Fifteen years of Archival Science and Office Management: Looking Back and Looking Forward

40 years ago, although the country's conditions at that time were still very difficult, the Minister of Universities and Vocational Secondary Education signed a document allowing the establishment of the Department of Archival Studies at the Faculty of History - Hanoi University of Science (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities). This was a decision of great significance, because from there a field of study, although still new in Vietnam but extremely necessary for the cause of building and defending the country, was formed and developed. This decision demonstrated the profound awareness and strategic vision of our Party and State towards archival work and the training of highly qualified staff for the archival sector. In the context of a country still at war, the first cadres had to study and work in evacuation areas, but during nearly 30 years at the Faculty of History, with enthusiasm, affection and responsibility for the profession, generations of teachers and students of the Department of Archival Studies have overcome all difficulties, proactively sought solutions to gradually stabilize and develop, making an important contribution to the research of theoretical and practical issues of archival studies and training, providing hundreds of archival staff for agencies from central to local levels. In 1996, to meet the requirements of the country in the period of innovation and integration, at the request of the leaders of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Director of Hanoi National University issued a decision allowing the Department of Archival Studies to develop into an independent faculty - the Faculty of Archival Studies and Office Administration. This decision marked a very important new development step of the Faculty. Over the past fifteen years, as an independent unit, the Board of Directors, staff, lecturers and generations of students of the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management have continuously strived to inherit and promote the achievements and results of the previous Department of Archival Studies, actively expanding the scope and scale of training to the field of administration and office management - a field with high demand for human resources, and at the same time playing an extremely important role in the current administrative reform. Established in 1996 (on the basis of developing the Department of Archival Studies under the Faculty of History), up to now, the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management under the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) has gone through 15 years of construction and development.Fifteen years in review, generations of staff, students and trainees of the faculty often share with each other a legitimate pride:The former Department and the current Faculty are always units.pioneer and leaderin Vietnam in research and training of high-quality human resources in two fields:Archival Science and Office Administration.If nearly 45 years ago (1967), the Department of Archival Studies under the Faculty of History (University) was the first unit assigned the task of training undergraduate students in Archival Studies in Vietnam, then 15 years ago (1996), the Department of Archival Studies and Office Administration was also the pioneer unit to propose opening a bachelor's degree program in Office Administration.¹. At that time, the country had gone through 10 years of innovation, but the number of enterprises, high-rise buildings, and modern offices had not yet developed as strongly as it is today, so the issue of Professional Office Management had not yet received attention and focus from agencies and enterprises. However, after only 15 years, according to incomplete statistics, up to now, there have been more than 10 universities and more than 20 colleges nationwide opening training courses on Office Management.². That shows the foresight of the school leaders and those who have contributed to the first "foundation and foundation" for the field of study in Vietnam. Since then, the Faculty has not only been a pioneer but also affirmed and always maintained its position as a training facility for high-quality human resources (undergraduate and postgraduate levels).top of the countryin the field of Archival Science and Office Administration³. Realizing the position and mission of a leading unit, over the past 15 years, the staff and students of the entire faculty have continuously tried and made unceasing efforts, creating changes and very proud achievements: - From the first 5 staff when the faculty was established, up to now, the number of permanent and part-time staff of the faculty has increased 6 times.⁴, of which 90% of staff have master's and doctoral degrees, 40% of staff have professor and associate professor titles.-When he was a Department Head in the Faculty of History, per yearMajor in Archivesonly trains 10-20 full-time students. After becoming an independent faculty, the training scale of the faculty has increased 10 times. Every year, the faculty regularly enrolls and trains nearly 100 full-time students, 150-200 part-time students, about 25-30 graduate students and 4-5 doctoral students. - If before developing into an independent faculty, the Department only focused on training full-time university students, then in the past 15 years, the Faculty has expanded to many other training systems such as part-time, joint training and short-term. - In particular, the Department of Archives - History previously only trained undergraduate students, but after 15 years, one of the most outstanding achievements of the faculty is that it has built and is implementing complete training of 3 training levels includingbachelor,MasterandPhDfor the field of Archival Science and is promoting procedures to train a master's degree in Office Administration early next year. Up to now, the Faculty is still the unitonlyIn Vietnam, it is assigned the task of training postgraduate staff in Archival Studies and Office Administration.-With the above mission and position, in recent years, the staff of the former Department of Archives - History and the current Department of Archival Studies and Office Administration have always been at the forefront of researching, gathering and creating knowledge in the two above-mentioned fields through proposing, participating in and chairing dozens of scientific topics at the state, ministerial, sectoral and National University levels... in the fields of administration, office administration, text studies and archives. Research results have been used to compile textbooks, lectures and applied to consulting and advising agencies, organizations and enterprises. The system of textbooks and lectures as well as monographs compiled by staff of the Department and the Faculty have been and are being used as the main reference materials in universities and colleges that provide training in archival studies and office administration. Not only that, thanks to in-depth research, the faculty's scientific staff are also regularly invited by management agencies to participate in forums, scientific seminars and give opinions on important issues to serve the policy making and promulgation of directives and instructions on issues related to office administration, document work, archiving, etc. - With the orientation of training high-quality human resources, the Faculty only requests the school to allow the enrollment of 70-100 students/year each year. Compared to other training institutions today, such a number of students is not large. But with the motto of training toLearners must not only be proficient in their profession but also love it. If they want to love it, they must understand it. Because they love and understand it, they will be responsible for it., so after graduating, the team of students and trainees trained at the faculty have been promoting their knowledge and enthusiasm, actively contributing to the organization, management, implementation and promotion of the development of the administrative, office and document and archive work of agencies and organizations. Many former students and postgraduate students of the faculty are currently holding important positions in the Office and archives of the Party and State, social organizations and enterprises at the central and local levels or are prestigious lecturers at many colleges and universities... The faculty is very proud of them and they themselves always remember and are proud of having been trained at the faculty. That is the greatest reward and motivation for the efforts of the staff and lecturers.-Archival Science and Office Management are highly applicable majors; therefore, all state agencies, social organizations and enterprises need to regularly supplement human resources in these two fields. Therefore, in recent years, after graduation, nearly 100% of students have found jobs in state agencies, social organizations and enterprises, of which the rate of working in enterprises is about 60-70%. That is a strength of the faculty in training human resources to meet social requirements. - Not only limited to the national scope, over the past 15 years, the Faculty has contributed to training dozens of bachelors and masters for Laos, while expanding relations and cooperation in research and training with countries in the region and around the world such as Singapore, Japan, Korea, Russia, Germany, France... Currently, the Faculty has 2 young staff who are currently postgraduate students in France and Germany. Through access to knowledge and experience from countries around the world, in the future, they will continue to maintain and develop the faculty to new heights together with the staff currently being trained in the country. With the above achievements and contributions, the faculty and two lecturers were awarded the Third Class Labor Medal by the State, many staff of the faculty received Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister and Certificates of Merit from the Director of Hanoi National University.Fifteen years looking back and reflecting,next to Despite the results and achievements, the staff and students in the faculty realized that there were still things that were not as expected. The faculty's staff is still small, of which 60% of the permanent staff are under 35 years old, with solid expertise but little experience, and time must be spent on many things, including improving professional qualifications at a higher level (PhD). Therefore, the concentration of forces to complete large-scale research projects has not been possible. Although there have been many measures to innovate and improve quality, the faculty's training products still have many limitations. Recruiting establishments always want the faculty's students to be provided with more practical knowledge and quickly update new knowledge; improve foreign language proficiency and flexibility and dynamism in work; especially the ability to organize, manage and operate in an ever-changing environment...Fifteen years, looking back to look forward.With the existing foundation and on the basis of the orientations of the School and Hanoi National University, the staff and students of the Faculty of Archival Science and Office Management are united and strive towards the following goals:- The first,continue affirm and maintainpioneering and leading positionin the system of undergraduate and postgraduate training institutions in Vietnam in the field of Archival Studies and Office Management. In the general development trend, currently and in the future in our country, there have been and will continue to be many other training institutions established and developed. Therefore, the Faculty is not the only unit training in the above fields in Vietnam. That is really a positive sign, showing development, while also creating many new opportunities and challenges for the Faculty and other training units. However, with its current mission and position, the Faculty must continue to pioneer and take the lead in research and training to support and cooperate with other training units, and at the same time raise the development level of the Faculty to the level of some countries in the region. That is an orientation that requires the staff and students of the Faculty to make great efforts and determination.- Second, for the field of Archival Studies: The Faculty advocates continuing to maintain the current basic research and training direction, while expanding research and training of human resources for specialized archival fields such as finance, banking, land, construction, health, education, etc. These are fields that are forming a large volume of specialized records and documents that need to be organized, preserved and exploited regularly, but there is a great lack of theoretical research, guidance documents and human resources with professional qualifications in archiving. In addition, currently electronic documents and document management in the electronic environment are also major issues that pose new research directions for the Faculty in the near future.- Third, for the field of Administration - Office Management:This is the field that the Faculty has identified as a priority direction and has a strong development plan in the coming time. The reason why the Faculty has such an orientation is because: + Previously, the awareness and concern for the issue of Administration - Office Management has not received due attention from leaders at all levels and society. But now, the strong development of the economic and social situation in Vietnam has changed the awareness of this issue. Thousands of state agencies, social organizations and hundreds of thousands of enterprises are in need of training and recruiting professional staff to work in administrative and office areas/departments. + Meanwhile, although the number of training institutions on Office Management in Vietnam has been increasing, the number of annual training is not enough to meet the needs of society. Therefore, currently, many secondary schools and colleges in the country have opened Office Management majors, needing to supplement a large number of lecturers trained at higher levels and creating pressure for joint training to university level. + In agencies, organizations, enterprises, the leadership team and especially the leadership team of offices, administrative departments (administrative - organizational, administrative - personnel ...), office staff, although having high education level and practical experience, are almost not equipped with basic and specialized knowledge of office management. These subjects are in need of short-term training and advanced training at postgraduate level in the theory and methods of office management of developed countries and professional administrative - office skills and techniques.+Meanwhile, the strong development of science and technology and modern management thinking has impacted and created a theoretical system as well as the ability to widely apply modern and professional office management methods into the actual operations of agencies, organizations and enterprises. That reality requires the staff and lecturers of the Faculty to delve into research and transfer those research results into training high-level human resources, providing and meeting the increasingly higher demands of agencies and enterprises in the period of innovation and integration.Fifteen years, looking back and moving forward, the staff, lecturers and students of the Faculty always remember and appreciate the contributions of those who built the foundation, including the special contribution of Associate Professor Vuong Dinh Quyen and the efforts of his successors, Associate Professor Nguyen Van Ham (Head of the Faculty for the term 1996-2005) and Associate Professor, PhD Dao Xuan Chuc (Head of the Faculty for the term 2005-2009). The development of the Faculty today and in the future always has and cannot be without the practical attention of the Leaders and functional departments of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities; the support and assistance of the Offices of agencies, organizations, enterprises and archives from central to local levels; the cooperation of other training institutions nationwide and the intelligence and dedication of part-time lecturers. With very proud achievements and aspirations to reach, the Faculty of Archival Science and Office Management - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi will continue to develop and contribute more to the career of training high-level human resources in the field of Archival Science and Office Management. With the ability to conduct in-depth research, with dedication and enthusiasm, with scientific and modern teaching methods, the staff and lecturers of the Faculty always aim at the motto:"Training a team of highly qualified staff to understand the profession, love the profession, be proficient in the profession and be responsible for the profession", to contribute to the successful implementation of the policy of administrative reform, innovation, integration and development./. ____________¹In 2000, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University, began to establish the Department of Archival Studies and Office Administration located in the Faculty of History to train human resources in these two fields for the southern region.²According to statistics in the Proceedings of the Scientific Seminar "Cooperation in research and training on Office Management in universities and colleges in Vietnam" held at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi, May 2011³According to the assessment of delegates attending the Scientific Seminar in May 2011 and the facilities recruiting and using human resources trained by the Faculty (Survey report serving the quality assessment and evaluation in 2011 of the Faculty)⁴Currently, the Faculty has 30 staff (including 16 permanent staff and 14 part-time staff).