Faculty of Tourism Studies – 20 years of glorious journey

Dr. Pham Hong Long, Head of the Faculty of Tourism Studies, delivered the opening speech at the ceremony.

Joining the celebration with the Faculty were representatives from many domestic and foreign agencies, organizations, partners, and many generations of teachers, scientists, students and trainees of all courses.

20 years is not a long time, but it is enough to help the Faculty of Tourism gradually affirm its position and prominent role in training highly qualified and qualified human resources for the Vietnamese tourism industry.

In 1995, right after the establishment of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, the Director of VNU signed the decision to establish the Faculty of Tourism Studies (October 21, 1995), with the mission of taking the lead in creating, disseminating knowledge and training high-quality human resources in tourism studies, serving the cause of national construction and development.

Inheriting the academic tradition, with the pioneering and active contributions of famous scholars such as the late Professor Tran Quoc Vuong, the late Professor Hoang Thieu Son, Professor Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuyet, the late Associate Professor Dr. Dinh Trung Kien, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Duc Thanh and many other scholars, after the initial years of struggling to overcome difficulties, the Faculty of Tourism Studies has quickly become a reliable address for training and scientific research on tourism in Hanoi, as well as the country today.

At the ceremony, Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (middle) presented the decision of Dean of the Faculty to Dr. Pham Hong Long (right) and Vice Dean of the Faculty to Dr. Nguyen Quang Vinh for the 2015-2020 term.

Currently, the Faculty consists of 3 departments: Geography and Tourism Culture, Tourism Economics and Operations, and Event Management. The Faculty has 18 staff members, including 16 lecturers. The proportion of staff with doctoral degrees accounts for 50%, and 35% of staff members are capable of teaching and writing in English.

To fulfill the mission of becoming a high-quality and high-level training and scientific research institution in tourism, from the very beginning, the Faculty has focused on research-oriented training. The models of regular bachelor's degree, work-study, dual degree, and master's degree training have been successfully piloted. Currently, the Faculty has 2 bachelor's degree training programs: Tourism and Travel Services Management and Hotel Management. In addition, the Faculty also has dual degree training programs and short-term training in tour guide skills... The Faculty of Tourism Studies is still the only institution in the country that offers master's degree training in tourism.

After 20 years of efforts, 2,500 full-time students, nearly 400 graduate students and thousands of students in the work-study, double degree and short-term programs have been trained. Although not many, it has partly met the human resource requirements for Vietnam's tourism activities, gradually filling the gap between scientific knowledge, experience and reality, improving the competitiveness of the labor force in the tourism industry. Many students and trainees after graduation have held important positions in state management agencies, research institutes, universities, tourism and hotel businesses... across the country.

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Education and Training and the Certificate of Merit from the Director of VNU to the Faculty of Tourism, recognizing the results that the Faculty has achieved in the past time.

Scientific research activities have also been constantly developing in both quantity and quality. Up to now, the Faculty's staff has published nearly 500 scientific works, published in scientific journals and conference proceedings at home and abroad. The Faculty has published 50 textbooks, lectures and monographs; chaired dozens of topics at all levels (2 topics at Hanoi city level, 12 topics at VNU level, 17 topics at school level...).

The Faculty has also established cooperative relationships with dozens of international universities and organizations such as Toulouse Le MiraiL University (France), Rikkyo University (Japan), University of Missouri (USA), School of Tourism at Munich University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Kumamoto University (Japan), Taylor University (Malaysia)...

With these efforts, the Faculty of Tourism Studies not only demonstrates its core position in tourism training and scientific research domestically but also contributes to gradually raising the academic reputation in tourism training and scientific research of Vietnam to the regional and world levels.

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh speaks at the ceremony

Congratulating the achievements, Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh (Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU) also assigned specific tasks to the Faculty: opening an additional applied master's program as well as urgently completing the project for the doctoral training program in Tourism Management; having solutions to train and develop the next generation of teaching and scientific staff, attracting young scientists and guest lecturers who are excellent experts; improving the scientific research capacity and operational efficiency of the Faculty's staff through the formation of strong scientific research groups, capable of implementing and solving important scientific problems of the industry; improving the effectiveness of cooperation in the direction of promoting with research training institutions, organizations, businesses and individuals at home and abroad.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuyet shares memories about the Faculty

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuyet shared his memories of the difficult early days of establishing the Faculty of Tourism Studies, and also expressed his joy at witnessing the growth of the Faculty after 20 years. He also expressed his belief in the future development of the Faculty, with its youth, academic qualifications and strong domestic and international cooperation, the Faculty will grow stronger and stronger, meeting the training and research needs of the Tourism industry, serving the development and integration of the country.