Defence and security education is an important content in building a strong people's defence and people's security. Being aware of that, over the past 30 years, Thai Nguyen University’s Centre for Defence and Security Education has made efforts to perform this important task well to contributing to training high-skill workforce, capable of meeting the requirements of building and protecting the Fatherland.

Implementing the Party's undertaking on enhancing the education, fostering, and dissemination of defence and security knowledge for all objects and the whole people to contribute to building an increasingly strong people's defence and people's security, capable of meeting the requirements of building and protecting the Fatherland, on December 17^th, 1992, Thai Nguyen Defence Education Centre (now Thai Nguyen University’s Centre for Defence and Security Education) - one of the first centres for defence and security education in the country - was established under the decision of the Ministry of Education and Training. Over the past 30 years, despite difficulties, thanks to solidarity and determination, the Centre has always closely followed the practice and tasks and coordinated with relevant agencies and units; regularly renewed the contents, programs, and methods of teaching, testing, and examination of the Defence and Security Education subject; and formulated and strictly implemented regulations and rules on management and learning regimes,... to provide tens of thousands of students with increasingly improved knowledge on defence and security. Thereby, the Centre has affirmed its position and prestige and made an important contribution to improving the training quality of Thai Nguyen University and serving the socio-economic development of the northern midland and mountainous provinces and the cause of industrialisation, modernisation of the country and protection of the Fatherland. Thanks to its achievements, the Centre has been awarded many noble awards by the Government, ministries, central and local agencies, and Military Region 1.

Tactical training for students

Currently, the Centre continues to perform the task of defence and security education for students of Thai Nguyen University's training institutions under the overall objective and direction of Innovation, Improvement of Training Quality, Discipline Strengthening, Regulation Maintenance, and unity to fulfil the tasks and develop the Centre into a prestigious and high-quality defence and security educational institution. To complete such important object, the Centre continues to implement drastically and synchronously the following main solutions:

Firstly, to strengthen the leadership and direction of the Party committees and cadres at all levels in building high-quality human resources to meet new requirements and tasks. Thoroughly grasping the Party's resolutions and directives and the superiors’ guiding documents and guidelines on renovating and improving the education and training quality, particularly Resolution No.29-NQ/TW issued on November 4^th, 2013 by the Party Central Committee and resolutions, schemes, and plans of the Thai Nguyen University Party Committee and Directorates on this important task, the Centre Party Committee and Directorates have focused on leading and directing to improve the quality of teaching activities through multiple appropriate and effective solutions; paid attention to promoting the roles and responsibilities of teaching staff and enhancing class observation assess the teaching quality; actively innovated methods of teaching, testing, and evaluating results towards modernity and science; and proactively built and improved the organisation and staffing of administrator and lecturers. Besides, importance has been attached to developing the existing teaching staff to suit the practice of each stage and tasks of the Centre and Thai Nguyen University to strive to have 100% full-time lecturers with master degrees or higher by the end of 2025 (2-3 PhDs) and 100% of the Centre’s newly-admitted lecturers having pedagogical certificates after 2025.

Adhering to the superiors’ direction and guidelines and based on the practical situation, the Centre Party Committee and Directorates have focused on thoroughly grasping, researching, proposing, and concretising resolutions, schemes, programs, and plans of Thai Nguyen University Party Committee and Directorates on building and developing the administration and teaching staff at each stage. Particularly, regular attention has been paid to leading and directing to do well in planning, appointments, and arrangement of staff based on task requirements, qualifications, and capacity and recruiting officials under the superiors’ process, principles, and guidelines. Regarding defence and security education teachers, the Centre has selected graduates with good results or higher, particularly those with master's degrees, and created favourable conditions for cadres to continue their studies and research to reach doctoral level. At the same time, it has actively conducted on-spot training and fostering for each specific object under the motto of closely and effectively organising, constantly improving the capacity of practical activities to be close to the task, especially pedagogical skills, for teachers, and updating and applying 4.0 technology in teaching and management. For seconded officers, the Centre has closely coordinated with the Military Region 1’s functional agencies in selecting the comrades with sufficient qualifications, capacity, and qualities, ensuring adequate policies in accordance with the process, principles, democracy, and publicity, especially promotion, appointments, salary increases, etc. Along with that, it continues to supplement and improve appropriate regulations and regimes to encourage scientific research and effectively apply scientific products into practice; actively conduct demand-based training with various programs, including "We learn to be soldiers", "Army semester",... to not only expand the audience to participate in these useful activities but also serve as an important factor to promote innovation and improvement of the quality of training and meet the development requirements of practice.

Innovating content, programs, and teaching methods is an important solution to directly improve the quality of training. Therefore, based on the framework program prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training, in the coming time, the Centre will actively update new issues on defence, military, and security of the Party and State as well as guidance documents from the functional agencies on this work to build and implement training with contents and programs close to practical requirements. Attention will be paid to integrating the content of the heroic traditions of the ancestors in fighting foreign invasion and building the country to arouse and educate national pride, cultivate love, and build responsibility for students right in the learning process as well as when working to contribute to the Fatherland.

Along with innovating content and programs, the Centre has promoted the renewal of teaching methods towards activeness, modernity, and science to strive for 100% of lectures applying information technology and actively bring learners into problem situations to exchange and create interest in learning. For students to grasp knowledge quickly and achieve good results, the Centre continues to direct faculties to proactively provide supplementary materials, references, lecture sets in advance to ensure a sufficient number and time for students to learn, accumulate, and exchange before the lectures are given to expand knowledge and prepare content ready to exchange with teachers in classes and revisions. For practical training contents, along with organising classes, practicing in platoons, squads, and groups scientifically, the Centre has actively developed plans for extracurricular activities, such as visit of museums or historical sites, documentary film screenings,  talks on tradition, cultural and artistic activities, sports and participation in social activities,... in a specific way for each class and camp to help students actively acquire knowledge from practice, associate learning with practice, and improve the quality and effectiveness of the subject. Specially, the Centre continues to widely deploy and constantly innovate the implementation of the “Soldiers’ meal" model to help students not only improve their life skills but also better understand and experience the activities of soldiers and enhance discipline training for both individuals and groups in the military environment.

Over 30 years of continuous operation, the centre's training facilities have been supplemented every year but failed to meet the new requirements. In that context, the Centre continues to advise and propose to the Directorates of Thai Nguyen University, the Ministry of Education and Training, and related functional agencies to complete the project on Building the Centre from the present to 2030 and beyond towards modernity and  standardisation; actively contact and mobilise resources of synergy to supplement and improve the facilities and equipment both in the lecture halls and on the training fields; promote the role of the Information Technology Team, constantly upgrade synchronously and modernly the Centre’s Website and digital library fiber optic transmission network connecting from Thai Nguyen University to the Centre and departments, faculties, and divisions to meet the needs of using electronic documents, applying to management,  teaching, learning, and scientific research, introducing and promoting the Centre's activities. At the same time, there is a specific plan to periodically inspect, maintain, repair, and replace to ensure the best facilities for training, contributing to constantly improving the quality of defence and security education for students.

Synchronous implementation of the above solutions is the basis and premise for Thai Nguyen University’s Centre for Defence and Security Education to further improve the quality and effectiveness of defence and security education for students and contribute to improving the quality of training high-quality human resources to meet the requirements of building and protecting the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam in all situations.

Senior Colonel DINH VAN LONG, Deputy Director of the Centre