The Teacher Who Created the Development of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication

In the late 80s of the last century, the press in Vietnam had a booming development with more than 300 newspapers, magazines, dozens of radio and television stations from central to local levels. The image of a proactive, dynamic reporter who always travels a lot, knows a lot, meets many people and brings new information to the public has left a deep impression on the minds of many generations of students and has been the dream of many boys and girls since they were still in school.

However, before 1990, in Vietnam there was only one institution (in the Party school system) that trained reporters and editors - the Central Propaganda School (now the Academy of Journalism and Communication). Luckily for me and my peers, the same year we took the university entrance exam, the Faculty of Journalism (General University) was established.

On October 12, 1991, the opening ceremony of the first course was solemnly held at the lecture hall at 19 Le Thanh Tong. For the first time, we met many teachers of the faculty, of the school, many journalists, many leaders of major press agencies... and listened to the enthusiastic welcome speech of the Head of the faculty - Professor Ha Minh Duc, whom we have long admired through many theoretical and critical articles. His orienting sharing about journalism, a profession that requires both high ideology, broad knowledge of culture and society, and proficient professional skills, not only helped us understand more about our future careers, but also demonstrated his strategic vision, shaping the faculty's training philosophy, and that training philosophy has been positioned and developed continuously until now.

Journalism is a field of study that includes many types of comprehensive knowledge about social sciences such as politics, society, law, literature, etc., so the Professor "recruited the talented and treated the talented" by inviting to the faculty experts, scientists, and leading journalists in Vietnam to teach us. In addition to Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Xuan Son and Professor Tran Quang who came to the faculty from the very beginning, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Xuan Ha, Dr. Doan Huong, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Quang Hao, Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Van Huong, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Thai, etc. were invited to the faculty by the Professor, creating the first golden generation, including leading experts in journalism, culture, language, history, who wholeheartedly taught journalism students. In addition, thanks to the Professor's scientific reputation and extensive relationships, the first generations of students of our faculty were able to learn and receive knowledge from famous visiting professors such as Professor, Dr. Do Quang Hung, Prof. Phuong Luu, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thien Giap, ... experienced journalists such as Do Phuong, Truong Duc Anh, Tran Cong Man, Quang Dam, Hoang Tung, Le Ba Thuyen, Do Quang, ... and poets and writers whose works have touched the souls of many generations of readers such as poet To Huu, Huy Can, writer Nguyen Ngoc, To Hoai, ... Most of the time, Professor Ha Minh Duc personally brought these experts to class. Later, when we stayed at the faculty as lecturers, we learned that many times he personally invited and many people came to impart knowledge to us just because of the professional reputation and enthusiasm of Professor Ha Minh Duc.

Mr. Ha Minh Duc took a photo with the staff and lecturers of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication (Photo: Tran Minh)

Our class was personally instructed by the Professor, the 5 best students of the first K36 journalism class were retained by the Professor to become lecturers of the faculty, 2 of whom are now Associate Professors. Nearly 60 students of my class spread out to press agencies, many of whom now hold key leadership positions in important press agencies such as Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency, Nhan Dan Newspaper, Vietnam Women's Newspaper, Customs Newspaper, etc. Every time we have a class reunion, we recall old memories, and the story of the Professor is always at the center of our memories as students of the Faculty of Journalism. On the path of 'seeking a teacher to learn from', not everyone is as lucky as us, to be students of knowledgeable, talented, caring and kind professors like Professor Ha Minh Duc.

Mr. Ha Minh Duc became famous very early. He was one of the first people to write research books about Nam Cao, and one of the first people to introduce the concept of 'Realist writer' when saying that Nam Cao is an excellent realist writer of modern Vietnamese literature. The book "Nam Cao - literary life and works" was noticed and highly appreciated by researchers, and was published when he was only twenty-six years old. A series of his later works such as "Poetry and some issues of modern Vietnamese poetry", "Writers and works", "Time and pages", "In search of artistic truth", "Literature - talent and style", "K.Marx, F.Engels, V.Lenin and some issues of literary theory", ... have given readers a diverse and vivid view of a brilliant period of Vietnamese literature, at the same time. raised the most basic arguments of literary theory, which had a significant impact on the country's literary activities. In particular, he devoted a lot of time and effort to researching Ho Chi Minh's literature and poetry with the monographs: "President Ho Chi Minh - the great poet of the nation", "President Ho Chi Minh's literary works" and "Ho Chi Minh's journalism". These works not only explore President Ho Chi Minh's views on poetry, literature, and journalism, but also deeply analyze the aspects that make up Ho Chi Minh's style, and In turn, he summarized and evaluated quite comprehensively, objectively, and seriously the entire literary, poetic, and journalistic career of President Ho Chi Minh in nearly 20 years. His efforts, dedicated research, and great contributions were recognized through the State Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities Research and the Ho Chi Minh Prize for Social Sciences in 2012.

Photo: Tran Minh

The knowledge that the Teacher has accumulated, synthesized, and systematized in those specialized and research works is enthusiastically imparted to us by the Teacher with humorous and gentle guidance, through vivid and familiar examples.

Not only researching and teaching literature, he is also the author of realistic essays and emotional poems. He wrote essays about the world of cyclos, about his colleagues such as The Professor and the Hermit, The Umbrella Head, etc. He went to America and published the essay collection 'Three Visits to America'. He went to Russia and wrote 'Russia - Golden Autumn and Endless White Snow'. He went to France and had the essay collection 'Paris - Two Autumns Met Again'. Many of his essays appeared in newspapers, which were practical, close and vivid lessons for us journalism students when we studied 'Literary and Journalistic Essays'.

Journalism is a science, closely linked to research and development, so Professor Ha Minh Duc designed the research direction for the faculty, with many book series edited and directly implemented by him such as 'Time and Witnesses' (3 volumes), 'Journalism and the issue of population and family planning', 'Journalism - Theoretical and practical issues'... Many books later became the annual traditional publications of the faculty, introducing to readers the research articles of lecturers, experts, and visiting professors of the faculty, and shaping the brand of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication in the research community and the public.

The Faculty of Journalism was newly established, with a small staff, but all of them were intellectuals with strong personalities, sharp and thorny, and came to the faculty from many different sources. He was not only the one who created a spiritual support, one of the main pillars in the faculty's professional field, but also a fair and benevolent person, reconciling differences and opposing things, uniting members of the faculty under a common roof. Until now, the tradition of solidarity, mutual love, consensus, and unanimity is still the most basic and fundamental strength that helps the Faculty of Journalism (now the Faculty of Journalism and Communication) overcome many difficulties and challenges, and fulfill all responsibilities to the school and society.

He is a famous literary critic and researcher, a poet and writer whose works touch the hearts and emotions of readers. He is a fair manager, full of encouragement for colleagues and subordinates. Above all, he is a learned, dedicated and simple teacher, who has left many generations of students an exemplary example of a teacher in their lives.

On the occasion of your 80th birthday, the teachers and students of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication wish you good health and more works of theory and literature.