Brand creator of Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce

(Baonghean) - The school is considered one of the 40 key investment schools in the country according to Decision 761/2014 of the Prime Minister; 1 of 6 schools selected by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to pilot international degree training; 3 vocational training facilities (2 in Cua Lo Town and 1 in Vinh City), training an average of over 2,000 students annually; is considered one of the schools specializing in vocational training in tourism and hotel with the highest quality in the North Central region today.

Comrade Ho Duc Phoc awarded the Second Class Labor Medal to Comrade Le Duc Bich, Principal of the school. Photo: SM

Sell ​​"Dream" to nurture "dream"

At the end of 1998, Mr. Le Duc Bich was the Standing Secretary of the People's Council of Cua Lo Town. When he received the decision from the Town to transfer him to become the Director of the Employment Promotion Center, he was a bit surprised and apprehensive. Because at that time, the Employment Promotion Center was just a 4-room house of about 20 square meters, the assets consisted of a set of shaky tables and chairs with 5 employees receiving salaries outside the budget. Even more shocking was that when he received his new assignment, he had to settle a debt of 178 million VND. How to revive the Center? So much tossing and turning, thinking, then researching, reading documents, consulting with friends... And he was determined not to give up, he had to develop the Center by all means. He set about reorganizing and rearranging the staff at the Center according to their functions and tasks so that they could fully develop their abilities. At the same time, expand and maximize existing relationships, exploit and approach new partners.

To be able to approach, talk or exchange with partners, especially partners specializing in labor export, it is necessary to have "resources". But at that time, the Center was "negative" 178 million VND, so where did it come from? Finally, the teacher discussed with his wife: decided to sell the Thai Dream motorbike (the only valuable asset and also the only means of transportation of the family at that time). From the 25 million VND from the sale of the motorbike, the teacher gave his wife a little to spend, and he kept it with some funds from his colleagues (because he was grateful for the teacher's enthusiasm).

With the budget, he made a specific plan to meet and learn about the labor export market and the job market. He went to Hanoi, Hai Duong, Ha Tay, and Da Nang to find out how the centers, training facilities, and job introductions there do business and grasp the psychology and aspirations of the people who currently need what professions. From that way of doing things, after 3 months of taking over the Center, he opened a labor export class to Korea with 31 students. Determining that this was the first class and also an important class for the Center to gradually build its reputation with customers. Therefore, he was the guarantor for almost everything from doing procedures, guiding and picking up students...

That initial success motivated him to continue opening more labor export training classes, not only in the Korean market but also in Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Middle East...

Go to a reputable training facility

Realizing that the Center had been effective, in December 1999, the Province and the Ministry developed the Center into a Vocational Training and Employment Services Center. And at this time, the Center decided to follow the direction of training in tourism and hotels. Because at that time in Nghe An there was no facility training in tourism and hotels.

To meet the needs of students, the Center initially mainly provides short-term training and cooperates with schools nationwide to provide training in tourism and hospitality. At this time, the Center annually provides job counseling for nearly 1,500 people, including referrals to work in industrial parks in the area and some hotels and restaurants in the province, and also introduces nearly 200 workers to work abroad.

Students practice cooking at school. Photo: SM

In December 2005, he built the Development Center into Nghe An Tourism and Trade Technical School under the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, training workers specializing in tourism and hotels. To meet the requirements of the new situation, especially when becoming a technical school, he determined that the first necessary thing was to consolidate the teaching staff, increase teachers with high skills in tourism and hotels. To do so, it was necessary to attract talent from outside. He met and worked with a number of universities such as Hanoi University of Commerce, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi College of Tourism and went to prestigious businesses in the tourism and hotel industry... to attract students and good technicians.

On the other hand, he sent qualified teachers to study for master's degrees and doctoral degrees domestically and internationally with special policies: Support of 35 million VND for master's degrees, 70 million VND for doctorates domestically and 300 million VND for doctorates abroad. By doing this, the school has gradually had more young, promising factors and are now becoming the core of the school such as Mr. Bui Van Duc, one of 21 Vietnamese culinary artists awarded in 2014, currently head of the school's food processing technology department; teacher Pham Thi Huong (head of the Tourism department) is an excellent student of the Tourism department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi...

How to have facilities for students to practice? Have cars to take them to practice when the school's budget is still limited? Mr. Le Duc Bich discussed this concern with Mr. Dau Chinh Nghia - Vice Principal of the school, who is also the Chairman of the union and also a trusted colleague. Two campaigns among the teachers and staff of the whole school took place. In just 4 days, the school mobilized nearly 4 billion VND (some people raised at least 3 - 5 million VND, the most like the principal raised 200 - 300 million VND).

And right after that, the school invested in buying 2 passenger cars to have means to transport students to practice, completing the hotel practice center with a full system of food processing practice, rooms, restaurants, bars... meeting standards. In June 2006, the school developed into the Intermediate School of Tourism - Commerce and after only two years: in 2008, it developed into the College of Tourism - Commerce.

After 19 years of construction and development, the school has nearly 200 staff members with 3 PhDs, 4 postgraduates, 101 masters, and 54 university degrees. In the 2014-2015 school year, 2,978 students were trained at the school with intermediate, college, and joint training programs for university and graduate degrees domestically and internationally. The school strives to develop into a university in 2018.

Thanh Thuy