Proposal to officially open the code for Master's program in Tourism Studies

On April 14, 2009, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities held a conference to summarize three pilot master's training courses in Tourism Studies.

The conference aims to evaluate the results achieved in the implementation of this pilot program, assess the social needs for this training level, collect comments from staff, lecturers and students participating in the training process, and at the same time propose and recommend that VNU officially recognize the master's program in Tourism Studies. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam - Vice Rector of the University - chaired the conference.

In 2003, VNU assigned the Faculty of Tourism to develop and implement a master's training program in Tourism Studies. On July 4, 2003, the Director of VNU issued Decision No. 154/SDH promulgating the Program Framework and detailed program for master's training in Tourism Studies. Up to now, after 6 years of pilot training, the Faculty has trained 3 courses, 1 course has received graduation thesis topics, 2 courses are studying specialized topics. There are 151 students who have studied and are studying master's programs in Tourism Studies at the Faculty.

In his summary report at the conference, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Pham Hung affirmed: “The current postgraduate training program in Tourism Studies has met the requirements and demands of practice, updated with postgraduate training programs on tourism of universities in the country, in the region and in the world. The content and duration of the subjects are compatible with the training objectives and requirements as well as the abilities of the learners”. The training results of the first 3 master courses in Tourism Studies were also very positive with 100% of students (73 people) achieving good and excellent grades, over 90% of the theses achieving good and excellent results. The theses were assessed as being of high quality, many of which have made certain contributions to the development of tourism science and tourism practice in Vietnam.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/04/15/img_4832.jpg" border="0" alt="Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Pham Hung: The need to train postgraduate staff in tourism to serve society is very large." title="Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Pham Hung: The need to train postgraduate staff in tourism to serve society is very large." width="240" height="160" align="right" ]

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Pham Hung also said that the demand for training postgraduate staff in tourism to serve society is very large. The source of students for the faculty's postgraduate program is quite stable and diverse. The composition of students participating in this program is quite broad with many majors and many economic and social sectors. Trainees can take on the following jobs: teaching, researching at tourism training institutions, working as managers at all levels at state agencies on tourism, operating tourism businesses.... In fact, although it is only a pilot training program, the number of candidates registering for the exam is quite high with nearly 50 applications each year, equal to 6% of the total number of applications for postgraduate exams in 26 training majors of the whole school.

During the training process, the Faculty has well organized the management and study organization for students, created opportunities for them to participate in the professional activities of the Faculty, participate in research with instructors, guide students to write scientific reports, guide practical internships... The Faculty has also initially built a fairly complete system of lectures and reference materials for the subjects, and initially tested the construction of electronic lectures and textbooks. In addition to the regular staff, the Faculty has mobilized a large number of tourism educators and scientists nationwide to participate in the postgraduate training process. They come from universities, colleges, research institutes, tourism management agencies, tourism departments, tourism associations...

At the request of VNU, the Faculty of Tourism Studies sent a questionnaire to many partner agencies that use postgraduate human resources of the Faculty, and to graduates, asking for opinions on the quality of postgraduate training of the Faculty, and received positive feedback. In general, the training products of the Faculty are highly appreciated, meeting the requirements of society.

Based on the analysis of the training organization's capabilities and conditions, assessment of social needs for the training program, and the results achieved in 6 years of pilot implementation, the Faculty of Tourism has officially proposed to the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and VNU the following contents:

• Open a separate major code to train masters in Tourism Studies;
• Strengthening facilities, especially means and facilities for practicing profession;
• Allow research to establish a tourism experimental center under the faculty;
• Increase the number of teaching staff to ensure human resources for training at university and postgraduate levels;
• Create more favorable conditions for faculty staff to exchange, practice and train abroad.