The scientific conference on postgraduate training in Social Work organized by the Faculty of Sociology took place on July 29, 2011.The workshop was attended by many scientists and lecturers from universities that train in social work across the country, research centers and institutes, etc. The workshop focused on discussing theoretical and practical issues, content and methods of postgraduate training in Social Work at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. In his opening speech at the workshop, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu (Vice Rector) emphasized: Training social workers with a master's degree is to create human resources with high qualifications in theory and practice, directly participating in social development, community development in a professional manner, contributing to improving human development in a comprehensive way, building a secure, safe and healthy society, creating a foundation for sustainable socio-economic development.
In order to effectively implement the post-graduate training in Social Work, the Faculty of Sociology has prepared a team, curriculum framework, lecture outlines, reference materials, a team of lecturers, teaching assistants and thesis guides... However, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa - Head of the Faculty of Sociology - the implementation of post-graduate training in Social Work needs to continue to effectively implement a number of contents such as: Completing the curriculum framework to suit the actual situation; for each subject, it is necessary to gather a group of experts to develop detailed lecture outlines for the subject for intermediate, college, university and postgraduate levels to avoid duplicate content in the teaching process; deploying the compilation of lectures, textbooks, translating documents, reference books, expanding cooperation with domestic and international training units. Regarding the training content and methods, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hoi Loan - Head of the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Sociology - said: the training content prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training includes the knowledge of Philosophy and Foreign Languages; the basic and specialized knowledge: including compulsory subjects (24 credits) and elective subjects (6/24 credits); the basic knowledge of the major, all subjects spend at least 1/3 of the time for group discussions under the organization of teachers; the specialized knowledge of the subjects in this knowledge block spends at least 1/2 of the time for group discussions and practice at the facility; the graduation thesis, students must undergo an internship at the facility, on that basis write a graduation thesis.
The need for postgraduate training in social work in Vietnam is very urgent. Project 32 approved by the Prime Minister on March 25, 2010 develops social work as a profession and needs to train 65,000 - 70,000 professional social workers in the coming time. Therefore, postgraduate training in social work is facing opportunities and challenges. In her speech at the workshop, Dr. Bui Thi Xuan Mai - Head of the Faculty of Social Work, University of Labor and Social Affairs, clearly stated: the need for social workers with university and postgraduate degrees is increasing in society, the need to improve the quality of social work training of universities and colleges training social work nationwide, Project 32 develops social work as a profession that has been approved and emphasizes an important component which is postgraduate training in social work, domestic and foreign organizations support and participate in postgraduate training activities in social work in Vietnam. But there are also challenges such as: lack of PhDs to teach masters nationwide, unclear programs showing higher levels at postgraduate level, limited foreign language proficiency of learners and teachers, lack of curriculum system, lack of internship facilities and instructors. Dr. Vu Thi Kim Dung - Head of the Faculty of Social Work, Hanoi National University of Education - proposed a number of solutions to improve the capacity of postgraduate training in social work at universities in Vietnam: must proactively seek human resources through cooperation with social work training schools in and outside the country and at the same time strengthen links and coordination between schools and training facilities in the country. Establish close relationships between research and training facilities, social work practice centers... In addition, many issues related to content and practice in postgraduate training in social work have also been discussed and discussed by scientists: Practice in social work training - Dr. Le Hai Thanh (KHH&NV – Ho Chi Minh City), postgraduate training in the Philippines – Experience of the Asian Social Organization, Graduate School in the context of social transformation – Gina A. Yap, RSW, MSW, PhD, Asian Social Institute, Philippines…etc. Since February 2011, the Director of Hanoi National University has signed Decision No. 445 assigning the University of Science and Humanities to organize a pilot training program for the master's degree in Social Work. Currently, the University of Science and Humanities is the first school authorized to train master's degrees in Social Work in the country.
