Maritime College No. 1: Deserved to Be Top 70 High-quality Schools in Vietnam

9:59:16 AM | 11/6/2020

With great effort, Maritime College No. 1 has now grown in terms of both quality and quantity, including improvement in organizational structure, staff and teachers, facilities, equipment and training modules to adapt to the global integration process. The school is honored to be in the Top 70 high-quality colleges, as stated in the Prime Minister's Decision 1363/QD-TTg approving the adjustment and supplementation of the Project "Developing high-quality colleges to 2025".

Solid foundation

Ms. Vu Thi Hai Van, Vice Rector of Maritime College No. 1, said that the school was established on May 4, 1972 with the original name of the School of Maritime Technical Workers. During the development process, the school changed its name to Maritime Secondary School (1990), upgraded to Maritime High School No.1 (1996) and on February 1, 2007, officially became Maritime College No. 1.

After more than 48 years of development, Maritime College No. 1 has two campuses (the first located at 498 Da Nang, Dong Hai 1, Hai An, Hai Phong City, covering ​​31,060 square meters and the second one in Dong Hoa, Kien An, Hai Phong, covering ​​80,004 square meters) and seven workshops (ship hull welding; metal lathing; metal cold-working; engineering -welding; ship engine repairing; automotive technology; and warehousing), simulation divisions (Simulators for ship steering, ARPA system simulators; GMDSS/ECDIS simulators; ship engine room simulators; logistics simulators and accounting);  10 practice rooms (Marine equipment practicing; charting, navigation practicing; ship engine operation practicing; supporting marine engine practicing; marine diesel engine practicing; electricity and electronics engineering; electronic - electronic equipment practicing; air conditioning practicing and technique; and local air-conditioning installation practicing); five laboratories (Physics - chemistry; electrics - electronics - automation; mechanical and hydraulic engineering; non-destructive testing, technological research and development); two classrooms (Multi-purpose and English); five training centers (Sports; basic safety and advanced safety; crew skills; special cargo ships (oil, liquefied gas and chemicals); one crew practice area; one training fleet (20,000-DWT M/V AN HAI vessel, international shipping) and one electronic library with 36 cabins with modern equipment and easy access to the information portal.

The school has a total number of 168 lecturers and staff, including 1 doctor, 106 masters, 61 bachelors especially, all lecturers have high practical knowledge and foreign language proficiency from B1 or higher.

Moreover, the school's leaders, lecturers and staff not only regularly improve knowledge but also promote and expand multifaceted cooperation with domestic and international organizations, enterprises and related schools such as in Japan, Germany, Korea, Belgium and Australia, to improve professional qualifications, practice skills, advanced technology of the G20 countries. The school’s lecturers also take part in the training program of Vietnamese maritime trainers in Japan in cooperation with the Vietnam Maritime Administration and Seamen's Employment Centre of Japan (SECOJ). 30 lecturers of the school have been sent to the program and certified as a simulation instructor specializing in ship control and ship engine operation in Japan. Thereby, the lecturers when coming back to Vietnam have passed their knowledge to other lecturers and become the core force to ensure the training quality of the school.

An important step forward

Vice Rector Vu Thi Hai Van added that, under Decision 761/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister which approved "Project to develop high quality vocational schools until 2020", Directive 10/CT-TTg and Directive 24/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister to support and promote the training of high-quality human resources, especially in recent years, with the attention of the Vietnam Maritime Administration (Ministry of Transport), the General Department of Vocational Education (Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs) and its own capital, the school annually spends VND4-5 billion and tens of billion VND of investment capital from other programs on quality improvement.

The school has effectively upgraded equipment and facilities for training and coaching, for example: upgrading to a smart swimming pool (VND7 billion), equipment system of ship control and ship engine operation (VND15 billion), and dormitory for students. In 2021, ADB will invest VND125 billion to upgrade the Ship Control Simulation System, Boat Room and Repair Workshop, and Ship Engine Room Training Simulator System.

The school has continuously ensured enrollment quality, especially for students (grade 9 onward) (accounting for 60% in Hai Phong, the rest are in localities across the country). Accordingly, every year, the school issues about 10,000 certificates. There are also training programs for captains, chief engineers, chief electricians, operating officers. Up to now, there are over 10,000 seafarers trained by the school working around the world.

Based on Decision 934/QD-LDTBXH of the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs on "Pilot training at college level for 22 key international professions", the school organizes two college classes of high quality international level under the program transferred from Germany, majoring in ship control and the profession of ship engine exploitation.

Moreover, according to Vice Rector Vu Thi Hai Van, on May 28, 2020, with the cooperation and assistance of the General Department of Vocational Education, Maritime College No. 1 was honored to be chosen by the Aus4skills to pilot the Receiving and Stocking module of the Training on Strategy Development and Evaluation on Performance Capacity-Based Training (CBTA) in Project “Promoting the participation of enterprises in Vocational Education activities in the 2016-2020 period”.

The results achieved over 48 years of development are positive signals encouraging staff, lecturers and students to strive to bring the school to the top 70 high quality schools of the country and honored to be in the Top 20 when the school turns 50 years old.

By Le Nam, Vietnam Business Forum