The Science and Technology Council of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities held its second meeting

The Council listened to Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan (Vice Principal of the University) present the main features of innovation in training activities at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. In recent times, the University has focused on innovating the training process in a learner-centered direction. The Training Department has coordinated with units to review and rearrange the training process and schedule in a flexible and effective manner, avoiding "dead" time in training. The highest professional role and responsibility are completely assigned to the training units, the role of lecturers is enhanced, and the Training Department provides technical and procedural support.

In addition, the enrollment work has also been improved in the direction of considering enrollment as a regular activity and diversifying the forms of activities. Procedures related to registration and submission of enrollment documents have also been improved to best serve learners, especially exploiting online utilities.

Regarding postgraduate training, the University also issued a standard training schedule to support students to complete their study program in the shortest time. The defense process also shortened unnecessary procedures, following the "one-stop" direction but still ensuring the general regulations of the Ministry and VNU.

The school has also been adjusting the training programs in the direction of promoting the connection between majors and majors to increase learning and job opportunities for learners. The school is also considering the possibility of implementing majors with high social demand based on the association with member units of VNU. Elective subjects in the training programs are also adjusted to increase attractiveness for learners.

One of the other main contents discussed at the meeting was solutions to promote international publications in scientific research of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Presenting a paper on this topic, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Van Luan (Head of the Department of Scientific Research Management) assessed: In recent years, the University's international publications have increasingly flourished and created a ripple effect among the staff. In the period 2012 - 2016, the number of international publications of the University increased from 20 to 42. However, international publications are currently still concentrated in a few units such as History, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Oriental Studies, and Sociology. These publications are mainly from individuals and not products of research groups.

International publication in science is currently considered one of the directions to promote international integration and improve the capacity of the research team. To do this, a number of recommendations have been made such as: assigning international publication targets to each unit, and gradually to each title of lecturer and researcher; linking international publication criteria with salary and bonus priorities; focusing on building strong research groups to create sustainability in international publication; piloting the organization and assigning to research groups joint research programs and projects towards international publication; investing in upgrading the Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities to become a scientific journal at the international level...

The third main content discussed at the meeting was solutions to enhance the operational efficiency of the centers in the University. According to the report of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Minh Hoa (Vice Principal of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities), the University currently has 13 centers, 01 affiliated company, including 08 training support research centers, 05 training service centers and 01 one-member LLC. Currently, besides the achieved results, the operations of the centers also have limitations such as: the coordination between the centers and the faculties is not good, so the operational efficiency is not high; the development orientation of some centers is not yet associated with the research university model; the number of service centers is not large and they only provide training services but not scientific and technological services.

In the context of the University developing towards a research university, the proposed opinions need to review and re-evaluate the position and role of the centers. First of all, the University needs to review the functions, tasks and management of each center and proceed to restructure according to levels. Centers that operate effectively will continue to receive investment from the University to expand their operations, even becoming interdisciplinary research centers. Centers that operate less effectively can be merged with other units. In addition, the University will build tighter operating mechanisms so that the centers not only fully develop their research potential but also have specific responsibilities to the University.