'Cradle' of research and training of human resources in the construction industry

Traditional depth

The Faculty of Construction - Vinh University, formerly the Faculty of Technology, was established in 2002 - the first non-pedagogical faculty to be established, marking a new period of multi-disciplinary and multi-field development of Vinh University of Education. 2010 was a turning point marking the new development of the faculty when the Faculty of Technology was separated and the Faculty of Construction was established.

The training scale of the Faculty of Construction increases every year. Photo: PV

The journey of building and developing the faculty has gone through many difficulties. From the early days of establishment, there were only 9 cadres and civil servants, the Faculty Board had only 1 comrade, the collective of cadres and lecturers were highly determined, united, and unanimously overcame difficulties to complete the goal of building the faculty in the direction of diversifying training majors and developing rapidly, in order to meet the demands of human resources and social requirements.

In particular, the Party Committee and the Faculty Board have always identified the training and development of the teaching staff as a key task, deciding the success or failure of the training career. The staff consists of 45 lecturers and 2 administrative staff. The teaching staff has developed strongly in both quantity and quality with 1 lecturer holding the title of Associate Professor, 16 PhDs (35%) and 100% of lecturers having a Master's degree or higher. This is a very remarkable effort for the engineering sector. Many staff of the Construction Faculty have had regular scientific research cooperation relationships with domestic and foreign scientists.

One of the traditional features of the Faculty of Construction is to closely link training and scientific research with staff training. Throughout the development journey, teachers and students of the Faculty of Construction have always been passionate about scientific research, as evidenced by the fact that there have been more than 400 works published in prestigious domestic and international specialized scientific journals. Every year, scientific research topics at the State, ministerial and school levels chaired by the faculty's staff are successfully implemented and accepted with good grades. Many young staff and excellent students of the faculty have been sent to study for doctoral and master's degrees at foreign universities.

Students practice in the faculty's practice room. Photo: PV

Along with focusing on staff training, the Faculty Board also pays special attention to investing in facilities and equipment to meet teaching and learning needs. The Faculty has built a 1,500 m2 practice room, with a professional scale, including construction materials testing areas, foundation mechanics, construction testing, vocational internships and design workshops. At the same time, the Faculty constantly innovates training programs and training partnerships; improving the quality of the construction engineering team.

In addition, the faculty "joins hands" to cooperate with many focal units in training, scientific research and project implementation, such as: Faculty of Construction - Hanoi University of Construction, Faculty of Construction - Hanoi University of Architecture, Faculty of Construction, University of Transport... and universities from Korea, Japan, USA, Australia... The faculty also receives support and training coordination from enterprises in the North Central region, such as: Central Region Construction Project Management Consulting Joint Stock Company (TVMT), Tay An Joint Stock Company; Young Construction and Trade Investment Joint Stock Company; 389 Construction and Trade Investment Company; Quang Binh TV Joint Stock Company; CIC Industrial Construction Company Limited.

The Faculty signed a cooperation agreement with businesses to support training and job creation for students. Photo: PV

These are the “satellite” businesses that support the faculty in training knowledge and practical skills for students and are reliable working addresses for students after graduation. With the support of businesses, the faculty has also established the “Student Study Project” Fund, with the purpose of providing for the “Student Scientific Research” Project.

The faculty's core training method is student-centered, focusing on building soft skills, and at the same time, training in conjunction with businesses and social professional organizations. The faculty also cooperates in training with universities in the system such as: University of Construction, Hanoi University of Architecture, University of Transport... In the past time, the faculty has developed the program many times, especially the training program "Building an advanced training program according to career orientation", the second change is the CDIO approach, with this method, learners have access to the reality of the field and construction site. The faculty also creates conditions for final year students to do internships at agencies and businesses; thereby improving professional capacity, accumulating practical experience as a solid foundation for future work.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Ngoc Long - Head of Construction Faculty, Vinh University

Looking back over the past, from a construction engineering major, the Faculty of Construction has made great progress along with the general development of Vinh University. Up to now, the training scale of the faculty has been expanded with 4 undergraduate training majors (Construction Engineering, Traffic Construction Engineering, Construction Economics and Hydraulic Engineering), 1 master training major, which has met the conditions for doctoral training. The faculty has become one of the faculties with a large number of students in the common house of Vinh University; with the total number of students of the 2 regular systems and part-time study and graduate students being more than 1,000 students and the training scale increasing every year.

With efforts to innovate teaching and learning methods, the training quality of the faculty is increasingly affirmed. According to a survey by the Center for Educational Accreditation, Hanoi National University, the rate of students of the Faculty of Construction having jobs in the first 6 months after graduation is 95.5%, students having jobs suitable to the training program is 85.1%; average income is 9.4 million VND/month.

Students of the Faculty of Construction - Vinh University practice at construction sites. Photo: PV

20 years of milestones - proud achievements

After 20 years of construction and development, the Faculty of Construction has reaped many proud "sweet fruits" such as its teachers and students becoming prestigious scientists, experts, good leaders and managers of the country, along with more than 5,000 construction engineers and 150 highly skilled masters in Construction Engineering working in central agencies, units, and enterprises at home and abroad, in the North Central provinces and the whole country.

The efforts and meaningful contributions of the Faculty of Construction over the past two decades have been recognized with Certificates of Merit and awards: The Minister of Education and Training awarded 5 Certificates of Merit to groups and individuals; the Vietnam Education Trade Union awarded 2 Certificates of Merit; the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union awarded 3 Certificates of Merit; the Party Committee of the Faculty of Construction has been continuously recognized as a Strong Unit; the Faculty has been recognized as an Excellent Labor Collective for many years.

Students of the faculty have also made proud achievements when 2 students won high prizes in the Student Scientific Research Competition of the Ministry of Education and Training; The Student Olympic Team of the Faculty of Construction has won a total of 20 prizes (including 2 First prizes) in the National Student Mechanics Olympic competitions co-organized by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Mechanics Association from 2014 to 2020.

Staff and lecturers of the Faculty of Construction - Vinh University. Photo: PV

Having gone through difficult times, the achievements achieved today reflect the determination and efforts in the leadership and management of the Vinh University Party Committee, the efforts of the Party Committee, the Faculty Board and the Faculty of Construction over the past two decades. From that solid foundation, the journey of building the Faculty of Construction in the coming time will be continued by the generation of teachers and students of the faculty with the following key orientations: Building the team, investing in facilities, developing the training scale to a new level, expanding cooperation in scientific research, building a friendly and active learning environment for students; striving for comprehensive development, worthy of the leading address in training cadres and construction engineers in the country./.