Putting consulting into practice

On August 7, 2012, the Advisory and Training Support Team (CASA) had its first meeting with 18 lecturers - official collaborators - to discuss issues related to the specific activities of CASA as well as the collaborator team in the new school year.At this meeting, most of the opinions expressed agreed that although the work of advising and supporting students in studying and scientific research of the School has changed recently, it has not been as expected. The reasons come from many sides: the lack of activeness of CVHT, lecturers, the lack of initiative of students... In addition, CVHT's advice to students is mainly about policies and guidelines in training, the path of accumulating subjects... The field of advice on skills, learning methods, scientific research as well as advice related to academic issues, professional orientation, and career is still open. In that context, the establishment of CASA is expected to make these activities become regular, professional and synchronous activities throughout the School, helping students to systematize their knowledge, skills and proactively access resources to support their study and scientific research. Associate Professor Dr. Do Thu Ha (Faculty of Oriental Studies) said: the operating model like CASA is very popular and useful in universities around the world. Foreign universities really consider students as the center of the teaching and learning process, so they grasp the needs of students very well, pay attention to instructing the necessary skills to serve learning and research. From skills in writing an application to teamwork skills, work planning, scientific research methods... However, the functions and tasks of the CASA collaborator team need to be clearly distinguished from the functions and tasks of the CVHT team, avoiding "stepping on each other's toes". Dr. Tran Thi Hanh (Faculty of Philosophy) reflected the fact that many student support consulting activities have been implemented in units but the results are not high, due to the impractical way of doing things, students are not aware and proactive in studying, some lecturers still work in a formal and coping manner. Even the current CVHT team has not performed its functions and duties properly and has not provided effective support to students. Therefore, Dr. Tran Hong Hanh believes that CASA needs to have a specific assessment of the actual needs of learners and teachers in order to have truly effective and substantial consulting activities, avoiding superficial and formal activities. Students of each faculty have their own characteristics and needs, so CASA needs to implement their own consulting activities. Also looking from the perspective of work efficiency, MSc. Nguyen Anh Thu (Faculty of Management Science) emphasized that CASA needs to have a clear plan, a specific roadmap with highly realistic activities, suitable for each stage. MSc. Nguyen Anh Thu also suggested that in semesters I and II of the 2012-2013 school year, CASA can immediately implement activities to help new students get acquainted with the university environment, support academic writing skills or support research skills. MSc. Dinh Viet Hai (Training Department) affirmed that the School currently has a strong policy and high determination to realize the goal of innovating teaching and learning methods, improving training quality. This context is very favorable for the development of CASA. However, in order for CASA's consulting activities to be effective and substantial, the lecturers and collaborators themselves need to establish their own awareness and value system: to be good lecturers and also effective consultants and supporters to help students study well. Only then will the lecturers and collaborators be proactive, positive, and responsible in this work, working together to contribute to improving the training quality of the School.