At the 9th conference “Korea and Korean Studies from an Asian Perspective” held in Hanoi on November 25 and 26, 2008, Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu - Head of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities presented a paper on the situation of Korean studies training and research in Vietnam. The author shared many realistic comments and proposed many specific solutions to develop and improve the quality of Korean studies training in Vietnam to meet the practical needs of society. Reporters of the website of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities talked with Prof. Mai Ngoc Chu about this issue.
- Professor Mai Ngoc Chu, discussing the achievements and prospects of Korean studies in Asia is one of the important topics at this conference. Through the discussions of the delegates at this subcommittee, what are your general comments on this issue?-
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: In recent years, the Korean wave has influenced many countries in Asia, not only Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam... but also Australia. Even countries that are more developed than Korea, such as Japan, have been affected by the Korean wave to some extent. Or China, for example, has also been strongly influenced by the Korean wave, as shown by the large number of Chinese students studying in Korea. This is one of the reasons why Korean studies is being strongly promoted. Korea is currently one of the four Asian dragons with a strong economic growth that has influenced many other countries, especially less developed countries. The economic development of Korea has also led to the development of Korean studies. For example, in Vietnam today, the appearance of many Korean companies and businesses has promoted the need for training in Korean studies. Therefore, it can be seen that in recent years, Korea has affirmed its position in Asia, expanded diplomatic and economic relations with many countries, which is an important condition to promote the development of Korean studies in the Asian region. Compared to about 10-15 years ago, the development speed of Korean studies in Asia is very strong. For example, in Vietnam, in 1993 there was only 1 training and research facility on Korean studies, but now there are 10 training facilities and 3 research centers. Or in China, there are up to 100 research institutes on Korea, in 10 years there are up to 6,000 research theses on Korea. Korean studies in Asia are developing very well, on the rise. However, it also raises many issues that need to be pondered. For example, almost all countries now focus on teaching Korean. As for Korean studies, if understood in the true sense of the word, it is not as expected. And this conference is interesting in that it looks back at a development path of Korean studies to make more appropriate adjustments in the future.
- At the conference, the Korean Ambassador to Vietnam stated that in Vietnam today, Korean studies are in a period of strong development and Korean studies training institutions in Vietnam will increasingly expand in the future. According to you, what are the grounds to confirm that?[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2008/12/03/img_7346.jpg" border="0" alt="Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu (2nd, from left) at the Workshop" title="Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu (2nd, from left) at the Workshop" width="300" height="201" align="right" ] -
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: This is a completely correct statement. In my opinion, there are several bases for affirming this as follows: First, all Korean training institutions in Vietnam are aware that Korean studies is a field that needs investment for development. I think this is very important because only with correct awareness can there be correct action. Second, the demand for training in this field is increasing. In Vietnam today, there are thousands of Korean enterprises doing business in Vietnam that need employees who know Korean and Korean studies. Good output means a lot of input, a lot of input means high benchmark scores, and many good students will be selected. Thus, there are conditions for development in both scale and quality of training. Third, the Korean side is very interested in developing this field of study in the world. Especially in Vietnam, the Korean Embassy, since the time of Ambassador Paik Nak Whan, has had close ties with training institutions, especially the close cooperation with the Faculty of Oriental Studies. Currently, Mr. Paik Nak Whan has become a visiting lecturer at our department. The Central Institute for Korean Studies, the Koica Foundation, and the Korea Foundation all have cooperative activities to support the development of this field of study. Compared to other fields of study, the scholarships for students majoring in Korean Studies are the most numerous in the Department today. We have dozens of students who are currently receiving Master's degree training in Korea. Every year, lecturers who know English are also granted scholarships to study in Korea. Fourthly, information about Korean Studies from Vietnam to the region, at least in Asia, is increasingly developing. Previously, we only knew about Korean Studies in Vietnam, but recently, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, have joined the Association of Korean Studies in Southeast Asia. Today, we have a lot of information about Korean Studies in Southeast Asia, Asia, and the world.
- Currently, Vietnam has 10 universities that train Korean language and Korean studies, but in reality, current training still focuses on Korean and the majority of graduates work as interpreters and translators at Korean companies and organizations in Vietnam. What do you think about this?-
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: This situation is true to reality, not only in Vietnam but also in other countries. Up to 90% of those trained in Korean language and Korean studies work for Korean companies. Therefore, students working as interpreters and translators is a real need of society that we must meet. Even if we try to focus on training Korean studies in depth, only about 10% of graduates will pursue research. We must train what society needs, not what we have. But saying that does not mean we only train languages, the issue of language training is mainly undertaken by foreign language universities, and we must have a destination after that, what I mean here is postgraduate training.
- Another reality is that many students who graduate with a major in Korean studies have to study additional majors and retrain according to employer requirements. What is the reason, Professor?-
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: This is also completely true. Why? Because our training institutions only focus on language training, which is not enough. Students work for Korean companies and organizations in many different fields such as marketing, office management, corporate culture, etc. In addition to Korean, there is a lot of knowledge that they need to know. To fill those gaps, employers are forced to have training plans for their employees. I know that many Korean multinational companies have their own universities. After recruiting people who know Korean, they send their employees back to the home country for training, so that those employees are able to work at their branches in many different countries. They treat foreign employees equally to their home country employees and have very good benefits to ensure that employees will work long-term and devote themselves to the company. However, this reality also forces us to make changes in our training programs. If we want our training products to meet the requirements of employers, we must include in the curriculum necessary subjects such as corporate culture, management, marketing, etc. Of course, these can be optional subjects. In short, what we want to say here is that there must be coordination between the two sides, the employer and the training institution. We cannot completely train according to their standards, but we cannot stand alone and assume that training is the job of the recruiting company.
- In your speech, Professor commented that the current Korean studies training in Vietnam does not fully meet social needs. So what are the main difficulties?-
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: The first major difficulty is the shortage of human resources, that is, the team of teachers and researchers on Korean studies. It can be said that we have not prepared a team of people who research and teach Korean studies in time compared to the reality of the rapid development of this field of study. The limitation of human resources here is both in quantity and quality. For example, we want to have specialized topics on Korean enterprises, but how can we have experts? Currently, all Korean studies training facilities in Vietnam must have human resources support from Korea, which are volunteer teachers from the Koica Foundation of Korea. On the other hand, we do not have a team of teachers in Korean studies with academic titles and degrees like other traditional fields... The second major difficulty is that the facilities are still too poor. I will give a specific example: many Korean companies and organizations are willing to sponsor us with machinery and equipment, but we do not have a room to receive them. That is a very ironic thing! [img class="caption" src="images/stories/2008/10/12/img_0116.jpg" border="0" alt="Comprehensive Korean Textbook - one of the products of cooperation between the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Korea International Education Fund" title="Comprehensive Korean Textbook - one of the products of cooperation between the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Korea International Education Fund" width="240" height="138" align="right" ] Third, not all training institutions or leaders are aware that this field of study must develop in accordance with its requirements. This depends on the vision of the leader. In the past, there was a view that this was not a basic field of study, for example... Fourth, there is currently a great lack of documents and textbooks on Korean studies, especially specialized documents. All students majoring in Korean Studies in Vietnam are mainly using Korean textbooks written in English. This is a disadvantage because students have to learn Korean through another foreign language. Moreover, the training goals of training institutions are different, so it is unscientific for institutions to use the same type of textbooks. Although Korean Studies documents in Vietnamese have increased in quantity and variety compared to before, most of the content of these documents is general knowledge. Those who study Korean want to have specialized research documents.
- So to overcome the above difficulties, according to Professor, what solutions do we need?-
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: Firstly, from the awareness that Korean Studies is a field of study that requires new developments, we must quickly increase the number of lecturers and researchers for training institutions. We cannot see Korean Studies as a department on par with other departments in a single faculty. This is an independent field of study, if there are only 5 staff, we cannot do anything, but it must be 10 to 15 people. Secondly, we must do everything to improve the quality of the staff, increase the number of staff with academic titles and degrees. Our experience shows that when researching a field of study, we should send staff to study in that country. We need to invest long-term in a team of young, capable and dedicated staff in Korean Studies. Regarding facilities, this is difficult because it depends on the National University. For the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, I hope that it will be in Hoa Lac as soon as possible. I still support this project. I see that many large universities in the world are not necessarily located in the city center but are located 50-60 kilometers away from the center. Another experience from our Faculty of Oriental Studies is that we must have close connections with the Korean side. The lesson of the Faculty is that in order to have basic textbooks, we must contact and ask for help from Korean universities. Obviously, in the conditions of Vietnam, when the team of people working on Korean is not as expected, we must rely on the Korean side. This cooperation is very important and recently the Faculty of Oriental Studies has done very well. When we had the textbooks, we sent them to all Korean studies training institutions in Vietnam so that they can use them effectively. In my opinion, we need to increase cooperation projects like this to solve the problem of textbooks.
- Known as one of the earliest and most prestigious Korean studies training institutions in the country, what are the upcoming plans of the Faculty of Oriental Studies to continue expanding its scale, influence and improving the quality of student training to adapt to practical requirements, Professor?[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2008/12/03/pv-gs-maingocchu.jpg" border="0" alt="“We want to build a separate training code so that Korean studies becomes an independent field of study”" title="“We want to build a separate training code so that Korean studies becomes an independent field of study”" width="280" height="188" align="right" ] -
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: We have several plans, first of all we want to build a separate training code so that Korean Studies can become an independent major. Why? Because when there is a separate code, the training program can be edited in a more specialized direction. Only when there is a separate code will there be conditions to recruit more staff. Not to mention that the facilities will be expanded. At the recent 9th Korean Studies conference, I made a proposal and received a lot of support, that is, we should have different orientations for Korean Studies training at each level. The undergraduate training program should mainly aim to serve the vocational needs of society. Society needs people with what knowledge and skills to work, so the training program must adapt to the reality of that work. We still keep the subjects of history, economics, and culture but must add other subjects according to the needs of society. But training researchers in Korean studies must be at higher levels of masters and doctorates, because bachelors cannot do research yet. There must be an independent Korean studies training code from bachelor to doctorate level. That way, the training will both meet social needs and still meet the in-depth orientation of Korean studies research for those who need it. To be honest, our country is both small and poor, but only training researchers is not good. Don't set too big a goal of training research at the undergraduate level. It is impossible to train research in a mass way, and I think bachelors are mass. The postgraduate level will train researchers.
- For young people who are still hesitant when deciding to choose Korean Studies as their future major, what advice do you have?-
Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu: I most respect people who, after thoroughly researching a major, are determined to study that major to the end, not just Korean Studies. If you intend to choose Korean Studies, I think you should do it because it has a bright future. Especially for those born in the countryside who do not have many options like those in the city, the issue of employment after graduation is very important. And after studying Korean, you will definitely have a job, even with a high salary compared to the average income of a civil servant today. Nowadays, the concept of a permanent position is not as important as before. Many young people refuse to work for a permanent position because of low income and choose to travel to satisfy themselves. The possibility of being sent abroad for training by a recruiting company is also an attractive thing to consider. If those who do not want to work for Korean organizations and want to study Korean Studies in depth can study at higher levels. I must add another piece of good news: currently, all students who are doing their master's degree at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, whether they were trained domestically or abroad, are receiving scholarships from Korea. Clearly, the future of this field of study is very bright.
- Thank you for this conversation, Professor.
•Thanh Ha(perform)
