The Academy of Journalism and Communication - Photo: ajc.hcma.vn

1. Historical landmarks

On January 16, 1962, the Central University of Propaganda and Training (the predecessor of the Academy of Journalism and Communication today) was established under Resolution 36/NQ-TW of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee on the basis of merging three Universities: Nguyen Ai Quoc University, Branch II, University of Propaganda and Training, and People’s University.

Right after the University was established, the Party Committee of the Central Propaganda and Training Commission asked the Party Committee of the Political - People - Party Central Committee to issue a decision to establish the Party Committee of the Central University of Propaganda. On March 19, 1962, the Executive Committee of the Party Committee of the Political - People - Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 43-NQ/DU deciding on the establishment of the Party Committee of the Central University of Propaganda and Training, consisting of cadres, staff and student branches of the University of Propaganda and Training and the Nguyen Ai Quoc University, branch II; At the same time, comrade Do Xuan Mai - Standing Party Committee of the Central Propaganda and Training Commission, directly together with the Secretary of the Party cell of the university, was made responsible for organizing and preparing the congress of the university’s Party Committee to decide on the direction  of the work and elect the Executive Committee of the Central University of Propaganda and Training.

The Party Committee of the Academy of Journalism and Communication has gone through many stages with different names: the Party Committee of the Central University of Propaganda and Education (1962), the Party Committee of the Central University of Propaganda and Training (1974), The Party Committee of the Central University of Propaganda and Training No. I (in 1983), the Party Committee of the University of Propaganda and Education (March 1990), the Party Committee of the University of Propaganda and Training (November 1990), Party Committee of the Institute of Journalism and Communication (1993) and the Party Committee of the Academy of Journalism and Communication (2005).

Up to now, the Party Committee of the Academy of Journalism and Communication has successfully organized 24 congresses, comrades Bui Hong Viet, Cao Van Hao, Hoang Phong, Pham Nam Minh, Do Xuan Khac, Ngo Don, Vu Dinh Hoe, Vuong Dinh Vuong, Pham Dinh Huynh, Ta Ngoc Tan, Luong Khac Hieu, Truong Ngoc Nam, Pham Minh Son and Mai Duc Ngoc were respectively elected and appointed to hold the position of Secretary of the Academy Party Committee.

2. Achievements

From the early days of its establishment, in the context of the country’s war, the university had to be evacuated to many places, but the Party Committee always adhered to the political tasks of the university to lead cadres and party members to perform the professional tasks assigned by the Central Committee of training and fostering propaganda cadres, serving the cause of building socialism in the North and struggling for the liberation of the South and reunification of the entire country.

The period 1969-1975 was one of the most difficult times of the University, through which the Party Committee has led and encouraged cadres and party members to gradually expand the scale of training, and to open many long-term courses for increasingly high qualifications in both the theoretical and professional fields.

Before 1977, the Party Committee was organized into a 3-level (unfinished) Party Committee, directly under the Party Committee of the Political - People - Party Central Committee. Since 1977, the Party Committee has been under the Party Committee of Tu Liem district. The activities of the Party Committee in each period have had different characteristics, but in general, the leadership has performed well in their political tasks, and at the same time has done well in building a strong internal political, ideological and organizational structure.

In 1983, after merging the Central Propaganda University and Nguyen Ai Quoc School, Branch V into the Central Propaganda University No. I under the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee, the University entered a new stage of development.

Since being recognized as the University of Propaganda and Training in 1990, the task of training and fostering ideological staff, press reporters, and political theory lecturers at the university level has been increasing day by day. The Party Committee and the Management Board of the University have closely coordinated, gradually renovating the training and fostering according to the requirements of the comprehensive renovation of the Party, step by step regularizing the training work according to the regulations of the Ministry of Universities, bringing the operation of the University to a new development stage.

In 1993, the University changed its name to the Institute of Journalism and Communication, the Party Committee of the Institute was well aware of its political task of training at the university level the majors of political theory; staff engaged in ideological work, press, propaganda and publication; leaders to successfully carry out all assigned political tasks.

During this period, the Institute had new changes in many aspects, such as: the training scale was expanded with many new types of training; the training quality was increasingly improved; scientific research was given focus and rapidly developed with hundreds of scientific research topics from the state level to the grassroots level; material and technical facilities were spaciously and modernly equipped, meeting the requirements of training and fostering the careers of the Party and the State’s cadre.

Implementing Resolution 52-NQ/TW dated July 30, 2005 of the Politburo on renovation and improvement of the quality of staff training and retraining and scientific research of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the University changed its name into the Academy of Journalism and Communication, the Party Committee at this time was arranged directly under the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. In order to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Politburo, the Central Secretariat and the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Party Committee and the Academy’s Board of Directors have been proactive, creative, leading, and directing towards success. It has taken advantage of the political task assigned to it, building the Academy so that it has become a center for the training of high-quality human resources in political theory, ideology - culture, journalism, and media with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

In 2015, the Academy of Journalism and Communication was included in the list of training institutions by the Prime Minister and built into a key national university within the national education system. This shows the outstanding growth of the Academy, and also requires that the Party Committee, together with the Academy’s Board of Directors must further strengthen the leadership, directing the effective implementation of the political tasks assigned by the Party, the State and people.

Over the past 60 years, the Academy’s Party Committee has performed well at its mission of building a clean and strong Party Committee, which is the nucleus of the University’s political leadership, contributing to great success in the cause of training and fostering cadres working on ideology, theory, culture, press, the communications of the Party and the political system. During the process of construction and development, the Party Committee always adhered to its functions, tasks, dynamism, and creativity in determining the content and methods of leadership. The Party Committee always attaches importance to improving the quality of all aspects of its activities, which is clearly reflected in the resolutions of the Party congresses, the programs, plans and action plans to implement the resolutions of the Party Committee and especially the action programs and policies of the Party Committee which have been developed and implemented in recent years:

Firstly, importance is always attached to the political and ideological work by the Party Committee

The Party Committee always adheres to the reality of the University, the leaders perform their job of political-ideological education among cadres well, Party members and the masses, strengthen the unity of thought and action, and promote the tradition of unity, dynamism and creativity of the Party Committee. Cadres and Party members maintain their political, moral and lifestyle qualities, believe in the Party’s guidelines and policies, and are proud of the economic, political, cultural and social achievements that their country has achieved.

Secondly, the Party Committee leads the implementation of political tasks, focusing on training activities, development, scientific activities, international cooperation and building material and technical foundations.

The Party Committee determines that the leadership in improving the quality of training and fostering is the central, fundamental and leading task, linking training and retraining with the cadre needs of the political system, ensuring a reasonable balance in terms of scale and structure of training disciplines, training forms and levels of training. As a result, the work of training and retraining has achieved many important achievements. The scale of training is increasingly expanding (in the period 1969 - 1972, the Academy only provided training in 4 majors, whereas up to today there have been 41 undergraduate majors and specialties (01 international training branch); 20 majors and specializations for master’s training; 7 for doctoral training). Training forms are diversified; subjects, training programs, curricula, lectures and teaching methods are constantly being renovated, the quality of training is increasingly improved, meeting the requirements of cadres for agencies and organizations of the Party, the State, socio-political organizations and requirements for the development of human resource for society.

The Party Committee is interested in leading scientific activities. Scientific activities have a close relationship with training activities, serving as a premise for the development of training activities in order to improve the level of theoretical thinking and the capacity for scientific research of the staff, lecturers, students, trainees; researching and discovering new knowledge, providing knowledge for teaching, writing textbooks, reference books, etc.; linking the training process of the Academy with the actual professional activities of students upon graduation. Therefore, the Party Committee attaches great importance to scientific activities, identifying this as an important task and always has the leadership pay close attention to promote the development of these activities. In addition to developing short- and medium-term plans for scientific activities, the Academy’s Party Committee has focused on leading the development and implementation of a long-term scientific strategy, creating a solid basis for the successful implementation of the Academy’s development strategy.

The Party Committee has always paid due attention to leading international cooperation activities and has achieved many significant achievements. In recent years, the Academy has expanded cooperation in undergraduate and postgraduate training; academic exchange, lecturer exchange, experience sharing in training and scientific research; coordinated in organizing many international scientific conferences and seminars, to attract many scientists and international organizations to participate; implemented topics and projects on reforming curricula, and supported training in journalism, communication, public relations, sociology, international relations, foreign languages, and so on.

The Academy has made breakthrough changes in expanding relations with foreign partners, developing deeper cooperation items with universities, scientific and educational organizations from other countries, such as: Laos, China, Australia, France, Sweden, Germany, UK, Japan, Korea, Russia, etc., and many other international organizations. Also, linking international training and retraining with the University of Middlesex (UK), the University of Vienna (Austria), etc., with increasing scale and ensuring quality requirements. International cooperation has contributed to enhancing the prestige of the Academy, improving the quality of lecturers, innovating programs, their contents, and methods; thereby, improving the quality of training and retraining of the University. The Party Committee leads international cooperation activities to ensure compliance with the Party’s policies, guidelines, and laws of the State; proper diplomatic regulations; ensuring both principles and being proactive, creative and flexible; there are many aspects of renovations, going into depth and effectiveness, creating a positive premise for long-term foreign activities.

The Party Committee is interested in leading the construction of synchronous, modern material and technical foundations; perfecting the landscape, pedagogical environment, serving training, development and scientific research. In recent years, investment and procurement of new equipment has been promoted, meeting the requirements of renovated teaching and learning methods. The management of finance and public assets is increasingly scientific and effective, ensuring compliance with regulations and policies.

Thirdly, the staff of the Academy has constantly grown in both quantity and quality, better meeting the requirements of the revolutionary cause.

When it was first established, the university had 172 staff (including 43 teaching staff). Currently, the Academy has 395 staff members (242 of which are lecturers, including: 30 associate professors with doctorates; 95 doctorates; 216 masters).

Over the years, the Academy’s Party Committee has always promoted its leadership role and regularly paid due attention, creating the conditions for the staff to be trained and challenged in practice; trained, retrained and improved in all aspects. As a result, the staff of the Academy have strong political will, the vast majority of officials and employees are professionally trained; has a passion for the profession, has a simple, healthy lifestyle, has a sense of responsibility, and is dedicated to work.

In building a contingent of officials and employees, the Academy’s Party Committee attaches importance to quality and developing an appropriate roadmap; synchronously building the staff structure, at the same time focusing on building a team of research and teaching staff and a team of leaders and managers, paying attention to building a team of experts with good expertise and with foreign language skills for each industry, each specialty; combining training and development through schools with practical training and focus on training and fostering abroad. The Party Committee has built a system of regulations on personnel work; implementing the principle that the Party uniformly leads cadre work and manages cadres in the spirit of democracy, publicity, transparency, solidarity and efficiency.

Fourthly, the Party Committee cares about leading the work of Party building

Party development is a key task of the Academy’s Party Committee, a decisive factor in the successful implementation of political tasks. The Party Committee has developed, revised, and supplemented working regulations, led the implementation of democracy regulations at grassroots well; strengthened the performance of the functions and tasks of the cell branches in the implementation of the Party’s policies and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws, and the tasks of the Academy.

The Party Committee has renovated the work of formulating and implementing resolutions of the Party Committee; improved the quality of resolution formulation and its implementation capacity. The Party Committee always cares about the development of the party both among cadres and students. Along with the development of Party members, the Party Committee always focuses on renovating and improving the quality of the management  of Party member; renovating the substance and methods of leading the implementation of political tasks of the authorities and mass organizations; strengthening political and ideological education; consolidating the organizational apparatus of the Party Committee, administration and mass organizations, continuing to renovate the cadre work and internal political protection; improving the quality of activities of the cell, the quality of Party members; strengthening inspection, supervision and Party discipline.

Fifthly, the Party Committee cares about the leadership of the Trade Union, the Youth Union and the Veterans Association

The Party Committee has organized emulation activities towards major political events; educated union members and cadres to strive for excellence in their work, and at the same time raised a sense of self-discipline in the use of public property; participated in supervising the construction of facilities, procurement of equipment; taken care of the material and spiritual life of officials and employees; protected the legitimate rights and interests of union members; Leaders of the Youth Union have launched many movements with educational significance, encouraging young people and students to actively practice professional and moral training.

Over 60 years of construction and growth, the Academy’s Party Committee has achieved many proud accomplishments, which are the results of the great contributions of generations of cadres and Party members from the Academy Party Committee, in which there are cadres and Party members who have successfully moved on from the Academy, assigned important responsibilities in the Party and the State agencies and the political system at the central and local levels. This shows the successful contribution of the Academy as important factor in its success.

From the practice of construction and development, the Party Committee of the Academy has drawn from several experiences in leading the implementation of political tasks and Party building work as follows:

The political mission of the Academy shall be focused on, the successful completion of the political task as of building a clean and strong Party Committee as its goal.

Timely grasping the policies and guidelines of the Party, the policies and laws of the State, the leadership, direction and guidance of the Party Committee at higher levels, thereby taking it as the basis for determining the direction and tasks of the Party Committee; upholding the principles of organization and operation of the Party, especially the principle of democratic centralism, promoting the leadership role and the political nucleus of the Party organization; focusing on organization and cadre work, raising the vanguard and exemplary character of the contingent of cadres and Party members, especially that of the heads of the Party committees, agencies and units.

Following up on assigned political tasks, regularly renewing leadership content and methods, selecting key and urgent issues, promulgating suitable thematic information based the material reality and characteristics of the Academy’s Party Committee to focus on leading and directing work.

Concentrating on performing the work well of building the Party organization; political and ideological education, improving the quality of the organization, staff, and activities of the cell, promoting democracy, strengthening solidarity and unity in awareness as well as action, steping up inspection, supervision and management of Party members.

Being proactive, creative, taking advantage of the leadership of the Central Committees, Ministries and branches, first of all the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Central Organization Committee, Central Propaganda Committee; closely coordinating with the Party committees and local authorities in leading, directing and organizing the implementation of the Academy’s political tasks.

Regularly paying attention to and promoting the exemplary vanguard role of students and practitioners, attaching importance to the Party development, especially Party development among students and practitioners.

3. Development orientation of the Party Committee in the new period

In the coming time, the Party Committee of the Academy of Journalism and Communication is determined to build an increasingly clean, strong, and comprehensive Party Committee, successfully completing all tasks assigned by the Party and the State, turning the Academy into a key national institution of higher education, actively contributing to the education and training cause of the country. In order to continue to fulfill that great responsibility, the Party Committee of the Academy of Journalism and Communication should pay attention to the implementation of the following tasks and solutions:

Firstly, regularly pay attention to Party building in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organization, and the cadres. Promote traditional values, building unity of the Party. Continuing to perfect the regulations on leadership, administration, and management of the Academy, developing a strategy for the development of the Academy to 2030 and with a vision to 2045. Ensure the comprehensive leadership of the Party, clearly define the functions, tasks, the working relationship between the Party Committee, the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, the University Council, the Standing University Council, and the Academy’s Board of Directors on the basis of the Party’s Charter, regulations, requirements, resolutions and directives of the Party, and laws of the State. Promote democracy and collective wisdom in the entire Party Committee, among each cadre and Party member. Promote the role of the collective unity of the Party Committee, being a pioneer, a leading role model in the performance of assigned political tasks, building solidarity and unity throughout agencies and units.

Secondly, promote the leadership role of the Party Committee in all aspects of the University’s activities; strengthen close coordination among Party organizations, authorities and mass organizations, considering this as a factor for the successful implementation of the Academy’s political tasks. Enhance the responsibility of the Party-cell branches in grasping, implementing and organizing the implementation of the Resolution of the Party Committee. Resolutions of the Party Committee shall be thoroughly grasped and concretized into long-term, medium-term and short-term working programs and plans with the enthusiastic and highly responsible participation by the collective cadres, Party members, civil servants, public employees, employees and students. The Academy’s Party Committee needs to implement well the Central Government’s resolutions on fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education and training, and on the autonomy of public non-business units from which to strive to build the Academy into a national key university, on par with universities in the region and in the world.

Thirdly, focus on building and consolidating a contingent of members made up of members of the Party Committee and Party cell that have wisdom, good qualities, the capacity and prestige, duly meeting the requirements of each task assigned. Heads of Party committees and units must have strong political will, creative dynamism, decisiveness, dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to face difficulties and challenges and effectively organize the implementation of political tasks of the Party Committee and Party cell. Create a high unity of awareness, will and action throughout the Party Committee, consensus among cadres and Party members with flexible guidelines, policies and solutions in each field of activity and specific circumstances, but still ensuring the principles of organization and operation of the Party, policies and laws of the State are followed.

Fourthly, focus on leading and building a team of highly qualified lecturers, scientists, and managers with a strong political stance, pure moral qualities, well-trained, with high levels of professionalism, in-depth understanding of political theory, with modern pedagogical skills, proficient in foreign languages, information technology, practical knowledge, enthusiasm for the profession, etc. Quickly overcome the shortage in quantity, quality, age structure, gender, training majors among generations of lecturers. Focus on leadership in developing a strategy for training and fostering staff to attract young cadres who are high-quality human resources for long-term dedication and service at the Academy.

Fifthly, strengthen political, ideological, ethical and lifestyle education for cadres and party members. Cadres and party members of the Party Committee of the Academy must resolutely and persistently implement the Resolutions of the 4th Party Central Committee, 11^th term, 12^th term, Conclusion of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee, 13^th term on Party building and rectifying the Party, in association with promoting the spirit of learning and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle, creating real changes in politics, ideology, morality, organization and among cadres in the entire Party Committee. To step up the implementation of Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW dated October 22, 2018 of the Politburo on strengthening the protection of the Party’s ideological foundation, and fighting against wrong and hostile views in the new situation. The Academy is a Party School, so it has to be an exemplary model for taking care of the Party building work, to build a unified, clean, strong Party Committee with high leadership capacity and fighting strength. It is necessary to take the lead in fighting the degradation in terms of political ideology, morality, lifestyle, manifestations of internal “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, and protect the ideological foundation of the Party, to fight against and refute false and hostile views. It is also necessary to strengthen the inspection and supervision of party organizations, cadres, and party members, resolutely not allowing any wrongdoing or negative behaviour in the activities of the Academy.

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Received: August 27, 2022; Revised: September 18, 2022; Approved for publication: September 26, 2022.

Assoc.Prof., Dr. MAI DUC NGOC

Academy of Journalism and Communication