Being a leading education and research centre of the Military and the country, the National Defence Academy (NDA) is tasked with developing military-defence science and technology, training senior-level military officers, and improving defence and security knowledge of key cadres of provinces, municipalities, ministries, and central sectors. To fulfil its task, the NDA has synchronously taken various measures, with the building of a pool of cadres and instructors on a par with their task requirements acting as a determinant.

Grasping directives and resolutions by the Party and the Central Military Commission (CMC) on the personnel work and the building of a pool of cadres, especially the CMC’s Resolution 109-NQ/QUTW, dated February 11th, 2019 on “building a contingent of military cadres, particularly at campaign and strategic levels to meet the task requirements in the new situation,” the NDA has focused on establishing criteria for cadres and instructors’ job titles as the basis for personnel evaluation, planning, training, appointment, and use. Priority has been given to standardising cadres and instructors’ political zeal, morality, lifestyle, professional competence, teaching method, and foreign language and information technology levels. As a result, the NDA has managed to build a pool of instructors and scientists with proper quantity and quality, political zeal, pure morality, a sense of responsibility, great capacity, and hands-on experience to meet the requirements set by education, training, and scientific research in both long and short terms.

To gain those achievements, first of all, the NDA has thoroughly grasped viewpoints of the Party and the CMC on the personnel work, while standardising its contingent of cadres and instructors. The NDA’s Party Committee and Board have directed offices, units, and faculties to enhance the work of political education and ideological management so that all cadres and party members would be fully aware of directives and resolutions of the Party and the CMC on the personnel work, education, training, and science and technology, particularly the Resolution 26-NQ/TW, dated May 19th, 2018 by the 12th Party Central Committee’s 7th Meeting on building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at strategic level with sufficient qualities, capabilities, and prestige on a par with their task requirements, the CMC’s Resolution 109-NQ/QUTW and the CMC’s Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18th, 2019 on continuing to execute the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, dated December 20th, 2012 on raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond. At the same time, due attention has been paid to reviewing and grasping the quality and quantity of cadres and instructors as the basis for the training and development of human resources on a par with the NDA’s task requirements. Staff members of the NDA, particularly party committee members and leaders at all levels have been educated on the role and importance of cadres and instructors to raising the quality of the Academy’s education and training so that they would heighten a sense of responsibility and strengthen their leadership over principles, regulations, and procedures for the personnel work, thus making contributions to building a pool of cadres and instructors on a par with the NDA’s increasingly demanding task requirements.

The conference to introduce and study the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 7th Plenum

As more new requirements are being imposed on the building of a contingent of cadres and instructors, it is very important to standardise job titles as the basis for recruiting, training, using, and encouraging cadres and instructors to improve themselves. Adhering to the general criteria for cadres at campaign and strategic levels set by the Party and the Military, over the years, the Academy has gradually standardised a pool of cadres and instructors who had experienced full-time strategic, campaign-level training courses at the NDA. To be more specific, the NDA has demanded that cadres and instructors as department deans or equivalent hold commanding positions at divisions or provincial-level military commands, offices or commands of army corps, military regions, services, and specialised corps, experience postgraduate courses, effectively apply information technology to teaching, and reach the compulsory level of foreign languages under the Law on the Vietnam People’s Army Officers. Moreover, the NDA has concretised criteria for other job titles, while underlining that instructors must be eligible for teaching and managerial positions to readily work at offices, units, and localities at their request.

To provide a foundation for training and employing cadres and instructors, the NDA’s Party Committee has focused on the cadre planning. All-level party committees have renewed their way of thinking and carried out this work in a “flexible and open” manner. On a yearly basis, grounded on the cadre planning for the whole tenure, the criteria for each job title, and the political mission of cadres and instructors, party committees at all levels have reviewed, supplemented, adjusted, and implemented their plans on the personnel work seriously. In this regard, significance has been attached to detecting and including young cadres with pure morality and talent in the cadre planning so that they would be able to become commanders, leaders, managers, instructors, and top experts. Due attention has been paid to proactively selecting young cadres with good teaching method and moral qualities from units across the Military and amongst the Academy’s cadets, and then recommending the CMC and the Ministry of National Defence to deploy them to work at the NDA as instructors. Besides, the NDA has included young cadres and instructors in the planning of commanding positions at its divisions, committees, departments, offices, faculties, and cadet management units. At the same time, it has opportunely, resolutely replaced and excluded cadres with poor task performance or low prestige from its cadre planning.

The building of cadres and instructors must be synchronous and proper, and there should be top experts in military theory, national defence strategy, and military art, together with hands-on experience in leadership and command at campaign and strategic levels. Therefore, the NDA has attached significance to recruiting and actively training its contingent of cadres and instructors simultaneously. In order to build a pool of cadres and instructors capable of replacing cadres who had experienced combat, while recruiting more staff members to opportunely satisfy the task requirements in the short term, the NDA has placed emphasis on employing young cadres with qualifications and hands-on experience, appointing them to proper positions, and creating a favourable condition for its cadres and instructors to join postgraduate courses. For those with good task performance and great prestige, the NDA would appoint them to higher positions and allow them to take part in intensive training courses to meet the preset criteria.

In addition to teaching, instructors have been required to pass their experience to learners and improve learners’ skills. In the training of its cadres and instructors, the NDA has concentrated on following the motto of “being both comprehensive and expert” and standardising this contingent to ensure inheritance and continuation. Importance has been attached to enhancing cadres and instructors’ way of thinking and capabilities in leadership, command, and management at military region, army corps, service, and specialised corps levels. Due regard has been paid to improving cadres and instructors’ comprehensive knowledge of national defence and security, military work, social-economic issues, science and technology, diplomacy, and legal affairs as well as their capabilities in anticipating, evaluating, and dealing with situations. Consideration has been given to raising cadres and instructors’ level of information technology and foreign languages so that they would be able to participate in international refresher courses and scientific conferences and use foreign languages for the teaching of international cadets. Additionally, great value has been attached to deploying cadres and instructors to universities and academies both at home and abroad for further education and closely combining training and retraining with self-training. At the same time, the NDA has dispatched its cadres and instructors to hold positions at units across the Military and undertake researches into economic, political, cultural, social, defence, and security issues in the strategic areas, while organising exercises, refresher courses, scientific conferences, and teaching and management contests to improve its staff members’ capacity.

Ensuring and renewing policies for cadres and instructors represent a measure of utmost importance to raising the quality of this force. Thus, the NDA has proactively promoted the synergy for sufficiently implementing policies for its staff members and their families. At the same time, it has adopted many preferential treatment policies to encourage its cadres and instructors to actively take part in postgraduate courses and strive to become professors, associate professors, and top scientific experts. It has proactively advised the CMC and the Ministry of National Defence on reviewing, renewing, and supplementing preferential treatment policies for cadres, instructors, and researchers. Importance has been attached to taking the NDA’s particularities into consideration to identify benefits for staff members and especially priorities for military families, elite teachers, and research talents, with a view to improving cadres and instructors’ material and mental life so that they would overcome all difficulties and successfully fulfil the task of education and training.

Those achievements in the building of a contingent of cadres and instructors at the NDA will provide a solid foundation for the Academy to keep promoting the role of its all-level party committees and commands in leadership over this important work and make contributions to building a pure, strong Party Organisation and a comprehensively strong, regular, advanced, and exemplary NDA.

Maj. Gen., Doctor LE VAN HAI, Head of the NDA’s Political Division