Rinfo – Festival on the right to access information

Assoc. Prof. Dr Pham Quang Minh (Rector of USSH) speaks at the festival

Speaking at the ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr Pham Quang Minh said information plays an increasingly important role. It represents power and capacity, and if used and exploited correctly, it can help you acquire tremendous power. And the right to know is also the right of each individual to master his fate.

On behalf of the Board of Rector, Assoc. Prof. Dr Pham Quang Minh expressed his thankfulness for the Canadian Embassy, CPEW and the faculty and students of Faculty of Information and Library Science, who sparked a light of confidence in the future of USSH’s students and the entire society. He committed to supporting and providing ample opportunities to help the faculty and students promote their creativity and activeness in implementing the project.  

As a student, do you usually seek information of your university? Have you ever found it difficult to find and approach information about universities? Are the difficulties in accessing information at universities caused by students’ passiveness or other reasons as well? These are the questions put forward at the seminar “Are students passive in gaining access to information” right after the opening ceremony.  

M.A Ngo Thi Thu Ha – Vice Rector of CEPEW at the seminar

Thanks to her in-depth studies of the right to access information and active participation in developing the draft on the right to access information submitted to the National Assembly, M.A Ngo Thi Thu Ha was able to share many practical ideas to USSH’s students.

These ideas were partly realized and discussed with concrete examples by M.A Pham Huy Cuong (Vice President of the Office for Student Affairs). As a personnel of one of the two units of USSH actively involving and interacting with students, M.A Pham Huy Cuong provided USSH’s students with practical examples of the Office’s tasks in accessing and providing information.

From a more immediate perspective, Dang Trung Anh, student of Faculty of Management Science, shared his views on the necessity of access to information and the methods by which students approach information while studying.

After the seminar, the students visited and evaluated the exhibitions made by different teams that took part in the contest “Initiatives by students for communicating about the right to access information”. The students listened to their presentations and voted for favorite projects.

Access to information is viewed as a prerequisite for implementing other human rights and ensuring the transparency and accountability of the state. The right to access information allows every citizen to make informed decisions towards good governance and prevent corruption, protect his civil rights and legitimate interests.  

The “Strengthening the knowledge and participation of youngsters in promoting access to information in Vietnam” project co-held by Faculty of Information and Library Science, USSH and Center for Education Promotion and Empowerment of Women lasts from December, 2015 to February, 2016.

The first stage focuses on holding conferences on the drafting of the law on access to information in Vietnam. Two training courses on the right to access information were held for the faculty and students of USSH based on which a group of crucial youngsters is established and responsible for carrying on the 2nd stage.

The second stage consists of two seminars on the right to access information at USSH, the development of an information dissemination model held by Faculty of Information and Library Science, USSH, and the contest on communication ideas based on the right to access information.

Finally, the project ends with a festival on information, in which galleries of communication ideas and a seminar on the right to access information and equality in accessing information are held.