Throughout its process of construction, combat, and maturity, Infantry Officer College No.1 has always grasped and followed President Ho Chi Minh’s sacred instructions: “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people”, regarding those words as the foundation for its sustainable development. In the new era, continuing to realise the President’s teachings is of decisive importance to improving the quality of education and training and making the College capable of meeting its task requirements.

Gen. Nguyen Tan Cuong presents First-Class Fatherland Protection Order to the College

80 years of realising the instructions “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people”

On 15 April 1945, under the Resolution of the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference and the Directive of leader Ho Chi Minh, the Counter-Japanese Military and Political School (now Infantry Officer College No.1) was established to meet the urgent requirements of developing regular armed forces and a contingent of military cadres with sufficient qualities and capabilities to play a core role in building a new-style army of the people, by the people, and for the people.

After its establishment, the College received special attention from President Ho Chi Minh and had the great honour to welcome the President on 9 visits, along with 9 letters of encouragement from him. Notably, on 26 May 1946, at the opening ceremony of Course I of Tran Quoc Tuan Military School (the 8^th course since the establishment of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political School), the College was honoured to receive directly from Uncle Ho a flag embroidered with the golden words: “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people”. He instructed: “Being loyal to the country and devoted to the people is a sacred duty, a heavy responsibility, but also an honour for soldiers in our first national army”. Those golden words, together with his instructions, have become a strategic orientation with enduring value throughout the College’s process of construction, combat, and maturity.

The College has concretised the principle “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people” into a system of political and ethical criteria and standardised training curricula, synchronously adopting solutions to raise the quality of teaching, learning, management, and training, linking training with practice, taking grass-roots units as the benchmark. Graduates from the College have basically met their task requirements, many of them have held senior positions in the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the political system. The College has fostered international cooperation (it has trained over 5,000 cadets from 14 countries), focusing on developing a regular, disciplined environment, stepping up digital transformation, modernising its facilities, gradually building a smart and modern institution.

Lt. Gen. Le Van Duy, Political Commissar of the College, encourages cadets during the opening ceremony of the 2024 - 2025 academic year

Throughout the stages of construction, combat, and maturity, whether in classrooms or on battlefields, generations of cadres, cadets, employees, and soldiers of the College have always borne in mind Uncle Ho’s teachings in order to transform their knowledge into combat strength and turn their revolutionary ideal into action, thereby forming a solid political and spiritual foundation. These values have helped foster political steadfastness, a high sense of responsibility, aspiration for dedication, and absolute loyalty to the Fatherland, Party, State, and people among every cadre, lecturer, and cadet of the College, maintain a close-knit bond between the Military and the people, and allow the Military to rely on the people to fight, mature, and win victory. With its outstanding achievements, the College has been honoured by the Party and State with the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, along with many other noble awards.

Building an exemplary, regular, modern College in the new era

Due to rapid, complex global changes, scientific and technological advances, and modern warfare, the requirements for officer training become increasingly higher and more comprehensive. The 18^th Congress of the College Party Organisation (2025 - 2030 term) clearly identifies the goal of building an exemplary, regular, modern institution and raising the quality of cadre training to meet the requirements of VPA building in the new situation. To this end, the College is focusing on synchronously implementing key solutions as follows.

First, strengthening the building of a politically and ideologically strong College. Emphasis is placed on building a typically pure, strong College Party Organisation, enhancing the leadership capacity and combativeness of party committees and party organisations at all levels, especially their leadership over education and training and regularity building. The College strictly maintains Party activities and routines, heightening democratic centralism, strengthening internal solidarity. It grasps and strictly implements the “two-steadfastness, two-acceleration, two-prevention” principle and the “five-pillar” motto. Doing so enables the College to uphold the Party’s goals and ideal and maintain political orientation in all activities.

The College promotes innovation in political and ideological education in a practical, effective manner associated with its training tasks and units’ realities, combining the provision of knowledge with the cultivation of courage and qualities among cadets. It actively grasps, manages, forecasts, and guides ideological developments, promptly handling emerging issues to avoid passivity or surprise. Greater efforts are made to refute wrongful, hostile viewpoints in cyberspace and increase “immunity” against toxic information, thus contributing to fostering the quality “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people”, forming proper motivation, a strong sense of responsibility, and great resolve to successfully accomplish all assigned tasks among all staff members of the College.

A rehearsal for the 80th founding anniversary of the College (1945 - 2025)

Second, building a contingent of “both red and expert” cadres and lecturers, taking the quality “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people” as the core standard. This is the key factor in improving education and training work as well as the prestige and standing of the College. President Ho Chi Minh stated, “cadres are the root of all work” and “training cadres is a fundamental task of the Party”. Accordingly, the College focuses on strongly innovating its personnel work to ensure objectivity, democracy, substance, and effectiveness, especially in personnel appraisal, evaluation, and planning, thereby ensuring continual screening and development of the contingent of cadres to meet their task requirements.

Training and professional development are enhanced towards standardisation and modernisation; professional competence improvement is linked with cultivating political steadfastness, morality, and dedication to the Fatherland and people. By 2030, over 95% of teachers and educational managers shall meet prescribed standards; at least 20% shall be qualified to work in the international environment. Efforts are intensified to build a regular, democratic, disciplined, united pedagogical environment, promptly identify, foster, and employ capable, prestigious, and dedicated cadres and lecturers as the core force in spreading the value “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people” to every generation of cadets.

Third, continuing to renew and improve education and training work, deeply realising the quality “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people” in training objectives, content, and methods. The College grasps and effectively implements the motto: “The quality of training at schools is the combat readiness capacity of units”, promoting the “standardisation and modernisation of education and training”. It synchronously carries out relevant projects developed by the Ministry of National Defence and the Development Planning Project for Infantry Officer College No.1 to 2030, with a vision to 2045 to create a solid foundation for comprehensively, sustainably raising the quality of training.

Attention is paid to “closely combining study with practice, linking theory with reality”, proactively updating and supplementing new points relating to military art, defence and security, especially operational requirements under modern conditions and in the digital transformation environment. Self-study, self-research, and independent, creative thinking among cadets are promoted. Great value is attached to realising breakthroughs in “science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation” across all teaching, learning, management, testing, and assessment activities. The College concentrates investment on upgrading information technology infrastructure, building databases, digital learning materials, and simulation models; by 2030, 100% of documents, curricula, and lectures shall be digitalised to ensure connectivity, sharing, and effective exploitation.

Fourth, raising the quality of regularity building and observance of law and discipline, making breakthroughs in promoting the cultural values of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era, contributing to nurturing and spreading the quality “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people”. The College continues strictly maintaining military regulations, etiquette, and working style, improving the quality of discipline management, ensuring consistency in both awareness to action, taking the results of regularity building and discipline management as one of the criteria for collective and individual annual emulation, commendation, and evaluation, thus establishing a solid disciplined, regular order.

To realise breakthroughs in promoting the cultural values of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era, the College continues thoroughly grasping and seriously implementing Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021, by the Central Military Commission, the campaign to “promote traditions, dedicate talent, deserve to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new era”, as well as emulation movements and campaigns launched by all levels and sectors in association with education and training. Great weight is added to building and implementing national value system, cultural value system, family value system, and standards of Vietnamese people in line with concretising the criteria and norms of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, forming a healthy military cultural environment, fostering patriotism, self-reliance, confidence, self-strengthening, national pride, and the heroic traditions of the VPA and the College, thereby creating great spiritual motivation for every cadre, lecturer, and cadet to uphold the noble quality “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people”.

President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings “Loyal to the country, devoted to the people” is the ideological foundation and ethical standard of revolutionary soldiers. For Infantry Officer College No.1, these words are both a tradition and the foundation orientating all activities of construction, education, training, scientific research, and combat training. Deeply imbued with Uncle Ho’s instructions, the College continues renewing and improving its education, training, and scientific research tasks, contributing to building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA capable of firmly protecting the Fatherland in all situations.

Lt. Gen. LE VAN DUY, PhD

Secretary of the College Party Committee

Political Commissar of the College