The scientific workshop on postgraduate training in Social Work, organized by the Faculty of Sociology, took place on July 29, 2011.The workshop was attended by numerous scientists and lecturers from universities nationwide that offer social work programs, as well as research centers and institutes. The workshop focused on discussing theoretical and practical issues, content, and methods of postgraduate social work training at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. In his opening remarks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu (Vice Rector) emphasized: Training social workers with master's degrees creates a highly qualified workforce in both theory and practice, directly participating in social and community development professionally, contributing to the holistic development of individuals, building a secure, safe, and healthy society, and laying the foundation for sustainable socio-economic development.
To effectively implement postgraduate training in Social Work, the Faculty of Sociology has prepared by building a team, curriculum framework, lecture outlines, reference materials, and a team of lecturers, teaching assistants, and thesis supervisors. However, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa - Head of the Faculty of Sociology - the implementation of postgraduate training in Social Work needs to continue to effectively carry out several aspects such as: perfecting the curriculum framework to suit the actual situation; for each subject, a group of experts should be formed to develop detailed lecture outlines for intermediate, college, university, and postgraduate levels to avoid overlapping content in the teaching process; developing lecture materials, textbooks, translating documents and reference books, and expanding cooperation with domestic and international training institutions. Regarding the content and methods of training, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Hoi Loan - Head of the Social Work Department, Faculty of Sociology - stated: the training content, as prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training, includes a block of knowledge in Philosophy and Foreign Languages; the foundational and specialized knowledge block includes compulsory subjects (24 credits) and elective subjects (6/24 credits); the foundational knowledge block of each subject allocates at least 1/3 of the time for group discussions organized by the teacher; the specialized knowledge block of each subject allocates at least 1/2 of the time for group discussions and practical exercises at the institution; for the graduation thesis, students must complete an internship at an institution, based on which they write their graduation thesis.
The need for postgraduate training in social work in Vietnam is currently very urgent. Government Decree 32, approved on March 25, 2010, aims to develop social work as a profession and requires the training of 65,000-70,000 professional social workers in the coming years. Therefore, postgraduate training in social work is facing both opportunities and challenges. In her presentation at the conference, Dr. Bui Thi Xuan Mai, Head of the Social Work Department at the University of Labour and Social Affairs, clearly stated: the increasing demand for social workers with university and postgraduate degrees in society, the need to improve the quality of social work training at universities and colleges nationwide, the approved Decree 32 on developing social work as a profession, and the emphasis on a crucial component – postgraduate training in social work – have highlighted the support and participation of domestic and international organizations in postgraduate social work training in Vietnam. However, there are also challenges such as: a shortage of PhDs to teach master's programs nationwide, unclear curricula that do not reflect higher levels at the postgraduate level, limited foreign language proficiency among students and teachers, a lack of textbooks, and a shortage of practical training facilities and supervisors. Dr. Vu Thi Kim Dung - Head of the Social Work Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University - proposed several solutions to improve the capacity of postgraduate social work training at universities in Vietnam: proactively seeking human resources through cooperation with social work training institutions both domestically and internationally, while strengthening linkages and coordination between universities and training institutions in the country. Establishing close relationships between research and training institutions, social work practice centers, etc. In addition, many issues related to content and practice in postgraduate social work training were also discussed by scientists: Practice in Social Work Training - Dr. Le Hai Thanh (Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities – Ho Chi Minh City), postgraduate training in the Philippines – Experiences of the Asian Social Organization, Postgraduate training in the context of social transformation – Gina A. Yap, RSW, MSW, PhD, Asian Institute of Social Sciences, Philippines…etc. Since February 2011, the Director of Hanoi National University has signed Decision No. 445 assigning the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities to organize a pilot training program for a Master's degree in Social Work. Currently, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities is the first university in the country authorized to offer a Master's degree in Social Work.
