“We have to train good citizens and cadres for the country. You are tasked with training the future generations by the people, the Party, and the Government. It is a heavy but very glorious responsibility.” Following Uncle Ho’s teachings, the Artillery Officer College has always enhanced the quality of training and education as the basis for building and making a contingent of military cadres strong and capable of their task requirements.

The Artillery Officer College’s Party Command and Board of Administrators have grasped Uncle Ho’s teachings, set out guidelines and solutions properly, and brought into play the tradition of a unit given the title of “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces,” while the College’s cadres, instructors, cadets, employees and soldiers have always joined hands in overcoming difficulties, striving for “good teaching and learning,” and successfully fulfilling the task of training and making a contingent of artillery officers strong and capable of their task requirements.

The sharing of combat experiences in a field training session

To accomplish the above-mentioned target and deserve Uncle Ho’s compliments to the Artillery Corps (bronze feet, iron shoulders, good combat and shooting), the College’s Party Committee has focused its leadership on raising forces and organisations’ awareness and responsibility for implementing the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle. Fully aware that instructors play a decisive role in the quality of training and education, the College’s Party Committee and Board have attached great value to improving their political zeal, professional competence, teaching method, enthusiasm and creativity in teaching and scientific research, and requiring them to set role models in teaching, study, and scientific research. However, several instructors’ teaching capacity, method, and style have yet to meet the requirements set by a reform in training and education and by the building of a standard, modern, and exemplary College. Via self-examination, self-criticism, and criticism under the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification, in spite of the fact that there has been no degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle among cadres and instructors, some of them have yet to keep their mind on their work or set good moral and lifestyle examples. A number of cadets have yet to devote themselves to their study, training and self-improvement. The awareness and responsibility of some national defence employees and workers for their task have been still limited. Those weaknesses have been also the College’s concerns and partly negatively impacted on its training and education quality and the building of a comprehensively strong school.

Against that backdrop, the College’s Party Committee and Board have synchronously developed guidelines and measures for enhancing the study and self-improvement according to the Directive 05 appropriate to the College’s particularities, task requirements, cadres, instructors, and employees as an incentive to surmount difficulties and fulfil its task. It is worth noting that the College has concentrated on handling the relationship between teachers and learners, while asking each instructor to set a pattern for cadets to follow, creating a healthy pedagogic environment, and stepping up the movement of “good teaching and learning.” As a result, the College’s contingent of instructors have achieved a positive change in political ideology and zeal, expressed their responsibility and enthusiasm for training and education, set good moral and lifestyle examples for cadets to follow, and devoted themselves to the College. Meanwhile, cadets of the College have heightened political zeal and great responsibility for study, being active and self-aware in study and self-improvement according to Uncle Ho’s moral and lifestyle example. Moreover, the College has resolutely fought against wrongdoings and negative practices, such as hesitation in study and training, violations of its training and education statute.

The College has also placed emphasis on raising its training and education quality as a consistent goal and central part of its execution of the Directive 05. In response to the requirements set by the national construction and protection, the Military build-up, and the building of a strong Artillery Corps in the new situation, the College has been assigned to train various groups of learners, including foreign ones. While the training and education requirements are increasingly higher, material and logistics resources are limited. Therefore, the College has always grasped and seriously implemented the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 86-NQ/ĐUQSTW, dated March 29^th, 2007 on training and education in the new situation, the Prime Minister’s Directive 33/CT-TTg and the Directive 60/CT-TM, dated December 25^th, 2006 by the Chief of the General Staff on combating negative and credit-driven practices in training and education as well as the Artillery Corps Party Committee’s Resolution 395-NQ/ĐU on “raising the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond.” Following Uncle Ho’s teachings that “study must go along with practice,” the College’s Party Committee and Board have directed departments, committees, and faculties to focus on breakthroughs in training and education, actively renew, standardise, and modernise the training content and programme in accordance with the task requirements and each group of learners, with the central goal of training detachment-level artillery officers for the Corps and the entire Military. With a spirit of being active, proactive, and creative in the following of Uncle Ho’s teachings, the College has made a positive change in its training and education task, while the training regulations and procedures have been maintained seriously, scientifically in accordance with its condition and Working Charter. Its curriculum has been adjusted properly. It has increased duration for practice, reduced duration for theory, removed the subjects that would be no longer appropriate, supplemented new subjects, closely combined theory with practice, and aligned itself with units within the Military. Furthermore, the College has put efforts to build a contingent of top experts and teachers, renewed the “Good Instructors and Managerial Cadres” Contest, created a favourable condition for instructors and encouraged them to actively undertake and apply scientific researches to designing textbooks, thereby making contributions to raising the quality of training and education. As for its cadets, the College has renewed the curriculum, reduced duration for theory, increased duration for practice, merged and included theoretical lessons in field activities. Significance has been attached to sharing experiences in training and combat with cadets, acquiring new (signal and reconnaissance) equipment, and applying modern means to teaching. Duration for practice on models and artillery pieces and duration for command practice have been increased (Fire Platoon Commander and General Platoon Commander). It has renewed general exercises with the use of various types of artillery (howitzer 105, operational artillery 152Đ20, BM21 and 130M46), while encouraging the English learning movement amongst youth union members and promoting the role of English Learning Group and Group of Elite Cadets. Consequently, cadets’ study quality has been raised and the role of party organisations, command systems, and mass organisations has been promoted. The movements, namely “good teaching and learning” and “say no to negative and credit-driven practices in examination and education” have been seriously carried out. Cadets graduating from the College have all applied their knowledge to their work effectively and basically fulfilled their assigned task.

In addition, the College has stepped up the work of scientific research. On a yearly basis, it attaches significance to consolidating and improving the College-level Scientific Council, supplementing the Regulations on scientific research, and strictly maintaining the research procedure from appraisal, outline approval, field study, acceptance and application. Faculties and cadet management battalions of the College have encouraged cadres and instructors to undertake researches, with a focus on serving the work of training and education for groups of learners. Due regard has been paid to upgrading the system of training grounds, class rooms, and modern equipment for training and combat readiness in a harsh and independent environment. Annually, about 5-8 initiatives and scientific researches are effectively applied to teaching within the College.

Thanks to practical guidelines and solutions, after over 5 years of executing the Directive 05, the Artillery Officer College has achieved a comprehensive, solid positive change in training and education. The quality of training and education has been raised. Yearly, 85% of its cadets graduate with merit and distinction. All members of the College’s Party Organisation have fulfilled their task and more than 87% of them have excellently fulfilled their task. The College’s Party Organisation has been rated pure and strong for 4 consecutive years. The College has been recognised as a comprehensively strong, standard, modern, and exemplary school. Military discipline has been closely managed. There has been no serious violation of discipline. Normal violations of discipline have been reduced. The College has been given the title of “absolutely safe unit” for many consecutive years. The College’s facilities have been rated “green, clean and scenic.” It has managed to build a healthy pedagogic cultural environment as the basis for the image of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers - Artillery soldiers” to shine forever.

In the upcoming time, the College will continue renewing, modernising, and standardising the training content, programme, and procedure, the teaching - learning method, and the work of educational management in order to keep raising the quality of training and education and making the Artillery Officer College standard, exemplary and capable of playing a key role in training “both red and expert” artillery cadres for the Corps and the Military as instructed by Uncle Ho.

Sr. Col. TRAN THU TRUYEN, PhD, Commissar of the College