The University of Economics – Technology for Industry (UNETI), Ministry of Industry and Trade, is a place for training high-quality technological, economic human resources in support of industrialisation and modernisation of the country. In recent years, to realise the goal of training students to become bachelors and engineers who possess fine dignity, comprehensive professional competence, appropriate awareness, and high responsibility for the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland, UNETI’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have not only concentrated on enhancing training quality of specialties but also attached importance to leadership of establishing and developing the Centre for Defence and Security Education (CDSE). Many synchronous solutions have been adopted to improve quality of defence and security education. Despite numerous difficulties when the University has to build the centre from scratch while undertaking its missions, it has prioritised resources and rapidly developed the centre into a unit that is allowed to deliver this important subject by itself. Thus, defence and security education quality at the university has witnessed new developments. The university has delivered defence and security lessons to over 11,500 students since 2021, contributing to implementation of the Party’s and State’s guideline on training and building the young generation who are future owners of the country.

Conducting firing training for students in practice

Despite gaining many encouraging results, there remain some limitations in defence and security education at the university. The teaching facilities experience a shortage and asynchronicity. The corps of cadres and lectures is not adequate and fails to meet certain requirements of the subject.

According to the Decision No. 1573/QD-TTg dated 5 December 2023 of the Prime Minister, the CDSE is added to the planned system of regional centres for defence and security education in the 2021 – 2030 period, vision 2045 and tasked with providing defence and security education for students of universities and colleges in the Southern Red River Plain. This is a great honour but a heavy responsibility of the university. To successfully fulfil the mission, UNETI’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have been carrying out many solutions aimed to solidify and develop the CDSE comprehensively, resolving to preserve and promote subject quality.

First, it is vital to lead and direct strengthening of organisation and staffing to build the CDSE into an operationally effective, efficient, compact, adept unit. On grasping and implementing the Joint Circular No. 123/2015/TTLT-BQP-BLDTBXH dated 5 November 2015 of the Ministry of National Defence (MND), Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), and Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), which stipulates the organisation and operation of centres for defence and security education as well as the joint defence and security education among universities and colleges, UNETI reviews the existing organisation and staffing and determines to restructure its CDSE. Of note, it attaches importance to selection and recruitment of qualified, experienced cadres to establish functional departments, faculties, and unions, ensuring that the centre operates efficiently and effectively and meets requirements of both short-and long-term missions. Furthermore, the CDSE seeks to have a sufficiency of cadres and lecturers with high quality and standards. To do so, apart from prioritising recruitment of military officers of the local and main forces with expectations for changing jobs and competence in teaching the subject, the university directs the centre to continue to sign some contracts with experts and retired lecturers who are well qualified and experienced in teaching in officer training colleges. Additionally, the university steps up planning and training with a view to gradually standardising the cadres and lecturers of the centre, striving for 100% of cadres and lecturers with postgraduate degrees by 2025. To achieve this goal, the university requests the centre to select good cadres and lecturers for courses at civilian and military training institutions. The centre must also promote training of cadres, especially on-site training, in order to enhance professional knowledge and skills of cadres and lecturers; send cadres and lecturers to training courses held by the Defence and Security Education Department, MOET. These cadres and lectures will be the ones who train the remaining cadres and lecturers. As for young, inexperienced cadres and lecturers, the centre asks the competent and experienced ones to help them. It also cooperates with the Military Command of Nam Dinh Province on sending cadres to units to improve their practical management, training skills as well as to get an update on new knowledge and experience. Moreover, the university has measures to look after their spiritual and material life, thus encouraging cadres and lecturers to devote themselves to the job.

Conducting firing training for students in theory

On realising the Party’s guideline on reforming and enhancing quality and effectiveness of defence and security education for cadres, civil servants, and the entire people, ensuring suitability for each type of learners, and raising the awareness about partner of cooperation and objects of struggle as well as perspective, requirement, and mission of safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation, the university directs the centre to actively update content and regularly renew teaching methodology to match each type of students and practical situation. Accordingly, together with formulating plans and strictly complying with training programmes as provided by the Circular No. 05/2020/TT-BGDDT dated 18 March 2020 of the MOET, the centre actively and proactively grasps situations and includes new content in defence, security sectors in teaching materials; enhance quality of lesson plans; applies information technology to research and compilation of digital lesson plans as well as simulation of combat scenarios, combat skills, tactics, and shooting ranges, bringing about vividness to attract learners in each lesson. As a result of the uniqueness of the subject, to enable learners to acquire knowledge and apply to practice effectively, the centre requests its lecturers to reform the way to deliver lessons in the direction of using various training, teaching methodologies, integrating the student-centred teaching method, and step up raising issues to provoke interaction, dialogue, proactiveness, and creativity of students, thereby thoroughly overcoming one-way interaction and theory as well as training students in thinking capacity and application of knowledge to practice. Objectives of the defence and security subject are not only to provide knowledge and skills but also to train students’ willpower, spirit, and discipline. The university, therefore, directs the centre to intensify management and training for students and establish a healthy, military, pedagogic, cultural environment. To materialise the motto of building a disciplined, responsible unit, right at the time of enrolment, students are organised into companies, platoons, and sections while cadres of the centre are assigned to command companies and platoons. To gain effectiveness, the university requests the cadres and lecturers in the subject, especially the management cadres, to ceaselessly heighten sense of responsibility and to be true pedantry at any time and in anywhere, thus giving a bright example for students. Moreover, the centre implements items of daily, weekly work seriously to bring students close to the military environment, which aims to raise students’ sense of discipline and compliance with dress code, courtesies, and a neat, tidy, collective environment. To reinforce training content, the university direct the centre to renew form of operation and method of student management to ensure suitability to psychology of this age group and arouse students’ youth and enthusiasm; cooperate with the Youth Union and Student Association in holding competitions such as three integrated military skills, military games, football, volleyball, and culture and art events. These activities have served to deepen the connection between cadres and students as well as between individuals and collectives, thereby promoting mutual understanding, solidarity, and support, establishing a healthy pedagogic environment, and encouraging students to seriously train and abide by regulations and rules.

Additionally, the university attaches importance to enhanced investment in infrastructure and equipment in support of the centre’s education and training, meeting requirements of evolving missions and the subject. Over the past few years, the university has made every effort to mobilise resources for building facilities and buying equipment and scale models to best serve the needs of students when they come to the centre. In the coming time, the number of students is likely to increase, ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 students each course. To accomplish the assigned tasks, the university will further mobilise all resources to invest in facilities and educational equipment. In the near term, it directs the centre to work with the Design Institute of the MND to do an overall planning for the dining area, accommodation, lecture halls, and training ground in line with the scope of training. Specifically, the university concentrates on repairing and widening the students’ hostel and dining area; continues to build classrooms for specific and multifunctional purposes; perfects the information technology infrastructure to enable cadres, lecturers, and students to exploit the digital library effectively for teaching and learning; and regularly requests functional departments of the MND to supplement weapons and equipment such as conversion guns, mock grenades, scale models, graphs, etc., in order to better meet requirements of the subject.

Given correct perception and effective, synchronous adoption of solutions, UNETI is determined to successfully fulfill the task of defence and security education, contributing to training of human resources for building and safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation.

Doctor TRAN HOANG LONG, UNETI President