International cooperation to improve the scientific research capacity and training quality of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

In addition to 2,940 domestic scientific research tasks with about 431 international, state and ministerial-level scientific workshops, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics has started a lot of large-scale programs and projects in scientific research and training. International cooperation activities in scientific research and training in recent years have increased dramatically in number, attracting participation of a large number of scientists in Vietnam, in the Academy and other countries. Along with the increase in number, the quality of these projects and programs has also increased significantly. Many leading experts and famous professors in many countries have come to the Academy to directly give lectures or participate in research projects and programs. Many international scientific forums and workshops on significant and urgent scientific topics have been implemented at the Academy with the participation of many domestic and foreign scientists. The results of international cooperation programs and projects, as well as international scientific conferences, are distilled and submitted to the higher level in Vietnam for review and application.

The Academy presided over many international and national projects, programs and topics; basic investigation projects from economic non-business funds; scientific projects and tasks of international cooperation, joint scientific research with ministries, branches and localities throughout the country; projects funded by ODA, National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED). In particular, there are a number of units that proactively use self-funding to implement the scientific projects and tasks at grassroots level and scientific research projects of students. International cooperation in scientific research has been implemented quite actively with many important tasks. Besides scientific research, international cooperation has also been implemented in organizing talks and lectures delivered by professors, scientists, leading leaders from countries and international organizations in strategic classes, advanced political theory classes and graduate classes, etc.

The international cooperation activities in scientific research and training and retraining have increased not only in number but also in quality. Many international and national scientific workshops and many training courses for strategic leaders have the presence of foreign experts who are well-known foreign professors and senior leaders to deliver speeches and presentations on scientific topics and lectures on current topical and urgent topics. Along with the participation of leading experts, famous professors, senior leaders from abroad coming to attend seminars and lectures at the Academy, the lecturers, staff members, and students of the Academy have also gained a lot of foreign knowledge and experience to improve their research and teaching capacity. International cooperation has actively supported so that many staff members and lecturers of the Academy have opportunities to pursue long-term and short-term study abroad, improving their qualifications and knowledge. The capacity of the Academy for scientific research and training has also been significantly improved thanks to many overseas missions and surveys carried out by its staff and lecturers. On such overseas research and survey trips, many of the Academy’s staff members and lecturers have opportunities to access the scientific research experience of foreign officials and experts, but also to acquire practical lessons of success from the foreign organizations and countries.

International cooperation in scientific research and training of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics in the period 2014-2019 has been strongly renewed and developed. The Academy has had many international cooperation activities in scientific research and training with traditional partners such as Laos, Cuba, Korea, Russia, Germany, France, China and India, JICA (Japan), KOICA (Korea), UNDP (United Nations), etc. With the annual organization of training courses and implementation of scientific research projects and programs, international cooperation is also extended to other countries such as the United States, Britain, Israel, South Africa, Mozambique, etc., organizations in Africa, America, Latin America. It can be said that up to now, the traditional and new partners with whom the Academy has cooperative relations have increased in number and spread across most territories.

Some of the Academy’s traditional partners include Beijing Central Party School, China, the Lao National Academy of Politics and Public Administration, and some provincial Party Schools of China and Laos. These relations have been developed at both the National Academy and the affiliated Academies. In addition, the Academy has also established cooperative relations with many new partners who are prestigious universities, research institutes, non-governmental organizations in many countries around the world and many other international organizations, such as: Portland University, USA; Singapore Public School; Kennedy School of Government, Maxwell School of Public Administration; Academy of State Governance under the President of the Russian Federation; Academy of State Governance under the President of Belarus; International Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands; Central Officials Training Institute, Korea, etc.. Moreover, the affiliated Academies have direct cooperative relations with many international partners in the fields of training and scientific research. The forms and contents of international cooperation are also more diverse and plentiful. All of these international cooperative relations have had direct or indirect impacts on the improvement of scientific research capacity and training quality of the Academy by providing and exchanging new information and knowledge with its staff members, lecturers and students.

In the period of 2014-2019, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics organized for nearly 200 delegations with about 1,500 people to go abroad for work and research and welcomed nearly 300 foreign delegations and organizations with more than 1,000 people visiting for work and workshops. This form of cooperation, in which the staff and lecturers directly acquire experiences, knowledge and working methods in training and scientific research of well-known experienced experts overseas, has effectively complied with the requirement for improvement in scientific research and training capacity. In addition to the exchange of delegations for study and research, the cooperation activities in scientific research and training to improve scientific research capacity and training quality, the Academy has also successfully coordinated dozens of international scientific conferences, workshops, seminars at the Academy as well as the affiliated Academies, with the participation of Vietnamese scientists; foreign scientists from countries such as Laos, China, India, Thailand, Singapore; scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences; scientists from the UK, USA, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Germany, Greece, etc. At the same time, the Academy has also sent staff members and created favorable conditions for them to attend international conferences in Russia, China, Laos, USA, Australia, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. by invitation.

The Academy’s scientific research capacity and training quality has also been improved through specific projects and programs, for example, “Memorandum of Understanding on the advanced political theory training program between the HCMA and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the period of 2015-2018”, the Academy in coordination with JICA organized sessions of thematic reports for 9 classes of advanced political theory (class A) at the Academy and opened 02 classes of training management methods for lecturers of Political Schools in Kien Giang and Quang Ngai provinces in 2018, successfully co-organized a gratitude meeting with representatives of international organizations, Embassies and partners in relations with the Academy on the occasion of the 2018 Lunar New Year Festival.

In the past five years, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics has implemented many outstanding international cooperation projects in scientific research, including: the research topic “Training and retraining leaders and managers to meet the requirements of industrialization, modernization and international integration in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Lao People’s Democratic Republic”; the research topic “Lao and Vietnamese political system: Analysis and comparison”; the project “Translation of the complete Ho Chi Minh works from Vietnamese into Lao”; the scheme “Researching on Thoughts of Kaysone Phomvihane” (these four scientific tasks have been carried out in cooperation with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic); The project “Cooperation in research and dissemination of Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts between the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Ho Chi Minh Institute of the University of Saint Petersburgh” (with the University of Saint Petersburgh in the Federation of Russia); the project “Enhancing the capacity of Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration in training cadres and civil servants in the 2013-2016 period” (in collaboration with JICA - Japan); “Development Experience Exchange Program (DEEP) in the period 2015-2018” (in collaboration with KOIKA - Korea); the project “Training and retraining of leaders and managers at all levels, especially strategic level in the period of 2019-2023” (in collaboration with JICA - Japan); etc..

Moreover, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics has also step-by-step piloted and facilitated the decentralization, empowering its subordinate Academies to find suitable partners and proactively conduct forms of cooperation in training and scientific research. Therefore, most of the affiliated Academies, under the plan approved by the President of the Academy, have proactively organized for delegations to study and survey in foreign countries and welcomed international delegations coming for seminar, academic and information exchanges on issues that both sides are interested in.

It can be affirmed that the promotion of international cooperation and affiliation in scientific research and training has enabled the Academy to diversify its research activities; absorb international achievements and lessons; promote the Academy’s image to countries around the world; proactively implement scientific activities, contributing to increasing the theoretical and practical knowledge of the Academy staff. In the coming time, the capacity of scientific research and training quality at Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics will be further enhanced, requiring the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics to further promote international cooperation in all aspects. In particular, to become an international and regional center of scientific research and training, the Academy needs to have breakthrough solutions in international cooperation and further expand international cooperation in all fields, even in the fields of information, scientific workshops, lectures, online exchanges and publishing in major international journals.

Assoc. Prof., Dr. Le Quoc Ly

Vice President

Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics