather synchronously, capable enough to receive and educate over 2,000 students per course. However, it is confronted with difficulties, such as a shortage of cadres and instructors; inadequate facilities; limited awareness and responsibility of a number of students towards the subject. To successfully fulfil the assigned tasks, the Centre has adopted measures in a synchronous fashion.

First, it has focused on building the staff in both qualitative and quantitative terms, regarding this as a determinant to its task performance and quality of defence and security education. In recent times, the Centre’s leadership has actively counselled the University’s Party Executive Committee and Board to cooperate with Hanoi Capital High Command and functional agencies in consolidating the organizational structure, particularly faculties, by seeking for, selecting and asking for the appointment of officers on attachment and those who have the second degree in defence and security education as its managerial cadres and instructors. With its resolve and actively adopted measures, to date, the Centre has basically consolidated its organizational structure, ranging from the Directorate to faculties, offices and committees for student management. However, the number of its staff members is insufficient as required by the Project on development of the Centre until 2020 and beyond in which it will receive, manage and educate 30,000 students/ year. Thus, in the coming time, it will continue to select and recruit instructors, with attention paid to those who have the second degree in defence and security education to gradually replace officers on attachment. Moreover, it will step up the work of planning, developing, training and cultivating its staff according to stated road map, in accordance with its functions and tasks. 100% of the cadres deployed to the Centre have been sent to Hanoi Pedagogic University of Sport for pedagogy. It encourages and creates favourable condition for cadres and instructors to take postgraduate courses at universities both inside and outside the Military. To improve the comprehensive capabilities of its staff, in recent times, the Centre has intensified inspection and review of lectures and experience exchange among faculties and departments, while maintaining the order of lesson plan approval and lecture rehearsal at all levels. Besides, it has dispatched its cadres and instructors to join training courses held by higher authorities and all-level excellent teacher contests. Up to now, 100% of its staff members have a Bachelor’s degree, including 6 masters and 1 doctor. Annually, 100% of its instructors take part in Centre-and-University-level excellent instructor contests. In 2015, in the national excellent defence and security instructor contest, 4 instructors of the Centre won the title “Ministry-level excellent instructor”, and 1 won the runner-up award. Being highly responsible and enthusiastic, its staff members have promoted their role in defence and security education, ensuring the Centre’s successful implementation of assigned tasks.

Currently, the flow of students in the Centre is huge (over 18,000 students/ year), from different colleges. For the sake of successful fulfilment of the task of defence and security education, planning and coordination play a role of utmost importance. Yearly, the Centre closely works with its partner universities to hold conferences on training and school year review whereby it collaborates with its partners on course duration and number of students, laying foundation for the implementation and lesson drawing. Consequently, the work of receiving students and defence and security education has always been carried out closely in accordance with its partners’ training program and its facilities and staff.

Defence and security education is a highly specific subject. If instructors do not employ proper teaching methods or flexibly combine theory with practice, this subject will become dry and boring. Perceiving that, the Centre has speeded up renovation of content and teaching-learning method and considered this as a breakthrough. Adhering to the fixed curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs, it has attached the study of the Party and State’s guidelines on defence and security as well as hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy to students’ majors. Moreover, it has regularly updated and included new elements related to defence and military, national protection tasks and system of legal documents on national defence, such as the Military Service Law, the Law on Militia and Self-Defence Forces, the Law of the Sea of Vietnam, in lectures. It has directed its faculties to include the country’s defence and security situations in lectures to provide students with information and orient their ideology towards the country’s major issues.

As most of the college students have good knowledge, being familiar with college-level teaching and learning method, the Centre has directed its faculties and instructors to grasp the content and groups of learners to employ the method and maintain practice activities properly. Due attention has been paid to employing active teaching and learning method to broaden learners’ mind and completely remedy the problem of one-sided teaching method. During the course of training, teaching staff have actively applied information technology, made electronic lesson plans, included new elements in their lecture, and attached theory to practice, thereby arousing learners’ interest and bringing them closer to reality of defence and military activities. It is noted that the Centre designed a website to post necessary information, such as the curriculum, daily and weekly orders, for the students. In addition to renovation of teaching methodology, the Centre has attached great importance to building and renovating students’ learning method, with a focus on building the spirit of activeness and self-awareness as well as self-study method. To this end, besides discussing and guiding self-study method, it has actively renovated content and forms of exam, with emphasis placed on the application of theory to practice and students’ majors. At present, the Centre has developed and brought the bank of exam questions including more than 100 worksheets into use; organized practice tests for military content and shooting tests by MBT-03electronic shooting machines, thereby ensuring learners’ accurate result of study.

Besides, due regard has been paid to the work of student management in order to build students’ organization and sense of discipline as well as manners of a soldier. Prior to each course, the Centre proactively works with its partner colleges to select good students as section and platoon cadres; to organize students into companies, platoons and sections; to popularize regulations and rules for each student. During the courses, with the motto “gentle, flexible but resolute”, the Centre has combined education with serious maintenance of daily and weekly orders, ranging from morning exercise, hygiene, class and training ground orders to meal and sleep orders so that students could have access to, get familiar with and really live in the military environment. Besides bringing into play role of the managerial staff and adopting measures for management, the Centre has attached significance to carrying out the party and political work and organizing extra-curriculum activities. It is worth noting that the Centre regularly cooperates with the University’s Youth Union Executive Committee and Union of Students in organizing extra-curriculum activities, such as news briefing, military science film watching, cultural and artistic exchange, and sport competition. Recently, the Centre has successfully held the “Student - Soldier” program, competitions for defence and security knowledge and military skills as well as talent contests. In addition, the Centre has maintained the order of democratic dialogue between the Directorate and students in each course; encouraged students to express their opinion about the Centre and subject and to give recommendations on the curriculum and teaching and managing methods, providing the basis for drawing lessons and improving the quality of education. Due attention has been paid to supporting students’ study and training via higher authorities’ budget and mobilized resources.

Taking the above-mentioned measures synchronously, since 2015, the Centre for Defence and Security Education under Hanoi Pedagogic University of Sport has organized defence and security courses for over 60,000 students. It was given certificates of credit by Minister of National Defence and Ministry of Education and Training. Those achievements have greatly contributed to training high-calibre human resources, meeting the requirements of national construction and protection.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Minh Tien MA, Deputy Director of the Centre