Today, December 18, the 11th National Congress of the Vietnam Students' Association (VSA) for the 2023-2028 term opened its first session in Hanoi.

The congress took place in the context of the country facing many opportunities and challenges of the globalization process, when the trend of international relations has changed dramatically and the industrial revolution 4.0 has had a profound impact on all countries, territories and areas of life and society. This is the time when it is necessary to raise the issue of assessing and redefining the mission and tasks of Vietnamese students in the new period, as an important human resource in the future.

Reality shows that, regardless of the historical context, Vietnamese students are aware of their role and responsibility to the country and the destiny of the nation. In an era where knowledge economy and science and technology play a key role like today, the new generation of students is expected more by society. The draft political report of the 11th National Congress of the Vietnamese Students' Association has clearly identified that Vietnamese students are an elite group of young people, a high-quality human resource, inheriting and promoting the revolutionary achievements of the Party and the nation.

In the next 5 years, the majority of students will be born between 2001 and 2010, a generation trained according to the new general education program. This is also a generation associated with the technology era, so they have many characteristics in terms of personality, ideology, lifestyle and capacity with many unique identities. The outstanding characteristics will be: creativity, promoting individual differences, adaptability, good integration, critical thinking, proficient use of digital platforms, and a tendency to be highly mobile in life. How to arouse the intellectual potential, motivation to strive and desire to contribute of this new generation of students is an important task of the Vietnam Student Association.

Faced with that demand, the Vietnam Student Association must also put itself in a cycle of innovation, continuing to be a reliable companion, providing more effective support to students. Before the congress, Mr. Nguyen Minh Triet, President of the Vietnam Student Association, Term X, shared that the association's goals and activities in the coming period will be designed to not only enhance the experience but also be a solid "support" for students, accumulating the necessary energy to create momentum in the future.

It is still the big movement "5 Good Students" with the criteria of "good study, good ethics, good skills, good integration, good physical strength" but the association at all levels will promote more connections with agencies, organizations, young business associations, and businesses to introduce scholarships, jobs, internships, and training for excellent students.

Through such connecting activities, student training activities will be adjusted to better meet the needs of the labor market and society. Along with that, the Vietnam Student Association also needs to organize sports, cultural playgrounds, academic exchanges, international exchanges, and volunteer activities for students in a more suitable and attractive way. Equipping soft skills for students also continues to change thanks to the application of information technology, promoting the strengths of the internet and social networks.

The remaining issue is that the movements and goals set by the student association must truly become the students’ own needs and receive strong responses from the students. We have the right to hope and wait for a new generation of students to excel in the role of core force, pioneering the common movement of Vietnamese youth. That will be a generation of students with strong political will, ready to join the new opportunities of the country.

MINH DUY