Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu: excellent teacher and scientist - talented and exemplary leader

Professor, Doctor Phung Huu Phu was born and raised in a working-class family in Nam Dinh city. For generations, Nam Dinh has been famous as a region“spiritual land, talented people”.That is the birthplace of the Tran Dynasty, one of the dynasties with glorious military achievements and contributed greatly to affirming the identity and stature of the brilliant Dai Viet culture at the beginning of the era of independence and autonomy. That land is also the birthplace of many "talented heroes, good generals and capable ministers" whose names are recorded in history books. From a very early age, the traditions of his homeland and family were imbued in his character and personality.

Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Teacher Phung Huu Phu

The young man from Thanh Nam, Phung Huu Phu, entered the 11th class and became a student of the History Department in September 1966. That was when our people's resistance war against the US was going through extremely fierce days. Universities, teachers and students had to evacuate to the countryside, with the determination that no matter how difficult it was, they had to study well and train well. From August 1965, the History Department of Hanoi University evacuated to Van Tho commune, Dai Tu district, Bac Thai province. The first-year students of the Department (G.11) built a hut as a place to live and study next to Dam Sui, close to the rocky mountainside. But it was in that simple bamboo-leaf lecture hall that Phung Huu Phu and his friends learned from wise and dedicated teachers such as Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan, Tran Quoc Vuong, Le Mau Han, Pham Thi Tam, Vu Duong Ninh, etc. the knowledge, scientific methods and even the academic passion for national and human history. Student Phung Huu Phu soon stood out and was loved by his friends for his honesty, straightforwardness, sincere, open, simple and sociable lifestyle. In the extremely difficult conditions at that time, Phung Huu Phu tried his best and he was one of the very few students who achieved the maximum score in all subjects (5/5) after 4 years of study. He was loved by many teachers for his diligence, intelligence, modesty, and passion for learning, but perhaps the three teachers who most influenced his professional orientation, love for his career, lifestyle, thinking, and behavior were Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, Professor Phan Huy Le, and Associate Professor People's Teacher Le Mau Han. In particular, in his final year, Phung Huu Phu was able to follow Professor Le Mau Han, who was then the homeroom teacher of class G.11, to collect documents to write the history of the August Revolution in the Viet Bac Base area and write his university graduation thesis on the revolutionary movement in Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province. Many years later, recalling, he wrote:“For me, before and after, People's Teacher Le Mau Han has always been a shining example of passion, responsibility and dedication to the common cause, to life, to people. Whatever my teacher thinks, does, says, writes all come from one wish: to make our country, our people, our Party, our society stronger and more beautiful; to make the education and training career develop more sustainably; to make generations of students enter life with courage, qualities, and intelligence to preserve and promote the fine traditions of their ancestors.…”That is the shining example of the master and also the motto to strive for, the lifelong wish of his own behavior.

Immediately after graduating (1970), he was retained by Hanoi University as a lecturer at the Department of Modern and Contemporary Vietnamese History, Faculty of History. From then on, Phung Huu Phu began his career as a teacher and a professional historian. Up to now, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu has spent 45 years standing on the podium at many universities in the country and abroad. Perhaps, for him, that is one of the greatest happinesses. Mr. Phu is respected, trusted and loved by many generations of students, not only for his knowledge and scientific methods, but also for his passion for learning, professional responsibility and dedication to the nation and to people. Anyone who has been his student once realizes that knowledge, experience and scientific methods are not only passed on but rather, spread from the teacher to them.

With a serious sense of professionalism, and being close to and supervised by teachers who are all great scientists, right from the beginning of his teaching career, Mr. Phung Huu Phu has focused on scientific research. For him, serious academic work is both an "identity card" confirming and ensuring the qualifications and position of a teacher in the university lecture hall, and also a personal passion and desire. He often advised his students: for historical research, first and foremost, passion is needed. No matter how intelligent a person is, if he lacks passion and diligence and seriousness, he will definitely not be able to become a real, talented historian. Students who come to "ask for advice" from "master" Phung Huu Phu are often "given the heart seal" like that... and accompanied by a couple of cups of wine poured by the teacher himself, in a very typical style of the teacher.

Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu was the first Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU (1995-1999).Together with the Party Committee and the Board of Directors, he soon planned and devoted all his efforts to implementing the strategic direction of building and developing the University of Social Sciences and Humanities into a leading training and research center of the country with steady but equally dynamic and innovative steps.

It seems that it was a predestined relationship with his homeland and family that from the very beginning, Phung Huu Phu chose modern Vietnamese history, Vietnamese revolutionary history, and especially the history of workers' teams and movements as his first in-depth research direction. Together with his students and colleagues, he conducted many surveys on workers' teams in Nam Dinh, Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Quang Ninh. From a modern perspective, his research also added some theoretical arguments to the study of the history of the workers' movement in modern times. Moreover, while researching workers' teams and movements, Phung Huu Phu always placed it in a flesh-and-blood relationship with the peasant class and in the general context of the Vietnamese patriotic and revolutionary movement. That was the initial, very important basis for him to improve and successfully defend his doctoral thesis in history - scientific socialism in 1983 at the prestigious Lomonosov University.

Returning to Vietnam, Phung Huu Phu continued his career of teaching and researching history at the Faculty of History, Hanoi National University. Based on the objective requirements of Vietnamese historiography and especially the revolutionary practice, he pioneered in opening up interdisciplinary research on the socio-economic changes taking place with many difficult problems in both the North and the South. Together with students and colleagues at different research institutions, he participated in many field surveys in industrial centers, rural areas, including rural areas in the Central and Southern regions. On that basis, he contributed with research and theoretical institutions at the Central level to promptly evaluate, summarize, and build scientific arguments for timely decisions of the Party and the Government, especially the summary of agricultural cooperativization to serve the 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Also in the context of the renovation process initiated from the 6th Party Congress, Phung Huu Phu soon paid attention to in-depth research on a series of issues on the modern Vietnamese political system and on Ho Chi Minh's thought. In particular, when studying the Vietnamese revolutionary state, he always considered it in terms of development trends and placed it in an organic relationship with other political and social institutions, especially with elected bodies and with the national united front. When studying the life and thought of Ho Chi Minh, he was one of the first people to raise the issue of deeply understanding his arguments on the ruling party, on the ideology and strategy of great national unity and international solidarity, on the relationship between political authority and revolutionary ethics. Such practical surveys and discoveries in research soon affirmed Phung Huu Phu's academic reputation as one of the leading experts on modern Vietnamese history, even when he was quite young. Up to now, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu has published more than 130 scientific works, including many monographs and monumental works edited by him that have been highly appreciated by scholars at home and abroad, such as works onHo Chi Minh's strategy of great solidarity,aboutNational United Front, History of Hanoi City Party Committee,aboutWorker-Farmer Alliance, Ho Chi Minh's Secret to Success,...He presided over the State-level interdisciplinary scientific research program on Thang Long - Hanoi, on the orientation of cultural development - the nation's endogenous strength in the conditions of market economy and international integration, on Party building,..., while closely directing the construction and development of the modern Political Science department at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

As a highly prestigious scientist in the country, Phung Huu Phu is also widely known and highly appreciated by foreign scholars. After many years of working in the country, he still maintains good relations and cherishes good feelings with colleagues and friends in Russia. In 1990, he was invited to attend the International Scientific Conference at Passau University (Germany) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Ho Chi Minh, the national liberation hero - world cultural celebrity. Until then, this was the largest international conference on Ho Chi Minh held in the West. Phung Huu Phu had the honor of representing the delegation of Vietnamese scientists to beat the drum to open the Conference. His speech was entitled“Ho Chi Minh's thought on the worker-peasant alliance in the Vietnamese revolution”received much attention and good evaluation from many international scientists. After that, in different positions, he had many opportunities to work with scientists from many countries with different academic, political and cultural perspectives. His goodwill, openness, seriousness and academic height have always been the basis and bridge of trust between him and many foreign scientists. There are great scientists in the US, Canada, Cuba, Germany, France, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, etc. who consider him a close and trustworthy friend.

Although he was an excellent teacher and scientist, Phung Huu Phu was also a talented manager and leader. Those who were close to him since his "poor days" can attest that he had no desire or intention to enter the management and leadership profession. He wanted to devote all his time, intelligence and enthusiasm to the teaching profession, to his students and to his research projects and academic discoveries. But it was because of his passion for the teaching profession and the history profession that he naturally entered the management work quite early. Being an honest, open, sociable and enthusiastic person, he participated in the Youth Union and was elected Secretary of the Youth Union of the History Faculty. After returning from his postgraduate studies in the Soviet Union, he was appointed Deputy Head, then Head of the Department of Modern Vietnamese History. Then, due to his professional reputation and dedication to his profession, he was appointed as Deputy Head of the History Department (1985), then Party Secretary, Head of the History Department (1990). Phung Huu Phu began his leadership and management career from his expertise, with his expertise, and at such a teaching and scientific research facility.

In 1992, Phung Huu Phu was elected as Party Secretary and concurrently held the position of Vice Principal of Hanoi University of Science. He participated in the management and leadership of the University at a time when this prestigious university was going through a period of internal crisis. At that time, many staff, teachers and students were disappointed, distrustful and frustrated. In his position as Party Secretary, with his high professional reputation, democratic, sincere and open style, together with Prof. Dr. Dao Trong Thi - Principal and the new leadership team, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu made an important contribution to the urgent restoration of solidarity, stability and continued progress of the University.

Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu has held many important positions: Standing Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Council (2001-2006); Member of the Party Central Committee (term IX, X) (2001-2010); Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department (2006-2011); Standing Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council (2011-present)

In 1993, the Prime Minister signed a decree to establish the Vietnam National University, Hanoi. This was a correct policy to create a multidisciplinary, multi-field, high-quality training and research center with the mission of being a locomotive to create momentum for breakthrough changes in the quality of the Vietnamese university system, meeting the country's requirements in the context of accelerating modernization and international integration. However, this policy was not understood and supported by public opinion, relevant agencies and even a large number of cadres and party members of the Vietnam National University and its former member schools from the beginning. As Secretary of the Party Committee of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu has devoted all his talent and enthusiasm to the construction and consolidation of Vietnam National University, Hanoi from the very beginning, especially in building a bloc of solidarity and high consensus within the Party Committee and the leadership.

In 1995, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under VNU was established and Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu was appointed as the first Rector. Together with the Party Committee and the Board of Directors, he soon planned and devoted all his efforts to implementing the strategic direction of building and developing the University of Social Sciences and Humanities into a leading training and research center of the country with steady but no less dynamic and innovative steps. He encouraged and promoted the enthusiasm and intelligence of the collective leadership, staff, employees and students of the whole school in the early years of its establishment, building the foundation of a tradition of democracy, creativity and humanity. After 20 years of construction and development, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has become increasingly strong, worthy successor to the glorious tradition of the University of Literature, Hanoi National University and truly becoming an excellent advanced member university of VNU. The school was honored to be awarded the title of Labor Hero in the Renovation Period, the Ho Chi Minh Medal and many other noble titles and awards by the State. As the first Principal, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu truly contributed significantly to the overall achievements of the school's staff, teachers and students.

During his time as Secretary of the Party Committee of VNU, concurrently Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu was also trusted and entrusted with many important tasks by the Hanoi Party Committee. In 1998, he was appointed by the Hanoi Party Committee to hold the position of Head of the Propaganda Department, concurrently Head of the University Department. Since 2001, he was elected to the Party Central Committee (9th term) and appointed to hold the position of Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, concurrently Chairman of the City People's Council. His leadership position and work in the Hanoi Party Committee and People's Council are still closely linked to the professional "field" that he has passionately studied and researched all his life. Moreover, he is a leader who is always involved in practice, always attentive, seriously listening and learning from the people, comrades and colleagues. Therefore, every opinion, every action he took, every speech he made was rich in wisdom, humanity, steadfastness, depth, yet simple and very ordinary. The cadres, party members and people of the capital Hanoi trusted and loved him very much because of those "qualities" and because they clearly saw that he was a dedicated cadre, close to his work, wholeheartedly committed, always fully aware of the need to try his best to contribute to building Hanoi into a modern and civilized capital.

In April 2006, he continued to participate in the 10th Party Central Committee. In September 2006, according to work requirements, the Central Committee and the Politburo transferred him to work at the Central Ideology and Culture Committee (now the Central Propaganda Committee) as Permanent Deputy Head of the Committee. In April 2011, the Politburo transferred him to work as Permanent Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council. In nearly a decade, he has excellently completed his assigned tasks, with the advantage of having a broad knowledge base accumulated from university, from the process of in-depth research on theoretical issues and with rich practical capital accumulated during nearly nine years of working in the capital Hanoi. He has successfully carried out propaganda work, orienting ideology, public opinion and participating in the drafting of documents for the 11th and 12th National Congresses of the Party; Some important resolutions of the Central Committee related to the fields of ideology, culture, theory, etc. Witnessing the warm feelings and respect of cadres, party members, and people in localities and bases for him in hundreds of talks on political, economic, cultural, social, defense, security, foreign affairs, etc. issues of the country and new theoretical topics, we can fully feel his attraction and persuasion. His articles and speeches have high scientific and intellectual content, have the breath of life and are full of responsibility and enthusiasm for the country and people, contributing to suggesting and solving pressing problems in practice, focusing on issues that cadres, party members, and people are interested in. As the leader and direct manager of the Central Ideology and Culture Committee, the Central Propaganda Committee, the Central Theoretical Council, the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art, the Science Council of the Central Party Agencies, the 10th and 11th tenures,... he is considered a person who has done management, direction, and organization work with a sharp and steady hand, and who has made important contributions to consolidating and improving the quality of activities of the Party's ideological, cultural, theoretical, and scientific advisory and advisory agencies. The highlight of his leadership style is always respectfully listening to the opinions of cadres; focusing on building a democratic, humane, united environment and a planned, disciplined, and orderly working method. He is also a person who always sticks closely to practical life, builds close, intimate, and attached cooperative relationships with the grassroots. When asked about his deep impressions during his days of doing propaganda work, he smiled and immediately said that“The good and warm feelings of brothers and friends across the country; the admiration and trust of the grassroots are the greatest source of encouragement, a debt of gratitude that must be repaid for life. And the joy and happiness is to be able to contribute a part of effort, no matter how small, concrete and practical, to the great cause of the Party and the Nation.”.

Due to the organization's requirements, since graduating, Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu has taken on many different jobs and positions. But one thing that is very special is his loyalty.45 years never leaving the university environmentAlong with his contribution to the development of the history industry, he devoted his passion, enthusiasm and positive contributions to the development of the Political Science industry. Since the early 80s of the 20th century, Professor, Academician Nguyen Duy Quy - Secretary of the Party Committee of the University at that time, had the idea of ​​building an Institute of Political Science at the university. Professor, Doctor Phung Huu Phu, who was then Deputy Head of the History Department, strongly supported this idea. In the early 90s, when he held the position of Party Committee Secretary and Vice Principal of Hanoi University, he spent time and enthusiasm with a number of teachers to directly start building the Political Science industry, starting to experiment at the Center for Training Cadres to Teach Marxist-Leninist Theory of the University. This was an important premise for the establishment in 1995 of the Department of Ho Chi Minh Thought and Political Science, now the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. As the founder and direct Head of the Department under the school, Head of the Faculty, he soon designed international relations with the University of Toronto (Canada), University of Oregon, University of Connecticut (USA), University of Toulouse I (France),... to help train staff, build data systems, organize seminars, workshops,... with the idea of ​​having toBuilding a Political Science in the True Sense, both having the identity of Vietnamese political science, and selectively approaching and absorbing the achievements of political science research and teaching in the world, especially in advanced countries. He especially focused on fostering and training specialized staff in this new field. The Faculty has become the first institution to train Political Science at the university level in the system of universities and colleges nationwide. The Faculty began training masters and doctors in Political Science and Ho Chi Minh Studies from the 2005-2006 school year and training undergraduates in Political Science from the 2008-2009 school year with hundreds of students, graduate students and postgraduates having graduated.

No matter what field or position he works in, he always works as a scientist. In him, the teacher, the scientist, the exemplary Party cadre and the simple, life-loving, dedicated person always blend together to create the personality of a teacher, a leader with heart and vision.

The Faculty of Political Science has made remarkable progress in recent years in terms of staff, quantity and quality of training, but Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu still believes that the past period is the period of "building the foundation", preparing the necessary premises for a leap forward in the next 5-10 years. He still has a burning desire that the Faculty will develop further with a complete professional structure, suitable for Vietnamese practice, and at the same time corresponding to the world's training structure; step by step urgently completing a standard curriculum system to be able to train Political Science nationwide; a team of research and teaching staff with qualities, capacity, and high qualifications in the direction of in-depth expertise in the fields of Vietnamese Politics, International Politics, Political Theory, Ho Chi Minh Studies, etc. on the basis of integrating and promoting comprehensive knowledge, unique identity, outstanding in a leading university of social sciences and humanities in the country; To train generations of students who are both talented and specialized, with enough capacity and qualities to become ideological cadres, practical cadres, etc. in the political field, to contribute to the construction of the country in general and the development of Political Science in particular.

Having been with the University for 45 years, now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, he confided: “The happiest thing is that many generations of students have grown up. Wherever you go, you will see your former students. Many students are now professors, senior leaders,… but the teacher-student relationship is always warm.”. In more than 40 generations of his students, many have become excellent leaders and talented scientists, but as one student confided:“Master Phu's destiny is Tich Lich Hoa (lightning fire), but his figure is deeply imprinted in the minds of his students, both majestic, dignified, towering like a mountain, and yet simple, friendly and very ordinary. His students always feel him close as if he were right in front of them. But the mountain peak is forever high, reaching up to the blue sky of desire.”.When meeting him, it is not difficult to realize that, no matter what field or position he works in, he always works as a scientist. Politics is science, propaganda is science, leadership and management must also be science. He humbly admits that if he can do something, make some contribution, it is because he always lives, acts with all his heart, is devoted and responsible with scientific thinking and scientific methods. For him, doing politics is scientific politics, doing science with deep political awareness and strong political will. What he always preserves, what forms his personality and style is purity of thought, serenity in life, not competing, entangled in fame and fortune. With that philosophy of life, no matter how busy he is, he is always dignified, leisurely, carefree, happy and optimistic. In him, the teacher, scientist, exemplary Party cadre and the simple, life-loving, hard-working person always blend smoothly to create the personality of a teacher and a great leader.heartand haverange