University of Social Sciences and Humanities: Pioneering and leading in the national mission of Vietnamese language training

With outstanding achievements in Vietnamese language training, the school was honored to be awarded the First Class Labor Medal by the President.

Continuing the proud 80-year tradition of Hanoi University of Letters (1945) and Hanoi University of Science, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, since its establishment (1995), has continued to inherit and develop the academic position of one of the country's leading universities in the field of social sciences and humanities.

The school has achieved many outstanding achievements in training high-quality human resources, scientific research and community service, contributing greatly to the socio -economic development of the country, ensuring social security, humanitarian charity, and applying scientific and technological advances. Among them, it is necessary to mention the particularly outstanding achievements in training Vietnamese language for overseas Vietnamese.

Pioneer in building Vietnamese language competency framework for foreigners

In 2015, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi successfully built the Vietnamese Language Competency Framework for foreigners. This is the first time in Vietnam and in the world that Vietnamese has a scientifically divided competency reference framework, based on the European reference framework. This framework was built by the University's team of Linguistics and Vietnamese Teaching Methodology experts based on a solid theoretical and practical foundation, with lasting foundational value in the Vietnamese language academic and application community.

With outstanding academic values, the Vietnamese Language Competency Framework for Foreigners was approved by the Ministry of Education and Training and included in the content of Circular 17/2015/TT-BGDDT dated September 1, 2015. The issuance of the Vietnamese Language Competency Framework nationwide brings great benefits to Vietnamese language training institutions for non-native speakers, and is the basis for assessing Vietnamese language proficiency for foreigners nationwide. This is a toolkit of special importance, acting as a compass for teaching, learning, testing, evaluating and granting certificates of Vietnamese as a foreign language. From this foundation, the work of teaching, learning and assessing Vietnamese language proficiency is increasingly approaching international values ​​and standards.

In addition, the Competency Framework is also important in terms of policy and cultural diplomacy. The issuance of this framework demonstrates the official effort of the Vietnamese State in internationalizing the Vietnamese language, while affirming the role of Vietnamese as a communication, academic and professional tool for the international community. In scholarship programs, student exchanges, foreign human resource recruitment in Vietnam, or human resource training programs at FDI enterprises, requiring a Vietnamese language certificate according to the Competency Framework is a transparent, objective and professional condition. This is the basis for managing and developing international human resources using Vietnamese, while contributing to enhancing the image and cultural and linguistic position of Vietnam in the international arena.

Foreign students take the Vietnamese Proficiency Test at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Photo: Thuy Dzung

In the digital age and global migration, the number of people learning Vietnamese abroad (in the overseas Vietnamese community, international students, researchers in Vietnamese studies, etc.) is increasing. A standard framework for Vietnamese language proficiency helps connect the Vietnamese academic and cultural community around the world, while promoting research, translation, and promotion of Vietnamese literature and thought beyond national borders.

It can be said that the Vietnamese Language Competency Framework for Foreigners is an important achievement in the process of internationalizing Vietnamese language and culture. With its standardized value, clear orientation, high feasibility and profound strategic significance, this framework not only serves educational goals but also contributes to promoting cultural exchange, enhancing international cooperation and building the image of Vietnam as a country with identity, openness and integration. Continuing to research, perfect and flexibly apply the Competency Framework in practice will be an important step to improve the quality of Vietnamese language training as a foreign language and affirm the position of Vietnamese in the global multilingual space.

Successfully compiled the Vietnamese proficiency test format for foreigners applied nationwide.

In 2016, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities continued to successfully compile the Vietnamese Proficiency Test Format. The Ministry of Education and Training signed the Decision to promulgate the Test Format and the Decision to approve the Document guiding the construction of test questions and grading according to the Vietnamese Proficiency Test Format for foreigners on June 21, 2016.

This is an important step forward of national and international significance for Vietnamese as a foreign language. From now on, Vietnamese has a unified competency test format according to the 6-level competency framework that Vietnamese language teaching institutions across Vietnam apply as a legal standard.

Play a key role and outstandingly effective in Vietnamese language work for Vietnamese people abroad

With the achievements in the field of teaching and compiling Vietnamese language teaching materials for foreigners, in 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training assigned the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (directly the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language) to compile the Vietnamese language curriculum framework for overseas Vietnamese according to the Vietnamese language competency framework for foreigners. This is also the first time that Vietnam has a curriculum framework to serve as a basis for compiling Vietnamese language teaching and learning materials for overseas Vietnamese; effectively serving the realization of the guiding ideology in Resolution 36 of the Politburo on overseas Vietnamese.

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities is also the only public university that has been carrying out the national mission of launching a Vietnamese language teaching channel for overseas Vietnamese since 2022, based on a system of materials with the largest coverage of the language teaching ecosystem in Vietnam to date, compiled by the school's team of experts, scientists, and lecturers.

The school has organized hundreds of free online Vietnamese classes for overseas Vietnamese from elementary to advanced levels, serving nearly thousands of overseas Vietnamese from 23 countries and territories around the world: Laos, Singapore, England, Germany, France, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Greece, Hungary, Switzerland, Taiwan, Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, Korea...

Maintaining Vietnamese language for overseas Vietnamese children is a particularly important contribution to preserving Vietnamese language and culture for overseas Vietnamese of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, especially in the past 5 years.

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities is on a journey of sustainable companionship with the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the VTV4 Foreign Television Channel and the Vietnamese Language Digital Training Channel on the LMS platform of Hanoi National University, for an increasingly rich and beautiful Vietnamese language, a Vietnamese language to preserve national love and compatriotism, contributing to spreading and strengthening the Vietnamese value system in the context of the nation's rising era.

In August 2024, at the 4th Conference of Overseas Vietnamese around the world, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in recognition of its important, outstanding and typical contributions to the work of Overseas Vietnamese.

PV