Dr. Duong Thanh An - Principal of Training School,
Training of Natural Resources and Environment Officers

Strengthening coordination between central and local levels

In addition to training to serve the state management of units under the Ministry, the School of Training and Development of Natural Resources and Environment (INNET) also has the task of training and supporting departments, state units and Natural Resources and Environment Offices of provinces, districts, cities, etc. in the locality. It can be seen that the training role of the School in the coordination and connection between the Central and local levels is very important.

Based on the assignment of the Ministry, the School has proactively sent documents to all 63 Departments of Natural Resources and Environment nationwide, in order to grasp the needs of the departments for training and education, especially specific contents in new legal documents, or expected to be issued in 2024, such as the Law on Water Resources, the Land Law... or in some hot, priority areas, especially land and environment. Thereby, the School can coordinate with the departments to develop plans, continue to organize activities to support localities in implementing training and education for local officials according to needs.

Identifying training to serve State management as an important and core task, the School is developing a plan to promote socialization in training, connecting with not only central professional units but also local units.

To carry out this task, in the coming time, implementing the direction of the Party Committee, the School sets out strategic priority tasks, coordinates with the Department of Organization and Personnel of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to deploy a comprehensive and systematic training plan and training program for industry officials, aiming to promote professional qualifications and improve the professional skills of officials in all fields of the industry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In particular, the School has built many training programs to suit the current context and divided them into 2 groups of subjects. One is for general subjects (expanding direction); The other is a program for specialized subjects, according to 9 fields managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In particular, in relation to the major, it is always necessary to develop textbooks or documents that follow the regulations and requirements on the content of the training program for cadres; at the same time, follow the current regulations related to the training field and the regulations of the Party or specific Laws in the field. For example, in the field of Meteorology and Hydrology, the School develops projects based on the directives of the Politburo, the newly issued Law on Meteorology and Hydrology, etc. Thus, the training content of the School for specialists will have in-depth lectures on techniques; and for managers, there will be more comprehensive documents and textbooks in management work, serving the industry.

However, the coordination from the central to local levels still faces certain limitations. According to the provisions of Decree 89, the training content must ensure a balance and harmony between theory and practice. However, the content on practice has not been fully implemented. Due to objective and subjective factors and reasons, and depending on resources, budget, and funding, especially the way local trainees perceive the training program and practice in practice, it has more or less affected the way trainees learn and apply in practice.

Therefore, in the coming time, in training courses or refresher training classes, the School will strengthen and innovate training work according to the motto of combining theory with practice to meet the practical requirements of the team of students. Therefore, the team of lecturers and staff of the School need to build and improve the program, content as well as re-compile the curriculum, and the transmission method to be richer, more suitable, attractive and practical, so that the students can see the quality as well as the effectiveness when applying these learning results into practice.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Hoang Anh Huy - Rector of Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment

Training "future human resources" right from the input selection

The University of Natural Resources and Environment is honored to be the first unit to receive and train human resources for the Natural Resources and Environment sector. Throughout the process of formation and development, the University has built a large-scale training strategy, creating a foundation right from the start based on the perspective of practical learning and practical learning. Along with that, there is a suitable admission mechanism to attract future human resources, doing well the input stage.

In 2023 alone, the school recruited nearly 3,500 students out of a total of 100,000 candidates who registered to the school with high admission scores. The admission scores of many majors in the school have risen to the top of the country's leading schools in the context of many schools lacking or having no recruitment sources. Of which, 16/23 majors have admission scores of 22 points or more, the major with the highest admission score is 27.5 points, including difficult-to-enroll majors such as: Climate change and sustainable development, water resources management, geological engineering, etc. The innovation of the education program with many positive results has been proven by the improvement of university admissions, of which the admission work for the 2023-2024 school year is an example.

Up to now, with 68 years of history (1955 - 2023) and accumulated teaching experience, the School has become a trusted address to attract "input resources" through other forms of training. With 14 elementary courses, 45 intermediate courses, 15 college courses, 24 university specialized courses, 10 university transfer courses, 13 regular university courses and 9 master's courses, ... The School has trained more than 50,000 students equivalent to levels from elementary to master's, providing resources to serve in the fields of the industry.

In order to implement large-scale educational programs, aiming to train quality input human resources for output, the School attaches special importance to the work of building, strengthening and improving the expertise of the teaching staff. Currently, the School's teaching staff is about 500 people, of which more than 160 lecturers have the academic titles and degrees of Professor, Associate Professor, Doctor; 50 lecturers are doing PhD and more than 280 lecturers have Master's degrees. The School's teaching staff increasingly meets the requirements and tasks of education and training, scientific research, and international cooperation. The School is currently organizing training in 23 majors with a scale of nearly 15,000 students and trainees in the whole school.

In order to achieve the goal of making the University a national key university in the field of Natural Resources and Environment, approaching prestigious university training institutions in the region, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment has developed a School Development Strategy to 2025, with a vision to 2035,...

In addition, to promote the training of high-quality human resources in the field of Natural Resources and Environment, the school's scientific research and international cooperation work is focused on. In 2023, 47 scientific research topics at all levels were completed, including 6 ministerial-level topics, 41 grassroots-level topics, and many publications and scientific works of scientists in the school were published in scientific journals and national and international conferences; organizing national and international scientific conferences during the year according to the set schedule and plan.

Based on the results achieved, in June 2023, the School was granted a Certificate of Educational Quality Standards for the 2nd Cycle by the Center for Educational Quality Assessment - Vietnam National University, Hanoi; In December 2023, the School was awarded a 4-star certificate according to the application orientation of the UPM Institute of Innovation.

That proves the efforts of teachers and students of Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment in improving, innovating, and constantly developing educational programs, learning, cultivating knowledge and professional skills to meet the trend of training future human resources for the country in general and for the Natural Resources and Environment sector in particular.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Pham Thi Thanh Nga - Director of Institute of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change

Developing industry human resources
through conducting research
science

The general assessment of the current human resource situation of the Hydrometeorology sector is still lacking, especially the source and successor force. For example, the current number of scientists and experts at the Institute of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change (IHC) is 8 Professors, Associate Professors (GS, PGS); 33 Doctors (TS); the General Department of Hydrometeorology has only 3 PGS; 28 PhDs, ... Therefore, in order to develop a high-quality human resource team, it is necessary to initially supplement the number of key staff, experts and scientists. Therefore, the problem here is how to develop high-quality human resources while the number of GS, PGS, and PhDs is not enough to carry out training work.

For example, in training at the Institute, the regulations clearly state: A department or enough to train a major must have permanent lecturers, including 2 Associate Professors and 3 PhDs (or 2 Associate Professors and 1 Professor). In the near future, the Institute will have 1 retired Professor, so the human resources will be greatly affected, the risk is that the Institute will have to close a major due to lack of lecturers. After closing a major code, it will be very difficult to reopen it (for example, Oceanography with a small number of students). At present, the Institute only has 4 major codes and to maintain these 4 major codes, the number of lecturers must be sufficient. Therefore, the Institute needs to add 2 more Associate Professors to be able to maintain the training and teaching program.

For that reason, the Institute is strengthening coordination with institutions, units, universities, etc. to invite professors and associate professors to train PhDs and doctoral students. Thereby, the Institute takes advantage of inviting lecturers who have reached the retirement age at schools or professors, associate professors, etc. or at units inside and outside the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment related to the codes of the PhDs and doctoral students to teach in training courses. At the same time, the Institute also proposes that PhDs in the Institute and outside the Institute such as the University of Science and Technology, the National Economics University, the Academy, etc. can coordinate to train the PhD program at the Institute.

However, these are only temporary solutions to solve the problem of human resources without comprehensive solutions. Therefore, in addition to strengthening coordination with units such as Institutes, Schools or Research Centers, the Institute is implementing a plan to expand and strengthen cooperation with foreign research units such as Korea, Japan, etc. Thus, PhD students can practice by using the method of using half of the time to work, study and research in Vietnam and half of the time to study abroad in other countries.

In addition, to develop the orientation and plan for 2024 - 2027 (the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Institute of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change), the Institute is starting to develop specific strategies to improve professional guidance, improve qualifications and have a reward mechanism for collectives and individuals with achievements as well as research topics with important achievements. This is to encourage experts and scientists to conduct scientific research projects and international articles that can be applied in practice, have high applicability, etc.

Through many research projects and scientific and technological topics that the Institute has been implementing in the provinces, the staff and human resources of the Hydrometeorology sector have significantly improved their professional expertise. This is demonstrated through research topics of applied nature and serving the people's lives and social life in provinces such as: Quang Ninh with the provincial-level topic of Planning medicinal plant growing areas; Tuyen Quang with the project of building a geographical Atlas map; Hoa Binh with the district-level topic - Building a flash flood and landslide warning system in the land; Hai Phong and Ninh Binh with topics: Flood warning level, building flood forecasting activities for localities, etc.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Huynh Quyen - Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment

Ensure scientific research work
combine "learning with practice"

Promoting the results achieved in scientific research combining "learning with practice" in the period of 2020 - 2022, in 2023, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment (HCMUNRE) continues to reap many remarkable results, adding to the achievements of the University.

Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment has been ranked 64th in the Top 100 Strong Universities in Vietnam by the Vietnam University Rankings (VNUR). Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment has also published more than 250 scientific articles at home and abroad, including more than 40 prestigious international articles (ISI/SCOPUS). By 2023, the number of international scientific articles published by the University has far exceeded the target in the University's Development Strategy to 2025.

For the first time, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment appeared on the Nature Index database with a “Share” score of 0.67, ranked 7/43 scientific research institutions in Vietnam and appeared in the 2022 list of Nature Index. In 2023, the University carried out many scientific research projects, such as: 10 projects at the ministerial/provincial level, 14 projects at the school level and 15 projects for students. By 2023, the University had carried out more than 18 projects/models for trial production and consulting, technology transfer.

In 2023, the School successfully organized the 6th Scientific Conference, with the participation of more than 20 domestic and foreign units and enterprises. At the same time, successfully implemented the 3rd Job Fair and Business Exhibition in the Natural Resources and Environment sector, with the participation of more than 1,000 students and more than 15 typical enterprises operating in the Natural Resources and Environment sector.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment has also successfully organized many other scientific conferences, typically: Scientific Research Orientation Workshop towards Net-Zero by 2050, with the participation of nearly 200 members and more than 20 enterprises. At the same time, the University has signed 9 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with partners who are major universities at home and abroad, such as: Vinh University, Can Tho University, Curtin University... and signed MOUs with corporations/enterprises, such as: Arup Group of the UK, Duy Tan Recycled Plastic Company...

To ensure that scientific research continues to combine "learning with practice", identifying the construction and development of scientific research activities and technology transfer as one of the key tasks in the Development Strategy of Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment, in 2024 - 2025, the University continues to focus on developing solutions to diversify funding sources for investment in facilities, such as: Laboratories, Research equipment... and implementing research through the activities of topics/projects on domestic and international cooperation.

The school will also develop a mechanism to reward and promptly encourage groups and individuals who perform well in scientific research and technology transfer activities; enhance the capacity of staff participating in scientific research and technology transfer activities; strengthen cooperation with enterprises in scientific research and technology transfer according to the ordering mechanism from enterprises; build and support strong and potential research groups; establish a young creative club for young staff, students and pupils of the school to participate in order to develop creative ideas about scientific research; establish a club in charge of training skills in scientific research, thinking and entrepreneurship to encourage the development of scientific research of students and incubate good ideas.