Prof. Vu Duong Ninh, Dr. Le The Que, Prof. Pham Quang Minh, and Prof. Hoang Khac Nam appear together in the same frame with simple, bright smiles. The four people who create the shape and stature of the Faculty of International Studies today make the picture full of emotions, and have thoughts about the existence of time. I suddenly burst into laughter when reading a comment about the picture: "The Fantastic Four". But perhaps that comment reflects exactly what generations of students and young staff like us, with love and respect, think about the teachers - "Four precious teachers of the Faculty of International Studies".
The writer has been fortunate to study and teach at the Faculty of International Studies for the past 18 years. Those 18 years are not long enough to witness the quarter-century journey of International Studies, but they are just enough to be students and later colleagues of all four teachers. What my peers and I have learned from them is not limited to the lecture hall, or only expressed on paper.
WithMr. Vu Duong Ninh, we learned from the teacher's erudition, meticulousness, and kindness. We also grew up in the spirit of self-study that he always encouraged us from the first days of school. I still remember that teacher Ninh once reminded the students of class K47 that "student" in English is "student". And that word has its origin in "study", meaning self-study, self-research, self-training. The philosophy of liberal education probably came to us 18 years ago, in such a gentle, simple, and warm way. We learned, read, researched, and discussed with the teacher's guidance. The history of Vietnam's foreign relations became vivid, colorful, and engaging like long but dramatic movies. The teacher's voice was warm, his eyes were affectionate, but his expressive nuances and the way he emphasized and used words made him the most talented, wonderful, profound, and also the most profound storyteller. Mr. Ninh - the chief architect of the International Faculty - has always been affectionate and protective of us even though we have worked in the faculty for more than ten years.
Mr. Queis the second dean of the International Studies Department. Although I did not graduate from the American Studies major where he was the head of the department, I was fortunate to study English for Specific Purposes taught by him. His careful use of international relations translation terminology, his flexibility in choosing sentence structures, and his humorous stories or anecdotes behind a translation story made the translation class, though difficult, always full. I will always remember the image of him patiently helping us learn to analyze each sentence and correct the translation of each idea. No matter what level the learner is at, when entering Mr. Que's translation class, his words of encouragement and praise will make the learner more confident in himself. He knows how to help us learn a little bit every day... and grow a little bit... Just like that, we are patient like he is. Until now, I still carry that positivity and care into my classes with the hope of passing on to my students the warmth and confidence that I received from him.
The third Dean of the Faculty of International Studies isMr. Minh. He is like a breath of fresh air, full of enthusiasm, dynamism, daring and international orientation. The highlight of the months working with him is always the effort and not being afraid of difficulties to find more opportunities to work with foreign partners. Seeing him passionately teaching, busy with a backpack on his back to get research materials. When we learned that he stayed up all night writing articles but still continuously planned seminars and met with international delegations, none of us young staff allowed ourselves to rest. With Mr. Minh, we are inspired every day. We participate in more international cooperation activities, exchange and study with friends from many different countries. Students also have more exchange programs. The English club welcomes more foreign speakers. And Mr. Minh also does not mind being busy to attend, inspire and share with the students of the club. Mr. Minh contributes to being a bridge to bring us closer to international friends and scholars. He is the one who makes international studies today more international.
Mr. Khac Namis the fourth dean that I want to write about here. Mr. Nam is a sharp and individualistic person. Putting aside the individuality shown in the way he dresses, our teacher is individualistic in the way he writes, teaches, researches and makes us love the subject as well as dedicate ourselves to the job. During my student days, he taught "Introduction to International Relations". In that subject, he was also the one who introduced the first knowledge of International Relations Theory to our class of students. I first learned about Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism... thanks to him. And also thanks to his extremely easy-to-understand lectures, I was able to complete the content of the International Relations Theory subject, one of the most difficult subjects in the department when I went to study far away. Later, I was fortunate to work and research with him, I realized that behind those personalities and angles were meticulousness in research, absolute respect for creativity in knowledge, kindness and friendliness with colleagues. He was always by our side, young cadres, in every step of our research, creating all conditions to support and encourage us when we encountered difficulties, and more importantly, he cherished each of our ideas and articles.
Looking at the photo of the four people who created the International Studies of the past, present and future, I realized how lucky we are! Over the past 25 years, the International Studies Department has had people who have built the core values of the department: kindness - meticulousness - patience - empathy - personality - dynamism - and extroversion. Above all, from the examples of the teachers, the works they wrote, the way they loved us, we understand our duties in teaching and research better. We study internationally to love and understand Vietnam more. We can think broadly about the world, but we always keep in mind to do everything to contribute to building our country.
Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to four legendary teachers! I hope I have the opportunity to express these words to you.
Source:International Studies Faculty Union
