During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh ever said that: “special forces are assigned with special missions of great honour, which require special effort”. To be worthy of this honour, the officers, lecturers, and cadets of the Commando College continuously strive and emulate “good teaching and efficient learning”, creating substantial and comprehensive changes in education and training, thus meeting the requirements for building “highly skilled” Special Forces. This contributes significantly to the firm protection of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The Commando College is tasked with training and fostering officers, non-commissioned officers, and technical staff for the special force – a highly skilled special combat force of the Army; researching, applying, and developing military art and other fields related to commando operations; and being ready to be deployed in various missions, such as A2, counterterrorism, protection of maritime sovereignty, etc. In recent years, the College has been assigned with more demanding requirements, including training counterterrorism special forces for the Ministry of Public Security and other countries. To fulfil these tasks effectively, in addition to implementing strategies and measures across all aspects of work, the College’s Party Committee and Board of Directors attach importance to thoroughly grasping, learning, and promoting Uncle Ho’s teaching: “No matter how difficult it is, we must continue to emulate good teaching and efficient learning”. As a result, its education and training quality has been gradually improved. Recent training courses have witnessed over 85% of cadets graduating with good or excellent grades. In 2023, this number exceeded 98%, which was 0.3% higher than the target set by the College’s Party Committee resolution. Notably, in the unarmed martial arts competition of the martial arts clubs within the Army, the College won the first-place team award with nine gold medals, two silver medals, and eight bronze medals. The College also excellently completed its performance at the closing ceremony of the 30^th ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet and the welcoming party of the 2022 Vietnam International Defence Expo. These performances received high praise from the Ministry of National Defence and the Commando Corps.

Leader of the College speaks at the launch of 2023-2024 academic year

Currently, the task of building the Army and developing the Commando Corps sets new and more demanding requirements for the College. To effectively complete the educational and training mission, its Party Committee and Board of Directors determine that it is necessary to implement comprehensive and synchronised measures to leverage the combined strength of all forces. Among these, the emulation of “good teaching and efficient learning” according to Uncle Ho’s teaching, should be intensified and elevated to a new level. Accordingly, in light of the Central Military Commission’s Resolution No. 1657-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, regarding innovating education and training to meet the requirements in the new situation, the College’s Party Committee issued Resolution No. 414-NQ/ĐU, dated 7 April 2023, on innovating education and training to meet the requirements of building the College in the new situation. This includes formulating and perfecting the output standards for training subjects with newer and more comprehensive requirements; specifying the roadmap, objectives, and targets for developing the cadre of lecturers and educational management officers; innovating curricula, content, and teaching methods; and enhancing scientific research and improving the quality of education and training. At the same time, the innovation of education and training is always considered an important part of following Uncle Ho’s teaching and implementing the Conclusion 05-CT/TW, dated 18 May 2021, of the Politburo (13^th tenure) on continuing to implement Directive No. 05-CT/TW, dated 15 May 2016, of the Politburo (12^th tenure).

Being imbued with Uncle Ho’s teaching: “In terms of leadership, officers should be united and unanimous, and lead in a practical and comprehensive manner”, the College continues to strengthen the leadership and direction of the party committees and commanders at all levels, and the pioneering role of organisations and individuals in the emulation of “good teaching and efficient learning”, meeting the output standards. To enhance effectiveness, the College directs its party committees and commanders of departments, faculties, and cadet management units to formulate and perfect plans for implementing the emulation of “good teaching and efficient learning” with appropriate targets for the actual conditions of each unit. Besides, these departments, faculties, and units should supplement and perfect the system of quality assessment regulations for the emulation of organisations and individuals in association with the results of implementing the central political tasks of each agency and unit. This serves as a basis for scientifically and objectively evaluating and rewarding achievements. Simultaneously, the College requires officers, lecturers, and cadets to concretise their commitment to “Promoting learning and following Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality, and style as well as the movement entitled: “promoting traditions, dedicating talents, deserving to be “Uncle’s Ho Soldiers” in the new era”. Furthermore, the College intensifies propaganda and education to raise the awareness of officers, lecturers, and cadets, especially the leading officers and heads of agencies, faculties, and units, about the purpose, significance, content, and requirements of the emulation movement of “good teaching and efficient learning”. It strengthens understanding, management, and orientation of thoughts, promptly criticising and rectifying incorrect perceptions, deviations, and formalistic tendencies in emulation. Through this, it aims to create a strong shift in awareness, responsibility, and consensus among organisations and individuals, ensuring a vibrant, practical emulation movement focused on the goal of innovating and improving the quality of education and training.

Checking training equipment

Deeply understanding Uncle Ho’s teachings “Cadres are the roots of all works” and “…without teachers, there would be no education”⁵, the College puts emphasis on developing a cadre of lecturers and education management officers with a reasonable strength, structure, and high quality. The goal is that by 2025, over 25% of lecturers and education management officers will meet the required standards and over 10% of lecturers will hold doctoral degrees, including associate professors, meritorious teachers, and national teachers. To achieve this goal, the College concentrates on reviewing and formulating plans for the use of the cadre of lecturers and education management officers in line with the implementation of the project entitled “Building a cadre of lecturers and education management officers within the Army for the 2023 - 2030 period and beyond”. Priority is given to perfecting the standard framework of professional qualifications for each position and title, forming the basis for developing plans for personnel sourcing, selection, training, and development appropriate to the age structure, educational level, capacity, and work experience, thus creating high-quality successive generations for each position and title. Notably, to achieve the goal of building a standard cadre of lecturers and education management officers, the College proactively formulate plans for them to go on field trips, rotate positions, and hold command and management positions according to the personnel planning at the grassroots units. Moreover, the College innovates content, methods, and forms of in-service training and professional development, focusing on developing professional capacity, emphasising the ability to develop training programmes, the ability to employ modern methods in teaching, and the ability to conduct scientific research and apply information technology to digital transformation in teaching activities. The role of departments and faculties in training and professional development is promoted, encouraging lecturers and education management officers to self-study to enhance their qualifications. The evaluation of lecturers and education management officers is carried out substantively, linked to rewards and recognition, creating motivation for their development.

Thoroughly grasping and implementing Uncle Ho’s teaching: “Practice without theory is blind, and theory without practice is empty”, the College enhances collaboration with its units to implement the principle that “The training quality of colleges is the combat readiness capacity of units”. Closely following the training goals and requirements, the College proactively formulate plans and coordination regulations with agencies and units to establish the output standards for training programmes; to adjust, supplement, and develop new programmes, content, forms, and methods of training; to compile textbooks and teaching materials; to send lecturers to training and exercises at units; to invite unit commanders to teach, give thematic reports, and share their experience in training and unit building with the College’s officers, lecturers, and cadets. The College also strengthens activities such as visits, research, and practical learning so that lecturers and cadets can experience and get acquainted with modern weapons and technical equipment. Besides, the College utilises the system of training fields and training grounds close to actual combat practice to enhance the practical knowledge and practical skills of both lecturers and cadets. Additionally, the College enhances management and improves the quality of personnel rotation, practical visits, and internships for officers, lecturers, and cadets at the units. It also coordinates with these units to summarise training and combat readiness in conjunction with the education and training work of the College.

The College consistently focuses on mobilising resources to consolidate and develop infrastructure and advance scientific research to best serve education and training. Due to the high intensity, dangerous, and complex nature of special forces training, which is prone to safety incidents, the College focuses its resources on physical facilities, teaching equipment, training fields, and training grounds in a standardised and modern direction. Given the limited budget, the College currently prioritises investment in certain areas, such as upgrading the training operations room, the system of surveillance cameras, the centralised grading room, the digital library, the specialised classrooms for information technology and foreign languages; standardising general lecture halls; investing in modern technological equipment for specialised Martial Arts - Physical Fitness classrooms; and upgrading swimming pools, training fields, tactical training areas for special forces, and infantry shooting ranges. These investments are in line with the active teaching methods of the College.

In addition, the College is intensifying innovation in scientific research, with a focus on the developing of up-to-date and practically relevant topics, such as scripts for performances of delegations in the International Army Games and English Olympics greeting performances, the “warm-up, cool-down, and relaxation” process, “several measures to enhance the quality of self-study and martial arts self-training for cadets”, etc. These efforts create the optimal conditions for the College to realise the goal of “good teaching and efficient learning”, successfully achieving the goals of innovating education and training, hence contributing to the building of “highly skilled” Special Forces “capable of excellently fulfilling any mission, especially special ones” as instructed by our beloved Uncle Ho.

Senior Colonel, Doctor NGUYEN XUAN BINH, Rector of the College