The first courses of Public Relations at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities

15 years to get PR major at Nhan Van University

Indeed, the journey to open the PR major at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities is a long one, a careful preparation in terms of both “position and strength”, not simply expanding or separating a department of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication. Ms. Huyen recalls the early days of the intention to establish the PR major: “Since 1998, we have started to learn about PR when this term was almost completely unfamiliar to many people. Entering the new millennium, the faculty and the school have paid special attention to the development of the department.BC&TT. The faculty and school leaders at that time were very sharp and had a long-term vision, demonstrated through their strong determination to build the PR industry. I was lucky to find the opportunity to study to carry out this long-term plan. And it was not until 2013 that we were able to enroll the first class, so it took 15 years of research and waiting to meet the very high conditions of Hanoi National University."

All of these persistent determinations have demonstrated a strategic vision of the School and the Faculty of Journalism and Communication to respond to the drastic changes in the media environment in the strong globalization trend, to catch up with the demand for high-quality human resources for society, businesses and the need to research new, dynamic fields in the social science environment. From 2013, the PR students will continue to study at this school, and the time for them to mature and become stable in the profession will be shortened, much less difficult than their predecessors.

Difficulties for "pioneers"

Among the important factors to have a training major, the problem of human resources for teaching and management is the most difficult problem. Therefore, after the decisions from the faculty and the school, Ms. Huyen was chosen to be the one to lay the foundation for Public Relations here. As a young, dynamic, enthusiastic and sensitive lecturer with new things, she was not afraid of difficulties and hardships to shoulder the heavy responsibility and honor. And to "bring" Public Relations to Nhan Van, there was no other way but to "pack up and go" when the domestic environment was not enough to meet the requirements. She was sent to study and research in Korea - a country that has developed a lot in professional PR and has many cultural similarities with Vietnam. “I feel lucky to be studying in Korea, not another country, because here I see very clearly how PR has been built and applied in a practice close to my culture. PR technology, including PR training, cannot be imported “completely” but must go through the filter of the local culture to adapt and be accepted, otherwise it would be very forced” - she recalls.

She shared: “I don’t want to mention the story of a woman traveling far and wide in a foreign land, but I want to emphasize that studying in depth and improving for someone who has no previous knowledge of PR is the most difficult and headache-inducing challenge I have ever experienced.”

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen shares about the Public Relations major at Nhan Van (Photo: Thanh Tung)

After completing her training program in Korea (PhD at Sogang University's Graduate School of Communication, graduating in 2010) with a PhD in PR, she was confident enough to start building a project to open a major at the school. However, other challenges arose: “That is how to prove to training managers the future and feasibility of the training program, then create facilities; translate and draft curriculum suitable for the environment and level of Vietnamese students. There is a big difference between the two training environments in Vietnam and abroad. I graduated from a place that was too dynamic and professional, but when I returned to Vietnam, I had to start over from almost popularizing and orienting the PR industry for students but still had to keep up with the daily changes of international trends. Localizing lectures with examples from Vietnamese practice also took too much time. In addition, developing the PR industry from the Journalism industry has many advantages, but it is still necessary to clearly identify the core elements and identity of PR, even though the two industries have similarities.”

In all those difficult beginnings, human resources for teaching in the PR department is a very difficult problem to solve. On the one hand, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has very high requirements for qualifications and degrees. On the other hand, society is very scarce in PR experts who are truly passionate and can devote time to training while the working environment outside the school in PR is too attractive. Ms. Huyen and the Faculty of Journalism and Communication have been very active in calling for collaborators to improve the situation.

Early Flowers and Hopes for the Future

Talking about the two newly recruited training courses, Ms. Huyen confided: “I went from being worried to being proud of these first two courses. After 2 years, the first course students have made clear progress through each semester, have a strong determination to excel, can help each other as well as set an example for the following courses. That is what I am most happy about.”

“When taking students to do internships at organizations and businesses, they were surprised by the students' confident attitude and professional behavior. But besides the students' positive thinking and teamwork ability, what I appreciated most about the first two courses was their continuity and mutual support. That is not only the ethics of professional PR but also the identity of Nhan Van that we are determined to build,” she excitedly “showed off”.

With the first two PR courses of more than 120 students, the Faculty of Journalism and Communication has had the initial steps to run the program quite smoothly and reasonably and the next step is to upgrade by finding support and output from businesses. That is the way to create effective experimental learning environments for PR training in Vietnam today.

“First flowers of the season” – K58 PR on an extracurricular trip

She hopes: “After 5 or 10 years, with many generations of Public Relations students trained in a systematic and professional manner like at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, I believe Vietnam will make its mark on the international PR map. Because PR, like any other profession in Vietnam, needs to aim for international stature in the future.”

K59 – Youthful and playful PR

Today, when mentioning Public Relations (PR), many young people are no longer unfamiliar with the appeal, the needs, the creativity, and the strategies that professional PR brings. PR is now an indispensable part of every success in many fields, from politics, education, media to economics and especially people. PR is gradually becoming a force, an invisible hand that deeply intervenes in regulating relationships in a flat world. In that process, PR training is increasingly moving towards perfecting professional style from capacity, ethics to identity as the way Public Relations at Nhan Van is pursuing.