Opening of the skills training course for GVCN & CVHT

Attending the opening ceremony were Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan (Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities) and Professor Dr. Tran Thi Minh Duc (Head of the Department of Counseling Psychology, Faculty of Psychology).

The training course was organized to help homeroom teachers and academic advisors grasp the changes and new trends in academic advising; share and exchange experiences and professional skills to enhance this work. This activity is part of the strategy to improve the quality of training and students in an effective and practical direction of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan shared some information from the School.

Regarding student affairs, since April 2017, the School has made many new adjustments such as applying the one-stop model, minimizing administrative procedures to better serve students. Thanks to that, students can quickly resolve questions and requests about studying. The School will continue to receive student records through the online server.

Regarding training, the school has implemented training process reforms, creating conditions for students to graduate on time and ahead of schedule. In 2018, out of more than 1,000 graduates, nearly 300 students graduated ahead of schedule. In addition, changes in the arrangement of specialized subjects such as increasing the number of periods and organizing extra semesters have helped reduce the academic pressure on both lecturers and students. As a result, in an official semester, the number of students registering to study increased from about 31,000 to 42,000.

Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan emphasized that all improvements and innovations in student management and training methods are inevitable trends for universities around the world to survive and develop.

Regarding training results, the University's enrollment targets have changed somewhat. For postgraduate training, although the target for master's and doctoral students tends to decrease, the University still has remarkable achievements, such as contributing about 50% of the number of doctoral students of the entire VNU each year. For undergraduate training, since the 2012-2013 school year, the University's enrollment target has increased by 600-700 students each year. If from the 2013-2014 school year, the University recruited 1,300 students; by the 2017-2018 school year, this number increased to 1,800.

Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan presented flowers to thank Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Minh Duc for participating in the training course.

However, there are also challenges such as the increasing rate of students withdrawing their applications; the decreasing rate of students studying basic sciences; the low rate of students finding jobs in the public sector. Some of the reasons for this situation are the lack of interaction and innovation in teaching methods; the trend of students choosing private universities, studying abroad, and studying online; the difference in learning psychology of new generations of students such as 10X students.

To overcome the above difficulties, there needs to be innovation, upgrading of teaching and student service thinking; effectively integrating the roles of Homeroom Teacher and Academic Advisor. The Vice Principal hopes that lecturers will make effective use of this training course to acquire new thinking, eliminating inherent prejudices in training and advising. In the coming time, the School hopes that lecturers will share common perceptions about student affairs to find unified, effective and innovative directions of action.

MSc. Dao Minh Quan presented at the training course

Next, the lecturers attending the training course listened to Master Dao Minh Quan present contents such as new regulations of VNU on academic advising, necessary criteria of academic advising, professional procedures of academic advising, responsibilities and rights of academic advising.