Faculty of Oriental Studies builds project to establish Southeast Asian Studies major

At the meeting, the leaders of the Faculty of Oriental Studies emphasized the need to establish a Southeast Asian Studies major in the new period. Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu (Head of Southeast Asian Department, Faculty of Oriental Studies) summarized the process of developing a project to establish a major up to now, announced the results of the survey of social needs, and the survey of the output standards of the Southeast Asian Studies program, and requested employers and experts to continue to contribute ideas and discuss the project to establish a major.

In the trend of globalization, understanding and grasping the regional situation is inevitable and urgent. However, in our country, this is still limited. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Chinh - Deputy Director of the Center for Asia - Pacific Studies and International Affairs, University of Social Sciences and Humanities said: "Vietnam is the first country in the region to establish the Southeast Asian Studies Institute, many other countries, although following behind, research and training on Southeast Asian studies have developed faster. This shows the slowness in the way of doing things in Vietnam". This reality requires leading research and training centers such as the Faculty of Oriental Studies to train, teach more deeply and widely. And the establishment of a specialized major, research and teaching on Southeast Asian studies is very necessary. Therefore, to build a project to establish a Southeast Asian studies major, there needs to be specific investment and research from the Faculty in particular and the University in general.

Regarding the learning process, many opinions suggest that further adjustments should be made to the subjects, such as adding a subject on scientific research methods, or teaching languages ​​that are in short supply of human resources such as Lao, Khmer or Bahasa Indonesia, etc.

On the employer side, students who want to get a job also need to have a good foundation of knowledge and skills to have more opportunities. “We always require candidates to be good at English and other foreign languages. In addition, we, the employers, always appreciate candidates who have good working skills, information processing, and improvisation skills to cooperate with large companies.” – Ms. Tran Thi Giang - Freeland Tour Tourism and Trade Joint Stock Company shared.

At the meeting, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan - Vice Rector of the University said: "The establishment of a Southeast Asian Foreign Language Center is completely feasible and has great potential. The University of Social Sciences and Humanities is realizing international relations to promote student exchanges with other countries. In addition, the University always focuses on training soft skills so that students can confidently enter new environments."

At the end of the meeting, Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu - Head of Southeast Asia Department, Faculty of Oriental Studies thanked the contributions of the school's leaders and staff as well as employers. The meeting was an opportunity for the Faculty of Oriental Studies to record practical contributions to continue perfecting the project to build the Southeast Asian Studies major as well as expanding the scale and improving the overall training quality of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.