The influence of young staff members needs to be more pronounced in the school's activities.

In his opening remarks, Professor Pham Quang Minh mentioned the excellent traditional foundations that generations of teachers and scientists of the University have built to create a University of Social Sciences and Humanities with the prestige and recognized brand it has today. Inheriting that tradition, the young staff have affirmed their competence, knowledge, and capabilities, and have created their own unique identity in research and training activities.

Professor Pham Quang Minh delivered a speech at the meeting.

With a liberal education philosophy, the university is striving to innovate its thinking in development philosophy and management activities to move towards a new image: dynamic, creative, and integrated. Along with this, dialogues with students and staff are becoming more substantive and open. The university is doing its utmost to create conditions for young staff members to fully develop their abilities and intellect, with the expectation that faculty members will reach new heights in research and training, integrating with international colleagues at a level comparable to their counterparts.

Out of a total of 368 teaching and research staff across the university, 114 faculty members are under 35 years old – this is the team that will shoulder the responsibility of developing the university in the future.

But the Rector also questioned: "Are we resting on our laurels, while young faculty members from other universities are constantly striving for excellence?" In the past three years, how many young faculty members have attended international conferences abroad, despite the university's policy of providing financial support for individual participation? How many young faculty members have registered to receive financial support from the university for international English language exams? Among the large-scale international conferences organized by the university, how many young faculty members have actively participated to learn and improve their expertise? These are questions that young faculty members must ponder to guide their future.

Young officials at the meeting

Regarding domestic scientific publications, in 2015, the entire university had 550 scientific articles, of which 165 were written by young staff members under 35 years old, accounting for 30%. In 2016, there were 540 scientific articles, with young staff members authoring 128 of them. In 2017, there were 545 scientific articles, with young staff members contributing 145. Thus, young staff members contribute approximately 25%-30% of domestic publications annually.

Regarding international publications, in 2015, the university recorded 47 international articles, with 5 authors being young faculty members. In 2016, there were 42 international publications, including 4 young faculty members. In 2017, there were 56 international publications, and the number of young faculty members as authors increased to 7. The number of international publications by young faculty members accounted for 10%-13% of the total number of articles published by the university.

Considering that the above figures do not reflect the potential of the young faculty members, the Rector suggested that teachers need to demonstrate initiative, a proactive spirit, and set higher goals for themselves.

Addressing concerns from young faculty members about the difficulties in publishing internationally in the social sciences and humanities, Associate Professor Hoang Anh Tuan (Vice Rector) affirmed that international publication is not as difficult as people think. However, young faculty members should not expect too much from training courses or wait for support policies from the university. Personal effort is the most important. Everyone needs to understand that international publication is a mandatory and necessary requirement for researchers to improve their capabilities and integrate with the global scientific community. This is a vital condition and an unavoidable trend.

Associate Professor Hoang Anh Tuan delivered a speech at the meeting.

On the part of the University, Vice Rector Hoang Anh Tuan also suggested that, in order to help young staff overcome obstacles and achieve breakthroughs in scientific research and international publications, the University must have specific support policies, ranging from improving English proficiency and standardizing English to supporting young staff in attending international conferences and realizing good research ideas. Young staff with good achievements in international publications should be commended, recognized, and given special rewards compared to other groups.

The future development of the school depends heavily on its human resources, so investing in personnel should be a top priority and have a long-term strategy, which must include necessary initial investments.

While acknowledging that today's younger generation faces more competitive pressure than before, with increasingly higher demands in work and life goals, Vice Rector Hoang Anh Tuan also noted that new opportunities are opening up more and more. Whether or not they seize these opportunities to succeed largely depends on the willpower and proactiveness of young people.

Concluding the meeting, Professor Pham Quang Minh emphasized: The university hopes and expects that the young faculty members will proactively participate and make significant contributions to the university's research and training activities in the future. As long as the faculty members have good scientific ideas and, especially, the ability to publish in international journals, the university is ready to support and provide initial funding.

In addition, the Rector suggested that regular meetings should be organized between young staff members and the Board of Directors to directly listen to the thoughts and concerns of the teachers, so that the school can adjust its support policies in a timely and effective manner.

At the meeting, the young staff members frankly shared the difficulties they faced, while affirming that they would always strive to improve themselves, develop their abilities, and live up to the tradition and reputation of a leading university in social sciences and humanities in Vietnam.