I am originally a half-literary, half-journalistic person. My university diploma states “Graduated from the regular system, majoring in Literature and Journalism”. The Faculty of Literature, Hue University, now the University of Science, during my time, in 1995-1999, only trained journalism majors. At that time, to study journalism majors, one had to take an entrance exam, and each course only accepted 10 to 15 students. Most of the journalism majors were taught by teachers from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
At that time, hearing the "label" of journalism student was very impressive, and I was very proud to be taught by teachers from Hanoi. The first teachers I met at the Faculty of Journalism, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi were Mr. Dinh Van Huong and Mr. Duong Xuan Son. Mr. Dinh Van Huong and Mr. Duong Xuan Son were invited by the Faculty of Literature to teach the journalism major at that time. They were the first ones to sow the seeds to create the generation of lecturers of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, Hue University of Sciences today. And since then, each generation of teachers and students of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, Hue University of Sciences still call the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi the 'mother faculty'.
A learning activity of the Faculty
After graduating, I was retained at the Faculty to work as a teaching staff. The policy of the Faculty and the School was to develop the Journalism major into a Journalism major, training journalism bachelors like the two ends of the country. I was sent to study journalism master's degree in Hanoi to prepare for the opening of the major. But because my university degree was not in the right major, I had to take supplementary courses. The first time I came to Hanoi, I didn't know anyone, it took me two days to find a place to stay, and I slept in Lenin Park for two days. Luckily, I wasn't robbed, thinking back now I still feel cold. After "settling down", I went to the Journalism Faculty to register for classes. The clerk (forgive me for not remembering her name) received me in a very gentle voice: "This year the faculty does not organize a knowledge standardization class, you wait until next year!" After hearing that, my limbs went limp. I went to see Mr. Dinh Van Huong, who was the head of the department at that time, hoping to find a solution because I was sent to study by the school, and now I could not return, so how could I report to the school and the department? Mr. Huong was very attentive, explaining to me everything why the department did not organize knowledge standardization this year. He also sincerely told me that if the department opened a class next year, he would directly send me a notice. I left the department with a paper confirmed by Mr. Huong stating that "this year the department did not open a journalism knowledge standardization class", which he said was to report to the school and the department, lest "people" think I had skipped school and exams, which would be very troublesome. He was so thoughtful to a student from the province like me that I was deeply moved. Leaving Hanoi with a feeling of discouragement, partly because I had spent so much effort traveling a long distance without achieving my goal, partly because I was upset that I could not get back my prepaid rent, I vowed not to go to Hanoi again. Thinking is doing, when I returned to Hue, I registered for the Master's exam in Vietnamese Literature even though the Faculty did not agree to let me go to school. I took a risk and self-funded my studies to avoid going to Hanoi. After 2 years of studying Vietnamese Literature, I received a notice about opening a class to standardize knowledge for the master's exam in journalism from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi. The envelope was addressed to me and the handwriting was exactly that of Mr. Dinh Van Huong. Mr. Huong kept his promise, he directly sent the notice to me as he had instructed me 2 years ago. Moved by his sincerity, I dropped out of 2 years of studying Vietnamese Literature while there were only a few months left for the defense to ask the Faculty to standardize knowledge.
My knowledge standardization class at that time consisted of 7 students, most of whom were already working. Luckily for my class, I got to study with many teachers from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication. Mr. Dinh Van Huong, Mr. Duong Xuan Son, Mr. Vu Quang Hao had a dignified and academic demeanor. Ms. Doan Huong was profound and insightful. As for Mr. Tran Quang, he had a different style. On the first day he came to my class, he had a cigarette in his mouth. He leaned back in his chair and blew smoke up to the ceiling and said: "Why are you guys taking supplementary knowledge, taking a master's exam? That's fine, after you finish your master's degree, you'll be better than me." The class monitor sitting next to me whispered in my ear: "Looks like I don't care about you." At the end of the course, the teacher didn't give a written exam like the other courses, he told us to have a dialogue with him like an oral exam. However, the way the teacher asked questions was also very strange, not only asking about knowledge related to the subject but also asking about everything from journalism to literature, history, geography, sociology, psychology... which according to the teacher, if you work in journalism, you must know everything! The teacher also gave quite strict scores, carefully recording the names and hometowns of the students in his notebook. He said that writing like that would be proof that later if anyone became a deputy minister, minister or prime minister, they would all be his students, there was no denying it. The teacher was just joking, but we knew that because he respected his students, he did that.
Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Quang Hao in the class of Editing Journalistic Texts of the regular K50 class
After completing the standardization, I studied for a master's degree at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication from 2007 to 2010. My master's class had 21 students, but when it came to the defense, there were only 15 students. During my master's degree, I had the opportunity to meet many teachers in the Faculty and other institutes and press agencies. The knowledge that the teachers provided was extremely useful and necessary for a half-writer, half-journalist like me. Then I was guided by Mr. Vu Quang Hao for my thesis. Mr. Hao is quite serious in science. Working with him and being guided by him, I learned a lot of professional knowledge, learned how to do science and honesty in work, things that are necessary for me to continue studying and working in my future path. As a guide, he always wants students to acquire the best scientific knowledge and always thinks about the circumstances of each student he guides. I live in Hue, quite far from Hanoi, so when I went to see the teacher, he told me not to come and go many times because it would be too expensive, and when I finished, I would send the package to him, and when he finished, he would send it back to me. The day I finished defending my thesis, I wanted to invite the teacher to dinner to show my gratitude, but he refused, saying that I had spent a lot of money on writing and defending my thesis, so why bother talking about it? It would be better to go to his house to drink tea and chat. Listening to the teacher, another female student and I were guided by the teacher to his house to talk for an entire evening and he also gave me books. When I was a PhD student, I went to see the teacher, asked for his help, he showed me the research direction for my thesis topic and did not forget to remind me: doing a PhD is much harder and more expensive than doing a master's degree, you have to try very hard.
When I was doing my PhD, I had many choices. Many people advised me to choose to do it at other institutions, because they thought it would be more convenient and easier. Honestly, I was hesitant at first, so I bought a file to do my PhD at a training institution in Hanoi. But strangely enough, on the day I submitted my file, I went straight to the University of Humanities instead of going to that institution as I had originally planned. I was attached to the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Humanities. I had decided not to study many times, and then I had come to it many times. That was me, as if I had a fate with the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Humanities that I could not break.
My PhD course had 7 people taking the entrance exam, but at the last minute, 1 person dropped out. Among the remaining 6 people, my profile was the most complicated, as Ms. Dang Thi Thu Huong, the head of the department, said, the most "scandalous". Because at the last minute I still did not have a supervisor while the topic name was problematic. Ms. Huong said so, but I was able to become a PhD student today largely thanks to her. She wholeheartedly guided me to supplement the missing data in the profile, edit the research direction, and the topic name to be suitable for reporting to the Council. She helped me as a supervisor even though it was not her responsibility. Without her help at that moment, I would hardly have passed the PhD exam that year. I also sincerely thank the teachers in the PhD Admissions Council that year. Thank you Mr. Dinh Van Huong, Mr. Duong Xuan Son, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen for guiding and encouraging me to continue to overcome difficulties to complete my study tasks. In particular, I would like to mention a teacher, who has always been consistent, a person I always cherish, Mr. Dinh Van Huong. The teacher who trained me from the first knowledge of journalism when I was studying in Hue, now opened his arms to welcome me as a student to guide. Thanks to him, I have become a PhD student like today.
Now thinking back on the past, I appreciate even more the affection that my teachers have given me. I know that there will be many hardships in my upcoming studies, but I believe that the sincerity of the teachers where I am being trained will be the motivation for me to move forward. I write these lines as a word of gratitude to my beloved teachers at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi. I hope that my teachers will always have good health to continue their career as ferrymen, to continue to be beautiful images in the hearts of many generations of students./.
Hue Ancient Capital, a Summer Day-2015
Phan Quoc Hai
Former Master's student 2007-2010
PhD student 2014-2017
Head of Faculty of Journalism and Communication, Hue University of Sciences
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