This article by Associate Professor Vuong Dinh Quyen (Former Head of the Department of Archives and History, Chairman of the Faculty's Scientific and Training Council 1996-2000) is written on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Faculty of Archival Studies and Office Management (1996-2011).In the late 1960s, a new field of study – Archival Studies – was established at the Faculty of History, Hanoi University. The Ministry of Higher Education and Vocational Training set the training objectives for this field as follows: “To train personnel with a basic university-level knowledge of historical science, equipped with certain knowledge and skills in archival studies so that after graduation they can work in research and professional guidance at the Central Archives, as management staff at ministries, and teach at archival vocational schools. While performing their archival duties, they can also work as scientific collaborators for historical researchers.” With the aforementioned training objectives, this field of study was considered a specialization within history, similar to other specializations such as Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, Modern and Contemporary Vietnamese History, Ethnology, and Archaeology, which were opened in the Faculty in the late 1950s. The Department of Archival Studies was established in 1967 to carry out the task of training in this specialization, initially consisting of only 5 staff members. These were students from the 8th and 9th cohorts of the Faculty of History, including: Nguyen Van Tham, Nguyen Van Ham, Nguyen Minh Phuong, Phan Dinh Nham, and Vuong Dinh Quyen. After completing their third year of history, these students were selected by the Faculty to go to the Archives Department - Prime Minister's Office (which was then evacuated to the Safe Zone (ATK) in Son Duong district, Tuyen Quang province) to study, research professional skills, and write their graduation theses on archives. Initially, our department was directly headed by Professor Kieu Xuan Ba. In 1970, I was appointed Head of Department by the Faculty. During the early years of establishing the department, with a very young staff lacking experience, theoretical knowledge, and practical understanding of archival work, our department faced numerous difficulties and uncertainties in developing curricula, compiling lecture materials, organizing teaching, and managing specialized classes. However, thanks to the determination and commitment of the department members to improve their skills and quickly fulfill their training responsibilities, coupled with the multifaceted support from the Faculty leadership and the responsible assistance from the Archives Department - Prime Minister's Office, notably Deputy Director Vu Duong Hoan and Head of the Professional Regulations Department Nguyen Xuan Nung, these difficulties were gradually overcome. Training gradually became more organized, and the quality of training continuously improved. By the early 1990s, many basic textbooks for the specialized program had been compiled, some of which were published and widely circulated in the field of archival studies. In addition, dozens of scientific monographs by faculty members of the Department were published in journals of the field and other disciplines. During this period, three faculty members of the Department were awarded the title of Associate Professor by the State, and one faculty member successfully defended their doctoral dissertation (now a doctoral dissertation). This is clear evidence of the maturity of the faculty of the Department of Archival Studies. By the end of the 1995-1996 academic year, nearly 500 students from regular, part-time, and extended training programs had received Bachelor of Archival Studies degrees from Hanoi University and later from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi. This workforce of university-educated archival professionals is a crucial factor contributing to the qualitative transformation of document management and archiving in our country during the early stages of the Doi Moi (Renovation) period. The 1990s also marked a period of accelerated national renovation and industrialization. In particular, the Party and State advocated for reforms in the national administration to build a prosperous and strong country. Therefore, the demand for highly qualified archival and administrative personnel – university and postgraduate degrees – was enormous. Not only Party and State agencies and state-owned enterprises, but also other economic sectors needed this workforce. To date, compared to the societal demand for human resources, the training of archival staff in the Department of History has revealed many shortcomings, as shown in the following points: 1. Limitations in training quality: For more than a quarter of a century, archival studies have only been considered a specialized field of history like other disciplines, so the time allocated to studying specialized knowledge is limited to about 1 year (2 semesters) to 1.5 years (3 semesters) according to the formula 3+1 (3 years of general history knowledge, 1 year of specialized knowledge) or 2.5 + 1.5 (2.5 years of general history knowledge, 1.5 years of specialized archival knowledge). With such limited time, the time spent on theoretical study of archival studies is limited to about 400 to 500 hours, and the practical training time is also limited to only 8 to 12 weeks. Therefore, that time is insufficient to design a comprehensive training program encompassing the necessary subjects to equip students with knowledge in archiving, office administration, public administration, information technology, etc., in order to better meet the diverse needs of society for human resources in this field. 2. The number of students is limited: According to the University's allocation quota, each course in the History Department usually enrolls no more than 100 students. After completing the general history program, students are divided into specialized groups. Because it is only one of seven specialized training departments, the number of students studying archiving in each course is limited to 15 to 20 people. This means that each year, the History Department, or more broadly the former University of Hanoi, and later the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi, only provides society with no more than 20 university-level archiving professionals. This number was far too small compared to the societal needs at that time. The aforementioned limitations were the main obstacles to improving the quality and expanding the scale of training to meet the societal demand for human resources in document management, archiving, and office administration during the period of national renewal, industrialization, and modernization. How to overcome these obstacles was a major question and a source of frustration for every staff member of our Archival Studies Department at that time. We were aware that being the only institution entrusted with training archival staff at the university level for the entire country was both an honor and a great responsibility before the Party, the State, and society. After discussion, the solution agreed upon by everyone was to separate the Department from the Faculty of History to establish a separate training unit at the Faculty level. At this time, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities was also implementing a policy of expanding and diversifying training disciplines. Regarding the history field, two new faculties were established: the Faculty of Oriental Studies and the Faculty of International Studies, with core members from the Departments of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History and World History. We presented the idea of establishing the new faculties to the leadership of the History Faculty, which was approved and included in the Faculty's plan for building and developing its academic disciplines. When we reported this matter to the University, the leadership was initially hesitant, believing that the conditions were not yet ripe. As the Vice-Head of the Faculty in charge of organization, personnel, and teaching staff of the Archival Studies Department (at that time, Associate Professor Nguyen Van Ham was the Head of the Department) (from 1992 to 1996), we also directly raised this issue with the Rector and the Party leadership of the University. And, during a visit by the Party Committee and the Personnel Department of the University to the Faculty regarding organizational matters, we had the opportunity to fully and specifically express the urgent and objective need to separate the Department of Archival Studies from the Faculty of History to establish a separate training unit. Using factual evidence, we demonstrated that establishing an independent training unit for archives was just as necessary as opening the Faculty of Oriental Studies and the Faculty of International Studies. That same afternoon after the meeting, the Head of the Personnel Department of the University called to inform us that the Rector had requested us to prepare a proposal for the establishment of the new Faculty.
When developing the new proposal, the main issue discussed within the Department was the name and training objectives of the new Faculty. Regarding the Faculty name, the Department unanimously agreed on "Faculty of Archival Studies and Office Management." Although there was some hesitation about whether to put "Office Management" before "Archival Studies" (Faculty of Office Management and Archival Studies), because the societal demand for office management personnel is greater than the demand for archival personnel, analysis showed that putting "Archival Studies" first was more appropriate as it reflected the continuation of the Department's tradition and strengths in nearly three decades of training archival staff. However, when submitting the proposal to the University, the leadership revised the Faculty name to "Faculty of Document Management and Archival Studies," with the reason being to easily obtain approval from Hanoi National University. This was because, in the early and mid-1990s, the concept of "Office Management" was not widely used in the North. Our project was presented and defended before the University's Scientific Council prior to submission to the Vietnam National University, Hanoi for approval. During that defense meeting, many members of the Council expressed their agreement with the establishment of the Faculty of Archival Studies. One hundred percent of the Council members voted in favor. And, on June 20, 1996, the Director of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, signed a decision establishing the Faculty of Archival Studies under the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, based on the separation of the Department of Archival Studies from the Faculty of History. The establishment of the Faculty of Archival Studies marked a historical turning point, opening a new chapter in the training of archival and office management personnel at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Vietnam. From being merely a specialized training program within the Faculty of History, the Faculty has now become a separate training unit with a bright and promising future. This was a significant event that invigorated, motivated, and encouraged the enthusiasm, dedication, and sense of responsibility in teaching and learning among the faculty and students of the Department of Archival Studies and Records Management at that time. In December 1997, to meet the societal demand for office management, the Department of Archival Studies and Records Management received a decision from the University to change its name to the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management. The training objectives of the Department were defined in a broader direction: to train bachelors with a solid foundation in basic science, mastering the theory and practice of archival and office administration work; capable of conducting research and practicing professional work in archival, records management, general secretarial, and office management in Party and State archives management agencies, National Archives Centers, ministerial offices, Party and Government agencies, provinces, districts, state-owned and private enterprises. The renaming is a significant milestone, creating new opportunities and conditions for the department's development in the coming years. Time flies, and the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management is now 15 years old. For a training and research unit, 15 years is still very young. However, looking back on the journey so far, the Department has achieved many successes: the undergraduate training program has been gradually supplemented and perfected; the scale of training has been expanded with diverse training methods: full-time, part-time, transfer (from college to university), and short-term training; postgraduate training programs have been opened, and to date, nearly 100 students have received master's degrees in Documentation and Archival Studies, over 50 students are currently enrolled in postgraduate courses, and 9 doctoral candidates are working on their dissertations under the guidance of faculty members in the Department. In its training and scientific research activities, the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management has attracted the participation of numerous archival scientists and other scientific fields both within and outside the university. The Department has also implemented and completed many valuable research projects to directly serve its training activities. Many textbooks and lecture notes have been researched and compiled by faculty members and are currently being used in most training institutions in the field of archival studies and office management nationwide. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, and to become a strong training and research center in archival studies and office management nationwide, the Department faces several important tasks, including: building a strong staff; perfecting training programs and compiling textbooks for subjects across all training systems; improving teaching methods and enhancing training quality; and promoting scientific research. Strengthening the infrastructure for training and research… From the wise decision made 15 years ago, generations of faculty members, students, trainees, and researchers of the Faculty have continuously strived, building a reputation and brand, rightfully earning its place as a pioneering and leading institution in the field of Archival Studies and Office Management in Vietnam.
