A teacher devoted to the cause of training archival staff in Vietnam

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the tradition and 20th anniversary of the establishment of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, as a student, I would like to pay my special respect to the first teachers of the Archival Science major - one of the somewhat "quiet" majors at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities but with the mission of training people who contribute to "increasing the value so that the documents of the past can be useful to life".

And…one of the respected teachers, whom all of us in the “Archive Family” respect and love - is Associate Professor, Distinguished Teacher Vuong Dinh Quyen - the captain in the first stage of the Vietnamese Archival Studies industry.

Associate Professor, Meritorious Student Vuong Dinh Quyen - one of the teachers who contributed to opening and building the Archival Studies major at Hanoi National University/Photo: Thanh Long

The person who contributed to the opening and building of the field of Archival Studies

In 1968, after graduating from the Faculty of History - Hanoi University, he was retained to join the first staff members tasked with building the Department of Archives at the Faculty of History. Together with pioneers such as Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Tham, Associate Professor Nguyen Van Ham, he was one of the first people to lay the foundation for the development of a field of study, the first university-level training facility for staff in the field of Archival Studies in Vietnam. In 1970, he was appointed Head of the Department of Archives at the Faculty of History and continued to hold this position until 1993. In 1996, the Department of Records and Archival Studies (now the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management) was established, on the basis of separation from the Department of Archives at the Faculty of History, he held the position of Party cell secretary and Chairman of the Science - Training Council. He has held the position of Party committee secretary and Vice Head of the Faculty of History for many years. During more than 30 years of working with the Department and the Faculty, he has devoted all his intelligence and enthusiasm to the career of training archival staff in Vietnam.

He was not only one of the first to establish the Department but alsois the helmsmanto maintain the existence of the Department even in the most difficult and arduous times. Recalling the period of 1986-1987, due to development requirements, many staff of the Department were sent to study and train abroad, or transferred to work in other agencies. At that time, the Department had only 3 staff, so there were some opinions that the training of this major should be transferred or combined to another school. Worried and concerned, he was still steadfast, encouraging the remaining people to try their best to undertake the teaching program, actively research, and find ways for the Department to continue to exist and develop. In the early 1990s, in the trend of innovation and development of the country and the school, he and his colleagues promoted the idea of ​​separating the Department of Archives - History to develop into an independent faculty to become a reality. In June 1996, after many efforts, the Department of Records and Archives was established at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, marking a new and extremely important development step not only of the Department but also of the whole school. As Secretary of the Party Cell and Chairman of the Science and Training Council, he continued to support and advise the Board of Directors of the Department on future development directions as well as immediate tasks. In the next development steps such as renaming the Department of Archives and Office Management; expanding the scale and types of training, especially opening a postgraduate training code (master's and doctoral degrees in Archival Studies) at the Department as well as improving the quality of training to meet the increasing needs of society..., all had his very practical and effective contributions.

Serious scientist, dedicated teacher

Associate Professor, Meritorious Professor Vuong Dinh Quyen at his 80th birthday celebration (June 2015)

In training activities, he devoted all his intelligence and enthusiasm, together with the first teachers of the previous Department and the current Faculty, to focus on:Build and continuously improve training programsfull-time bachelor's degree, part-time bachelor's degree and postgraduate training program. In addition to traditional subjects, he is one of the bold people who proposed that the staff in the Faculty can research, compile and teach many subjects such as: Document drafting techniques, Office administration, Document archiving work in enterprises, Office secretarial work, History of Vietnamese archives, Document standardization... To improve the quality of teaching, he and the staff of the Department and Facultyorganize the compilation of basic textbooksHe is the editor of the textbook.Theory and practice of archival work (1982), is co-author with Associate Professor Nguyen Van Ham in the textbookGeneral Text and Archival Studiesand is the author of the textbookTheory and methods of clerical workIn addition, he is also the author and co-author of many other monographs such as:State management documents and official dispatch and paperwork in feudal Vietnam(2002),History of Vietnam Archives(2010)…He is also the leader of many research topics and has dozens of articles published in scientific journals. The serious attitude, sharp thinking, and tight arguments based on convincing evidence of a scientist are always outstanding marks in his research works. Over the past decades, the works of him and his colleagues have not only been textbooks and reference materials for students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities but also used in most training institutions on Archival Science and Office Management nationwide.

Talking about him, remembering him as a teacher on the podium, generations of students pass on to each other the image of aexemplary and respectable teacher. He entered the class on time and left the class on time. The lectures he presented to the class were always carefully and thoroughly prepared. Many students and trainees confided: Listening to and watching Mr. Quyen lecture, we not only saw the image of a teacher but also the image of a father. He lectured thoroughly and gave detailed instructions. Sometimes he had to say things over and over again because he was worried that we did not understand and would not do them correctly when we returned to our offices. For more than 30 years of guiding students on internships, he was always attentive, going to the place to check and consider carefully. He always criticized young cadres for being general and not specific. He often said, "NOffice workers, especially clerical and archival staff, must be trained not only in theory but also in practical application. He himself directly created the internship outlines, very detailed and meticulous, for full-time and part-time students - contributing significantly to improving the training quality of the Faculty. Until now, many students still remember Mr. Quyen's handwriting, correcting exercises and theses - a clear handwriting, slightly broken but still full of determination and decisiveness.

Over the past decades, he has continued to guide hundreds of graduation theses, bachelor's theses and scientific reports for students and a number of graduate students and postgraduate students. There has been 01 doctoral thesis and a number of master's theses that he has guided that have been successfully defended. He has worked wholeheartedly, with all his heart for the generation of students. Not only imparting knowledge, he also aroused and instilled in them dreams, aspirations and the will to rise up in difficult circumstances. He is also an example for young cadres in his awareness and passion for scientific research, using scientific research to serve teaching.

Responsible and dedicated manager

During nearly 30 years as Head of the Department of Historical Archives at the Faculty of History and in the position of Party Cell Secretary, Chairman of the Science and Training Council of the Faculty of Archival Studies and Office Administration (1996-2000), he always worried and thought about the development of the department and the faculty. Many ideas and orientations initiated by him such as: building new subjects, applying professional knowledge to serve social needs in archival document editing activities, opening part-time programs in localities, separating the department into an independent faculty... have become reality, contributing significantly to the existence and development of the field of study and the Faculty.

In his role as manager, Associate Professor Vuong Dinh Quyen also has an important contribution - that is theDiscover, nurture and train young staff for the Faculty. Through lectures, through contact with students at the internship site as well as outside of class, with his sharp and sensitive eyes, he discovered many students with good qualities, ethics and style of a teacher, and then together with other teachers helped and nurtured them so that they could rise up to become excellent students. Most of them are now young staff of the Faculty who continue to receive enthusiastic and effective help from him as well as many other teachers to quickly mature. In the past few years and certainly in the near future, they will be a solid, dynamic group of lecturers, able to maintain and develop the achievements that he and his colleagues have worked hard to build.

After more than 30 years of working quietly and contributing, he has been highly appreciated by the Party and the State, trusted by colleagues and loved by students, but not without disadvantages. Yet he never complained, grumbled or felt tormented. In 2000, he was awarded the title of Excellent Teacher by the State - everyone was happy to hear the news. He said, "Being recognized by the Party and the State, the School, colleagues and students like that, I am already very satisfied."

As a student of his from the time he was a university student until he became a lecturer and the first doctor to receive his guidance and help, I would like to dedicate these last lines to him. The day the Faculty celebrated his being awarded the title of Excellent Teacher by the State, I was moved to tears. Tears of joy for him, tears of gratitude and tears of love for him, but above all, I cried because I was happy that our Faculty of Archival Science and Office Management had such a teacher.