The Naval Academy is the education – training and scientific research centre of the Army and the Navy which provides training for the naval cadets and officers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, contributing to the building of the revolutionary, regular, elite and modern Naval Service. Clearly grasping that assigned great responsibility, the Academy Party Committee and Directorate Board determine that improving the quality of education, training and scientific research is the key task which decides both immediate and long-term development of the academy. In order to accomplish that task, the Academy has been implementing “The strategy for education and training development in the Army in the 2011 – 2020 period”, the specialised resolution on “Improving the quality of education, training and scientific research to meet the requirements of the Service’s modernization and international integration”, the scheme of “Developing the contingent of lecturers and educational managers in the 2015 – 2020 period and beyond”, and the project of “Improving training and scientific research capacity of the Naval Academy” under the assistance of many synchronous and practical solutions and policies with a focus on the following points.

First, to well conduct the political and ideological education, build political stuff and determination for cadres, lecturers and cadets. This is a decisive solution to the task performance of each organization and individual. Therefore, party committees and commanders at all levels should always pay attention to leading and directing this task in order to build strong political stuff and determination, to improve soldiers’ virtues, ethics, lifestyle and personality as well as to maintain and promote the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers – the Naval soldiers”. Importance should be attached to training and fostering political qualities, ethics, lifestyles and professional competence and working style, to “matching words with actions”, and to improving their ability to handle with problems arisen from reality. For administrators and lecturers, focus should be placed on the grasp and education of training goals and requirements as well as the military instructor’s responsibility, honor and pride. Each administrator and lecturer must strive to be truly examples in terms of knowledge, qualities, professional ethics and competence for cadets to follow. For cadets, importance should be attached to building their motivation and responsibility, sense of self-study, self-improvement and research to reach scientific peaks and to strengthening their affection towards sea, islands and training profession as well as the honor and pride of the future Naval officers. Facing new task requirements and complex developments in the East Sea, the Academy Directorate Board instructs faculties, agencies and units to actively update the situation for officers, instructors and cadets as well as to clearly educate on partners, rivals and orientation to solve arising situations, helping cadets have strong political will, solid knowledge background and be sensitive in dealing with the situations on the sea. At the same time, that also arouses their pride, responsibility, combat readiness and sacrifice in protecting the Motherland’s sovereignty of the sea and island.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Van Lam addresses the conference on teaching-learning renewal

Second, to actively innovate the training program and content in the direction of “standardization and modernization”. Good implementation of this solution will directly contribute to improving the training quality of the Academy. In recent years, the Academy has been the leading training facility of the Army in the acquisition and development of modern training approach CDIO – a training model of output standards which ensures the amount of knowledge trainees receive sufficient to be performed in their initial positions and promoted at higher educational levels. The requirements for program and content renewal must ensure the balance between basic knowledge and specialized knowledge, between military science and social and humanistic science. Focus must be also placed on reducing theoretical learning time and increasing practice time on simulation systems, specialized classrooms and training facilities. The specific criteria of the CDIO approach are applied to the undergraduate curriculum in order to improve the professional knowledge and skills that help cadets quickly master advanced equipment and be capable of taking charge of the post-graduate task. For position-based training, in addition to the general specialist knowledge, the training of method of commanding, coordinating and dealing with situations in the context of lasting independent operation on the sea and use of new-generation equipment will be increased to meet the requirements of combat using high-tech weapons. In addition to standardizing the training process, the Academy promotes renovation of the organization of practice, probation and combined manoeuvres; combines training work, combat readiness and combat with education and training; intensifies the transmission of practical experience to cadets to ensure that they stay close to the reality of sea and islands sovereignty protection, creating favorable conditions for cadets to improve their knowledge and apply theory to the settlement of arising issues. At the same time, importance is attached to training foreign languages (English, Russian) and information technology, ensuring that cadets after graduation have a command of foreign language that meets standards prescribed by the Ministry of Defence, and are capable of exploiting, using, mastering modern weapons and equipment, as well as are confident in defense foreign relations and international integration.

Third, to focus on building and improving the competence of administrators and lecturers. Determining that administrators and lecturers play the central role deciding the quality of education and training, the Academy has taken many measures to prepare human resources for selection of this staff. It regularly consolidates the organizational structure of the contingent of lecturers quantitatively and qualitatively. The Academy strives for the goal that by 2020, 100 percent of its lecturers will hold post-graduate degree, with priority is given to training top technicians in naval field. Therefore, it has implemented many solutions to encourage its lecturers to actively study in all aspects; regularly reviewed the personnel planning and strictly implemented the process of recruiting, training and using lecturers; selected and dispatched lecturers to attend post-graduate courses both at home and abroad. Training courses have been held within the Academy to encourage cadres and lecturers’ self-study to improve their professional competence and foreign language, information technology, and pedagogical capabilities and practical knowledge. The Academy is particularly interested in training and improving foreign language proficiency for its cadres and lecturers in order to meet the requirements of teaching and international integration in naval military diplomatic activities such as: joint patrols, scientific seminars with countries in the region, humanitarian action coordination, search and rescue on the sea, preparation of human resources for defense foreign affairs of the Naval Service in 2020 when Vietnam plays the role of ASEAN chairmanship, etc. At the same time, the Academy actively sends cadres and lecturers for fieldwork, or to take command and leadership in units, or to participate in special task forces in Truong Sa archipelago and DK1 platform to accumulate practical knowledge. It also continues to implement appropriate policies to attract enthusiastic, qualified and experienced officers from units within the Service to come to work at the Academy. Regulations, policies and entitlements for lecturers are well implemented while working and living conditions of lecturers are improved.

Fourth, to improve the quality of ensuring facilities, weapons and technical equipment in a synchronized and modern manner and to efficiently exploit them for teaching work are considered one of the breakthrough phases for the enhancement of the quality of education and training. In addition to the effective implementation of simulation systems of the vessels 1241.8 and Gepard 3.9, training simulations for tactics and campaigns, practising and experimental rooms, and specialized classrooms to improve the quality of training, the Academy also actively implements the project of "Improving capacity of training and scientific research", and invests in upgrading equipment system, electronic library software, training management and administration system, advanced testing and evaluating software with the aim of building a smart school which accesses 4.0 generation technology. At the same time, the Academy also directs the faculties and units to closely cooperate with each other in fully exploiting the functions of the modern specialized classrooms and simulation complexes in teaching and learning performance, and to improve the quality of practice and probation in units, as well as to adjust the duration of the probation of last-year cadets, ensuring that after graduation they meet the task requirements at grassroots-level units. Moreover, the Academy has actively used vessels for the practice of cadets to ensure that they have more opportunities to be in contact with marine operations, and instructed cadres and cadets to carry out training duties in international waters in combination with defense foreign relations by sailing vessel 286 - Le Quy Don.

Fifth, to continue to innovate and improve the quality and effectiveness of scientific research activities. With the aim of using scientific research to improve the competence, the development of scientific thinking, the independence and creativity in teaching and learning and the application of knowledge to solve practical problems, the Academy has well directed the implementation of this task with many positive solutions. Simultaneously, there are many policies to encourage and motivate cadres, lecturers and learners to actively conduct scientific research and technical innovations in service of teaching and learning. The content of scientific research focuses on the practical issues that the Academy has advantage, such as naval military science and art, marine environment, and application of science and technology into real task requirements of the Naval Service and the Army. Especially, the Academy successfully organized the contest "Creation of software and learning aid models" in 2016. The results of the scientific research of the Academy have contributed to developing the naval military science, technology and technique, effectively serving the task of education and training.

Promoting the achieved results and experience, the Naval Academy continues to carry out synchronous solutions in order to constantly improve the quality of education, training and scientific research, contributing to improving the quality of the naval staff to meet the requirements of building a revolutionary, regular, elite and modern Vietnam People's Navy, and to firmly manage and protect the sacred sovereignty over the sea, islands and continental shelf of the Motherland.

Sr. Col., Assoc. Prof. PhD. Nguyen Van Lam, Rector of the Naval Academy