The young staff (CBT) of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities accounts for 45.5% of the total number of teaching staff of the whole university. With this ratio, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities is one of the leading units in VNU in rejuvenating the staff. This is an advantage but also a challenge for the current organization of staff of the University. MSc. Ngo Thi Kieu Oanh, Deputy Head of the Organization and Personnel Department, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, discussed with reporters about this issue.
- Could you please tell us a little about the situation of the CBT team at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities?First of all, it is necessary to determine which subjects are called CBT. Currently, there is no legal document regulating the age of CBT, each agency and unit has its own regulations. However, there are two milestones chosen by units: under 40 years old or 35 years old or younger. For example, the Draft Law on Youth stipulates that the age of youth is from 17 to 35 years old. VNU in general and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in particular stipulate that CBT are people aged 35 or younger. Based on that criterion, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has 224 CBT out of a total of 485 staff, including 155 lecturers. Among the 155 young lecturers, there are 11 PhDs, 96 masters, 78 people studying for PhDs and 25 people are graduate students, there is no case of purely bachelors. The ability to use foreign languages and information technology of the young teaching staff is relatively good. 50/155 young lecturers are members of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Female lecturers account for 67.7%, male lecturers account for 32.3%. The percentage of young lecturers holding positions from Deputy Head of Department or higher is 17.4%.
- How does the school view the role and advantages of the CBT team?The CBT team of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities accounts for nearly 50% of the total number of lecturers. This team always plays a very important role in all areas of the University's activities. The future development of any university belongs to the CBT team, in which the young lecturers play a decisive role. The strength and academic reputation of a university comes from the quality of its scientific staff. Therefore, maintaining the inheritance and developing the leading scientific staff from the CBT team is a strategic task of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, especially in the context that the University is persistently following the roadmap to become an international-class university in the next decade.
The above overview of the CBT team of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities shows that the CBT rate is high and has quite good qualifications. This is a strong and potential human resource to ensure the good development of the future of the University. In addition, they are dynamic, highly creative, eager to learn, dare to challenge, are factors that promote new things, creating a modern atmosphere and working style in the University. Due to the characteristics of a basic science school, the source of CBT recruitment is mostly excellent students of the University who are retained, have a learning process at the University, the University clearly knows the capacity and strengths of each person, so it is convenient in the development orientation process. In fact, over the years, the CBT team often participates very effectively in the innovative and revolutionary activities of the University in many fields of training, research, international cooperation, etc. Every year, many typical young faces are honored by the University and VNU for their contributions to the development of the University.
- According to the data, 7% of CBTs have a PhD degree, 17.4% hold management positions from Deputy Head of Department or higher, how do you evaluate this number?The number of 7% of CBTs holding a doctorate is not much compared to the requirement, but it is not small compared to the characteristics of the social sciences and humanities. It should be noted that 78 (over 50.32%) of staff are studying for a PhD and will achieve the PhD standard in the near future. And the rest are still in the process of improving their professional qualifications according to the roadmap and requirements set by the School. The School is still and will continue to find different solutions, both encouraging and motivating combined with clearly assigning responsibilities, to increase the percentage of PhDs among young lecturers. The number of 17.4% of CBTs holding management positions at all levels, in my opinion, is an impressive number, especially when compared to the previous period. That number shows two meanings: One is the School's trust and willingness to assign tasks to the CBT team based on seeing their advantages and capabilities. The school has been promoting the rejuvenation of the staff in general and especially the rejuvenation of the staff of managers. In particular, this work in the 2009-2014 term is considered a breakthrough activity. However, leadership and management is an extremely difficult task. It requires people with practical experience, understanding of management skills, professional competence and prestige with the masses. Therefore, in addition to creating favorable conditions and environments for the development of the staff, to rejuvenate the staff of managers, it is necessary to do a good job of planning and training. Second is the effort, striving and self-affirmation of the staff. It should be added that, to be appointed to each leadership and management position, especially professional leadership and management in the higher education environment, one of the criteria that must be achieved is the academic degree. Each different position will stipulate that the corresponding academic degree must be achieved. In the coming time, when the rate of CBTs with doctoral degrees increases, the number of CBTs appointed to management and leadership positions will not stop at 17.4%.
- The characteristic of those doing research and teaching in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities is that the time to accumulate knowledge and professional experience is longer than in other fields. How does this affect the staff work of the School?Other scientific fields may have more favorable starting points and shorter development processes, but Social Sciences and Humanities do not have that advantage. Of course, the longer study time and experience accumulation of CBTs will have a certain impact on the staff work of the School. CBTs in the process of retaining the School mainly spend time studying, so the time spent on accumulating professional experience is not much, leading to the vocational training time also having to be extended. This must be taken into account when the School builds plans and strategies for developing the staff. It can be said that the process of training a CBT in the Social Sciences and Humanities from the initial starting point until reaching the set standards is a long process, requiring a lot of effort, requiring the School to use many comprehensive measures. In particular, the important thing is that for each CBT when entering the School, there must be a specific development roadmap based on his or her initial foundation. On the other hand, the School also applies measures to accelerate the learning process and increase the professional experience of CBTs by letting them directly and actively participate in the School's activities.
- For young staff, the two most important factors that affect them are income and conditions for developing professional capacity and creativity. How does the School care about these issues?It can be said that up to now, all policies and macro-level development strategies as well as regulations issued to all levels of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities have always aimed first and foremost at the interests of the CBT team in studying and working, of course within the framework of State regulations and within the scope of the University's own conditions. The University has issued many separate regulations for this group, and has regularly and promptly adjusted policies accordingly. For example, the annual adjustment of the Internal Expenditure Regulations is aimed at prioritizing young staff. The University supports rewards and tuition reductions for graduate students and PhD students who are staff of the University who complete their courses on time and have good results; supports tuition and exam fees for IELTS and TOELFE courses to improve foreign language proficiency for CBTs; rewards CBTs who have scientific articles published in international journals or support participation in international scientific conferences; There is a policy of early salary increase... In addition, the School considers creating conditions for the development of professional capacity and professional skills as the number one priority. For young lecturers, training and self-training is a very heavy task, even a lifelong one. But from the age of 35 and under, for young lecturers, it is the time to accumulate knowledge, the time to run, and create momentum for their career. The more well-prepared a lecturer is during this period, the further he or she will go in his or her career. And to support this development stage, young lecturers are assigned experienced staff to guide them during their internship period as well as their long-term research direction, minimizing their participation in non-professional work; are given the opportunity to participate and "immerse" themselves in the academic environment of a leading training institution; are able to exchange and learn from experiences of senior lecturers and leading scientists; sent to study and exchange at many large training and research institutions in and outside the country... But that facilitation cannot be measured, and it is more important to the maturity of a CBT than any other priority. Along with the maturity in both expertise, experience and reputation, CBT will have more and more opportunities to increase their income with their own cultivated and trained capacity. And looking at it from a positive perspective, this is a sustainable increase. In fact, with such a large number of young staff, the School has made a lot of efforts with many new implementation solutions that can gradually improve the quality of the CBT team and ensure their living conditions are getting better and better.
- Along with creating favorable conditions, what requirements does the School set for young staff?Of course, creating conditions must come with corresponding requirements. CBT must constantly train in all aspects and complete assigned tasks well. In addition to the standards stipulated in the University Charter, VNU also stipulates that the standard qualification for lecturers at VNU is PhD. Therefore, for young lecturers, the first task is to complete the learning path, improve qualifications to obtain a PhD degree within the prescribed time. The development strategy of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities until 2015 and vision to 2020 sets out the goal of striving to build a team of qualified staff and civil servants in terms of expertise and profession; a team of leading scientists strong enough to meet the requirements of training and scientific research at international standards. For qualified lecturers, they must have: 1) A professional qualification of PhD; 2) Good command of at least one appropriate foreign language; 3) Apply advanced methods in teaching and research. Since 2015, the school has only organized recruitment to appoint lecturers for candidates with doctoral degrees. Thus, it can be seen that to become a lecturer of the School, CBT must be serious and make efforts to achieve the above standards.
- To develop a team of qualified young staff in the current conditions of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, what do you think is the most important solution?In my opinion, there is no universal solution. No matter how good or feasible a solution is, it cannot change a team. A solution can be very effective in affecting the team in this aspect or at this time, but that does not mean that it also affects the team in other aspects. Therefore, to develop a team of young teaching staff comprehensively, it is necessary to combine solutions synchronously and harmoniously with each other, associated with the basic content of human resource development theory, which is the work of planning, using, training, fostering, evaluating the team and creating an environment for the team to develop. But first of all, there must be unity and consensus from the leaders of the School, faculty, and department to give priority and comprehensive investment to the CBT team. Second, in addition to policies, material support, time, working conditions, and priority for CBTs to study to improve their qualifications, there should also be regulations requiring teaching staff to complete the required academic qualifications on schedule, clearly stated in the labor contract, and have annual performance evaluation reports. If CBTs do not meet the required academic qualifications, the contract will be considered for termination and the school will reimburse the funds provided by the school. Third, on the basis of comparing the standard requirements of a teaching staff with the training needs of each individual to classify training needs, thereby developing a training plan suitable for each specific group of subjects, in each specific stage. Fourth, it is necessary to strengthen the role of inspection and supervision from the department, faculty, and school levels on the learning and working process of CBTs; strictly implement the regime of reporting on the progress of annual training to improve qualifications. Fifth, strictly implement the assignment of staff to directly assist CBTs in the implementation of the work roadmap. Finally, the work of planning and creating CBT resources from excellent students needs to be given more attention with more initiative from the department.
