From a student of Literature - General…Hanoi National University, established in 1956, was the first basic science education and training institution in the North after peace was restored. Professor Nguyen Nhu Kon Tum was the first Rector of Hanoi National University and he held this position until his retirement (in 1982). In September 1995, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities was established on the basis of the social sciences and humanities of the National University, becoming a pillar member university of Hanoi National University.
The process of building and developing the School is associated with the names of famous professors such as: Dang Thai Mai, Tran Van Giau, Dao Duy Anh, Tran Duc Thao, Cao Xuan Huy, Hoang Xuan Nhi, Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan, Tran Quoc Vuong, Nguyen Tai Can, Dinh Gia Khanh, Hoang Nhu Mai, Le Dinh Ky, Tran Dinh Huou, Phan Ngoc, Cao Xuan Hao, Ha Minh Duc, Phan Cu De... The overlapping team of leading professors and scientists in the country have worked, devoted their strength and intelligence under the roof of this school, not only creating, building and affirming the core and most fundamental values of Vietnamese science, but also training, guiding and nurturing generations of excellent students, making outstanding contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is a former student of the 8th class of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University of Science (second person standing from left, taken in February 1965 at Me Tri dormitory)
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was a student of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University, 1963 - 1967 school year, with Professor and People's Teacher Ha Minh Duc as the class leader. In the yearbook "100 years of Indochina University - Hanoi National University", he recalled the emotional and proud memories of his first time attending school: "On a beautiful morning, early September 1963, we gathered in lecture hall 1 - Le Thanh Tong street (now 19 Le Thanh Tong building). Before the roll call, I stood playing in Tao Dan garden. Looking up at the school gate, admiring the words "Vietnam University", I felt so elated and proud. When we first met, we were still shy and hesitant to get to know each other, but when we saw our friends, they were all "super", if not the best or second best students in Literature in the North (at that time the South had not been liberated), they were also the top students in the province...".
At this time, our people's resistance war against the US to save the country entered its fiercest peak as the enemy intensified bombing raids on the North. The war caused schools to disperse: the first year they studied in Chua Lang area, the next year they moved to Me Tri area, in 1965 - 1967, teachers and students of Hanoi University evacuated to Dai Tu district, Bac Thai province (now Thai Nguyen province).
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visits the family that sheltered him and students of Hanoi National University during the evacuation of the school in Dai Tu, Thai Nguyen.
During the years of bombs and bullets exploding, despite hunger, cold, and hardship, teachers and students of the School were determined to teach well and study well, strive to serve combat and production, and determined to build and develop a team of socialist intellectuals to prepare for the future cause of national construction.
At that time, the Faculty of Literature had more than 130 students with many different backgrounds and ages, but comrade Nguyen Phu Trong was trusted by the organization to be the Secretary of the class Youth Union. In 1967, with the guidance of Professor Dinh Gia Khanh, fourth-year student Nguyen Phu Trong successfully defended his graduation thesis on the topic: "Folk poetry with poet To Huu" and was the only person in the course to achieve the optimal score. Also in that year (1967), he was honored to be admitted to the Party, a very rare thing for students at that time.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong takes a souvenir photo at the meeting of Literature class 8 (1963-1967), Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University
After graduating (1967), the school intended to keep him as a lecturer, but the superior organization decided to transfer him to work at the Study Magazine (now the Communist Magazine) - the theoretical and political organ of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party (now the Communist Party of Vietnam). During his time working here, he was sent by the State to the Soviet Union as an intern, studying and defending his doctoral thesis at the Academy of Social Sciences of the Soviet Union (under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union). Returning to Vietnam in 1983, he continued to work at the Communist Magazine, successively promoted to Deputy Head of the Department (October 1983), Head of the Department (September 1987), Member of the Editorial Board (March 1989), Deputy Editor-in-Chief (May 1990) and then Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Magazine (August 1991). He was awarded the title of Associate Professor (1992) and Professor (2002) by the State Council of Professors in the field of Party Building.
In 1996, he was assigned by his superiors to work as Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, concurrently Head of the University Committee, in charge of the Party's propaganda work. In February 1998, he was assigned by his superiors to the Central Committee to be in charge of the Party's ideological - cultural and scientific work, and Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council. In 2000, he was assigned to work as Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee. After that, he continued to hold many important positions such as Chairman of the National Assembly (2006 - 2011), General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2011, re-elected in 2016 and 2021...
In 2010, when visiting the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, with the sentiment of a former student of the Faculty of Literature, comrade Nguyen Phu Trong emotionally shared: "I grew up at this school and am forever proud of the tradition and brand that the school has." Many years before that, when working at the Communist Magazine, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Phu Trong often came to teach specialized subjects for students of the School's Literature major. He was simple and happy to sit on the back of a bicycle for a young lecturer of the Faculty to take him to school to teach and then take him back to Nguyen Thuong Hien neighborhood.
…to the initiator of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in Vietnam's education and trainingGeneral Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pays special attention to the cause of education and training. He personally signed and issued Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW dated November 4, 2013 on "Fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training, meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the conditions of a socialist-oriented market economy and international integration". The Resolution was issued in the context of the country promoting industrialization and modernization and the world entering the era of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. Resolution 29-NQ/TW plays a particularly important role, of historical significance in the cause of reviving the country's education, marking a new step in the Party's thinking and strategic vision for the development of education and training, demonstrating the strategic determination to innovate education for the country's sustainable development both in the short term and in the long term.
After more than 10 years of implementing Resolution 29-NQ/TW, our country's education and training have made strong progress, achieved many important achievements, and contributed greatly to improving people's knowledge, developing human resources, taking care of training and nurturing talents; shifting from imparting knowledge to comprehensively developing learners' qualities and capacities; innovating general education programs and enhancing the autonomy of higher education institutions, gradually approaching the educational development trends of advanced countries in the world.
The quantity and quality of the teaching staff have increased step by step, year by year according to international standards. Ten years ago, the proportion of lecturers with doctoral degrees in universities nationwide was only about 15%; currently, this proportion has more than doubled, reaching about 32%. At the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, the proportion of lecturers with doctoral degrees has approached 80% (of which, more than 20% have the title of Professor/Associate Professor). In 2018, for the first time in the history of Vietnamese higher education, VNU and VNU-HCM were named in the list of the world's top 1,000 universities according to the Quacquarelli Symonds rankings. Notably, in 2024, Times Higher Education ranked VNU's Social Sciences field in the top 501-600 in the world.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (then Chairman of the National Assembly) visited the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU in 2010 on the occasion of the University's 65th anniversary and receiving the noble title: Ho Chi Minh Medal.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong always emphasizes the particularly important role of Social Sciences and Humanities because this is a field of science about humans, about issues related to humans, humans and society. Social Sciences and Humanities help people have diverse perspectives on the reality of life, have explanations and interpretations of the processes of movement and development, delve into the causes, consequences, relationships and predict the changing trends of events and phenomena in human life, thereby helping people anticipate, calculate to minimize risks or avoid the serious consequences that change can bring. Social Sciences and Humanities provide scientific insights to help political organizations, states and communities seek more reasonable development strategies, helping policy makers build, promulgate and implement development policies at both the macro and micro levels more effectively.
During his lifetime, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong always reminded the School's Board of Directors to pay special attention to training quality, continuing to affirm the reputation of the country's leading center for training and research in Social Sciences and Humanities, with the mission of taking the lead in training high-quality, highly qualified human resources, researching, creating and disseminating knowledge in social sciences and humanities, contributing effectively to the cause of national construction and defense and international integration. He especially instructed the School's scientific staff to focus on new, valuable research projects to make practical and effective contributions in policy advice to the National Assembly, and Party, State and Government agencies.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong - a great intellectual, a great talent of the Vietnamese revolution, a thinker, a culturalist, an outstanding leader of our Party and People, an excellent alumnus of Hanoi National University - has passed away forever. However, his passion for teachers and students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities will forever be passed on, serving as a guideline for the University's development strategies.
The social status and professional reputation of the School today is a blend of “literary tradition”, “general quintessence” and “core values of Humanities” that generations of teachers and students of the School have worked hard to cultivate over nearly 80 years of construction and development. Tradition is a resource, an endogenous strength that needs to be continuously cultivated, multiplied and promoted to contribute to the cause of national construction and development - as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong kindly advised the staff and civil servants each time he visited the school.
A stick of incense from the teachers and students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities to the spirit of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, to continue to "Steadfastly walk on the path of innovation", as the name of one of the works that the General Secretary left for all party members and all classes of Vietnamese people.
Communist Party of Vietnam Electronic Newspaper: General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and memories with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Communist Party of Vietnam Electronic Information Portal - General Secretary: General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and memories with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Documentary:General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong - A Loyal, Intellectual and Exemplary Leader
Professor Nguyen Phu Trong, from a student at the University of General Sciences to Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee
Beautiful memories with class VIII (K8) and Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's affection for everyone
(VTC1) General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong - From Literature student to head of the Party and State
A memory with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Thailand
