Striving to become a University of Arts, Culture & Tourism

(Baonghean) - Nghe An College of Culture and Arts, formerly the Secondary School of Culture and Arts, is tasked with training and nurturing artistic, cultural, and tourism talents, providing human resources for the province and region, and conducting scientific research to support teaching, exploiting the values ​​of local culture to build grassroots cultural movements, and developing the province's cultural tourism. Currently, the school is striving to become a University of Arts, Culture & Tourism by 2015.

As a professional school specializing in specific fields, its students are those with artistic talents (music, fine arts, dance) or a penchant for social activities (culture, tourism). While the school's training scale isn't as large as schools in other disciplines, its graduates possess the skills to work in various cultural and social fields within the province, the North Central region, and the entire country. Many generations of students have achieved success from this school.

These include Major General, musician An Thuyen, former Rector of the Military University of Culture and Arts; musician Le Xuan Hoan - Chairman of the Gia Lai Provincial Association of Literature and Arts; Meritorious Artist Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Nghe An Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism;… Many former students are currently management staff at the university; many former students have become managers at the grassroots level… In addition, there are hundreds of music and fine arts teachers who have achieved the title of excellent teacher and outstanding team leader from previous generations to the present; they are the core force that improves the quality of cultural and artistic activities at the grassroots level, meeting the cultural needs of localities, and actively contributing to the socio-economic and cultural development of the province and the country.

A cultural performance program celebrating Vietnamese Teachers' Day. Photo: Nhat Lai

These achievements are due to the school's special focus on the quality of training and skill development for its regular programs, especially in the arts; at the same time, the school has diversified its training programs to meet social needs in a multi-system, multi-disciplinary, and multi-level manner (such as tourism, cultural management, and library science); it trains, retrains, and provides professional development for grassroots cultural officials, supplying human resources in culture, arts, and tourism in the province and region; and it focuses on training and providing human resources for children of ethnic minorities and those in remote areas. To standardize personnel in the fields of culture, arts, tourism, music, and fine arts for the province and neighboring provinces, from 1995 to the present, the school has collaborated with universities in Vinh, Hanoi, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City, etc., to provide integrated and joint university-level training. The school has also established academic exchange partnerships with numerous universities both domestically (in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) and internationally (Thailand, Sweden, Poland).

To establish its brand, stand firm, stabilize, and develop during a period of numerous difficulties, challenges, and intense competition, the school's leadership, headed by Associate Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Teacher Phan Mau Canh - Secretary of the Party Committee and Rector of the school, has diligently sought appropriate directions; mobilized all the school's potential, while strengthening cooperation and leveraging support from external forces for development; and identified the crucial "breakthrough" area as rapidly improving the quality of the faculty by standardizing the qualifications of lecturers and administrative staff. To date, the school's faculty and staff have not only increased in size and achieved a rational structure but have also made solid progress in quality (out of a total of 86 faculty and staff, nearly 70% hold postgraduate degrees). The faculty members possess good moral character, solid professional qualifications, extensive experience, dedication to their profession, and a strong focus on scientific research, resulting in increasingly high-quality training activities that make positive contributions to social activities and adapt to the practical realities and innovative requirements of higher education.

In his speech at the 45th anniversary celebration of the school in November 2012, Comrade Ho Duc Phoc - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee - emphasized: In the coming time, the school needs to improve the quality of teaching and scientific research, creativity in art, to meet the demands of society and the increasingly high development of the country. The school must be a center for training human resources, preserving national cultural identity, promoting and preserving the folk songs of Nghe An province. It must continue to innovate management, build a team of qualified and highly qualified staff and lecturers, continue to expand the scale of training and scientific research, and strengthen the construction of facilities to meet the needs of training human resources in culture and arts for the province and the entire region, gradually building the school into the Nghe An University of Culture, Arts and Tourism in the 2014-2015 period.

To implement that policy, the school has determined that: In the coming period, it will mobilize all resources to create a strong transformation in the quality of its staff, the quality and scale of training, and build a comprehensive infrastructure; leverage its capabilities, experience, and resilience, and resolutely strive to meet the conditions for rapid and sustainable development to a new level, fulfilling its glorious mission in the coming period, building the school into a center for training high-quality human resources, contributing to preserving and promoting the fine traditions of national culture and making the cultural essence of Nghe An province even more vibrant and widespread.

Thanh Thuy