Attending the ceremony were Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh (Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities), Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Tan (President of the Vietnam Social Work Association), Mr. Do Hoang Du (Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Social Work Association), Prof. Dr. Pham Tat Dong (General Secretary of the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education) along with scientists and managers from universities, research institutes, and professional social organizations in Vietnam.
In his opening speech, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh affirmed the role and contribution of Sociology (XHH) and Social Work (CTXH) to the development of Vietnamese society today. With a population of 90 million people, of which nearly one-third need social intervention at different levels, Vietnam faces the difficulty of maintaining growth but also having to solve many newly emerging social problems. And without a thorough understanding of those emerging social phenomena and problems, there can be no effective social intervention. Therefore, the task of sociologists and social workers is to find satisfactory explanations and find the most effective social interventions.
The speech of the Rector also mentioned the remarkable achievements in training and research of these two majors at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU. As the country's leading center for training and research in the fields of Social Sciences and Humanities, the University has early deployed training and research in the fields of Sociology and Social Work since 1991. The University has trained nearly 5,000 students of all systems, 600 graduate students and PhD students in these two majors, and is one of the first institutions to train masters in Social Work. In 2005, the Faculty of Sociology (University of Social Sciences and Humanities) was admitted to the World Sociological Association. The Faculty also has extensive relationships with domestic and international training institutions, implementing many research projects on Social Work with foreign universities.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh emphasized: There needs to be close, practical and effective cooperation between training institutions, research institutes, organizations and professional associations at home and abroad, so that social work and social work can develop to meet new requirements, truly make useful contributions and be commensurate with their role in improving the quality of human life, towards a harmonious and balanced society.
From a practical perspective on the development of the sociology profession and the social work profession in Vietnam today, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Tan (President of the Vietnam Sociological Association) said: It is necessary to improve the professionalism of those working in the profession, focusing on improving working methods, skills and professional ethics. It is from vivid professional practice that will help researchers and those working in this field to generalize, enrich theories, develop theories, thereby illuminating practical activities more effectively.
Immediately after the ceremony, delegates attended the workshop “The role of Sociology and Social Work in the development of today’s society”. The workshop focused on the main contents: Theoretical and practical issues in training and research on Sociology and Social Work; Training and research activities on Sociology and Social Work at universities and research institutes.
Immediately after the celebration was the workshop “The Role of Sociology and Social Work in the Development of Today's Society”.
The papers assess the role of sociology and social work in development, identify research models, practice strategies, and solutions to promote these sciences in a direction suitable to the development of Vietnamese society. Based on the assessment of the contributions of these two sciences, pointing out the prospects and challenges of sociology and social work in the future, the reports affirm the importance of training and research in these two fields, and point out solutions to improve the quality of training at universities.