The Centre for National Defence and Security Education, Hanoi National University operates under an autonomous mechanism and has the function of running training courses on defence and security education for pupils and students of Hanoi National University and other higher education institutions according to the allocation of the Ministry of National Defence. In the past years, despite the difficulties (in teaching materials and facilities; funding; qualifications of cadres, lecturers and employees), the Centre has always considered the quality of its education as the most important thing. It has thoroughly grasped and strictly implemented the resolutions, directives, instructions, contents and programs on defence and security education; assigned the best personnel to each job. Besides, it has held specialised training workshops for officials and lecturers; encouraged scientific research and innovations to improve teaching quality; required learners to strictly practise Army’s regulations; effectively made the best use of existing facilities and weapons, etc. In the period of 2015 - 2020, by the unremitting efforts of the staff and lecturers, it always successfully completed its tasks including 48 training courses for more than 70,000 people; 60,000 certificates; 02 projects, 01 monograph, 12 researches, etc.

In the coming time, the Party and State will continue to increase in the number of learners at the Centre, and require higher quality of defence and security education. In order to fulfil the tasks and to become an autonomous and leading unit in the system of National Defence and Security Education Centres, the Party Committee and the Board of Directors of the Centre advocates the innovation and creativity in training with the focus on key contents as follows:

Firstly, improve the effectiveness of leadership and management. The Centre regularly updates, grasps and strictly implements regulations related to national defence and security education for all staff, lecturers and learners. It also attaches importance to applying advanced university management methods in training, quality accreditation, scientific and technological research, human resource management, financial and administrative planning. The focus of this implementation is on decentralising management, promoting the autonomy and self-responsibility of each individual and unit in using resources to improve the quality of training, scientific research, services; applying information and communication technology in management, teaching and administrative activities to promptly adapt to unexpected changes. It has created necessary conditions for combining face-to-face work with online work in order to ensure quick, accurate, economical work processing. Moreover, it continues to review and build processes and criteria in leadership and direction; controls its operations and scientific research; builds lesson plans, exam questions, learning materials; evaluates students, lecturers, etc. to ensure specific and accurate quality measurement. At the same time, it regularly holds dialogues among officials, lecturers, and learners to collect feedback and experiences for improving training quality. It has promulgated guidelines and policies to encourage cadres, officials and employees to promote their capacity and forte to actively take part in improving the quality of activities, contributing to constantly increasing the effectiveness of leadership and management throughout the Centre.

Leaders of the centre awards outstanding individuals and collectives

Secondly, build an "elite, compact and efficient" team of cadres and lecturers. This is one of the breakthroughs that the Centre attaches special importance to. Accordingly, along with developing a plan to "standardise" the staff, it develops evaluation criteria for each job position to ensure publicity and transparency. On that basis, it restructures its organisations and rearranges cadres according to their capacity, forte and job requirements; actively selects and supplements high-quality lecturers outside the Army; makes up plans for recruitment, training, and creating an elite, compact, reasonable team of cadres with high qualifications and proper age; gives priority to post-graduate training for young cadres. At the same time, promotes cooperation with local educational institutions and other national defence and security education centres in sharing experiences and learning new practices; adopts policies to take care of cadres’ living standard to encourage their further development and devotion. Along with that, it regularly collects comments and feedback from students, parents; actively innovates teaching, testing and evaluation methods; applies modern technology in teaching; updates exam questions and answers, training programs, reference materials, etc. Base on the requirements of the Centre, cadres and lecturers make plans to improve their qualifications, working methods and styles.

Thirdly, promote learners’ self-motivation and self-discipline in learning and training. Building learners’ self-motivation and self-discipline in learning and training is considered as the core factor that directly determines the training quality of the Centre. Accordingly, in addition to requiring learners to obey strict Army regulations, the Centre advocates creating favourable conditions and a “free and disciplined” environment to maximise learners' self-motivation in learning military knowledge and skills. Along with firmly grasping the essential needs of learners, it attaches great importance to helping students build learning goals and implement training plans in accordance with general requirements. Student of the same gender, major, health, origin, etc. are grouped together. Experienced students in management such as class monitors and secretaries are assigned the responsibility of seconded officers. In addition, it has founded study groups and clubs for self-study and self-education of politics, morality and healthy lifestyle, etc. Through the training processes, students learn the skills of managers, commanding officers and how to deliver collective activities; they are also encouraged to renew thinking, vision, capacity and life skills. As a result, students would build up personal capability; understand and strictly obey learning and training regulations; stay away from social evils; be aware of their responsibility in the construction and protection of the Fatherland.

Fourthly, build up awareness, good behaviour and true values in improving the quality of national defence and security education. This is both a goal and an indispensable requirement for the optimal transformation of management, teaching and training processes into the quality of output products which is associated with the current trend of continuous innovation and improvement. With that awareness, the Centre focuses on building common values of the quality of national defence and security education, such as: trust, expectation, commitment to quality; cooperative efforts in all activities, etc. In order to achieve these goals, it builds and strictly manages the processes to ensure that the training is close to the reality. It also: creates appropriate contents and plans; improves management skills for officials and lecturers; mobilises the maximum participation of its members, etc. to ensure that everyone understands and is determined to successfully perform daily tasks; creating the high quality becomes the need and habit of each staff, lecturer and student. In addition, it creates a favourable environment for staff, lecturers and students to be autonomous and self-determined to decide on the quality of their work; at the same time, pays attention to building favourable working conditions and mechanisms, harmonises individual and collective interests, aiming to satisfy stakeholders especially learners; gradually contributes to the formation of a culture of ‘high quality’ - the highest goal that organisations aim for.

Fifthly, modernise facilities and digital transformation in teaching and managing activities. Sticking to the approved projects and development plans, the Centre focuses on building steps to renovate existing facilities in the direction of ensuring a better environment for teaching activities. In the coming time, it will focus on renovating, repairing and upgrading classrooms, student accommodations, sports fields, training grounds and teaching facilities. Continue to complete projects, such as: multi-purpose hall, parking simulator equipment; effectively make use of works from Hanoi National University, ensuring the best living and learning conditions for staff, lecturers and students. Effectively manage and operate existing facilities, especially those support essential activities of learners such as the multi-purpose sports field, the football field, the supermarket and the cafeteria. Upgrade information and documentation infrastructure; invest in information technology equipment; hold training workshops on using Microsoft Teams, E-learning, Google Meet, E-office and other application software used for teaching and scientific research. In addition, the Centre actively cooperates with other units of Hanoi National University to share and effectively use the information, documents and facilities. In the long term, it will actively coordinate and complete the construction of the QGHN-04 project on the construction of the Centre with a scale of more than 19 hectares to be put into operation by 2025.

Along with the above solutions, the Centre put its activities on the websites and social networks; thematic talks; pick-up and drop-off ceremonies; conferences; cooperation, ... to beautify its image and build up trust in the training and cooperation of the Centre. Thanks to the above activities, the Centre promotes cooperation with other national defence and security education institutions throughout the country, meeting the requirements of training high-quality human resources for the cause of building and protecting the Fatherland in the new situation.

Dr. NGUYEN DUC DANG, Director of the Centre