In attendence at the ceremony on the vietnamese side were Major General, Associate Professor; Dr. Le Van De - Deputy Director General of building forces; Mr. Nguyen Van Du, Director of the 165 Office of the Organization Department of the Central Party Committee; Major General, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem, Director of the People's Police Academy, Associate Professor; Dr. Nguyen Duc Binh, Chief Justice of the Hanoi People's Court; representatives of Overseas Training Department of the Ministry of Education and Training; Department of Training of the Ministry of Public Security; Department of Staff - General of the Vietnam People's police force development. Directors and leaders of units of the People's Police Academy, were also present.          

On the United States side were Mr. David B.Shear - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States in Vietnam; Mr. Wellford, Director of International joint training program; Ms. Song Zhao, Deputy Director of International joint training program of the University of Maryland; officials of the Embassy of the United States and 38 students graduated from the first joint educational program between the People’s Police Academy and the Univesity of Maryland with a Master's degree in Justice Leadership.

          Speaking at the ceremony, Sir David B. Shear - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States in Vietnam praised  the joint educational program on Master’s degree in justice leadership between People’s Police Academy and the Univesity of Maryland. The Ambassador pledged to give continued support and furnish facilities for the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam to open more training courses on Criminal Justice as well as other training programs in Vietnam and the People's Police Academy.

Mr Wellford, director of international joint training program of The UMD awarded the Certificate of Merit for the students achieve excellent results

On behalf of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, Major General, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Van De - Deputy Director General of the Vietnam People's police force development praised the achievements of teachers and students at the People's Police Academy in international cooperation in education and training, At the same time, Deputy Director General asked the students to creatively apply knowledge that already equipped and practical experience learned from the Departments of protection and enforcement inthe U.S to the specific duties of each unit and contribute to the cause of national construction and defense.

          On behalf of the Office 165 – Organization Department of the Central Party Committee which provide funding for the first joint educational program on Master’s degree in justice leadership between the People’s Police Academy and the Univesity of Maryland, Mr. Nguyen Van Du, director of the Office 165 confirmed: Organization Department of the Central Party Committee, Office 165 pledged to provide continued funding to the People's Police Academy continued collaboration with the University of Maryland in training Master of Criminal Justice leadership. In order to contribute to building high-quality police staff and meet the requirements of security and political protection to preserve social order and safety in the new situation.

          As a joint training unit, Major General, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem, Director of the People's Police Academy sincerely thanks the leadership of the Ministry of Public Security, the Leadership of Office 165, Ministry of Education and Training directed and supported favorable conditions to complete the proposed training program with the collaboration between the People's Police Academy and the University of Maryland. The Director of the PPA also highly appreciated the quality and teaching methods of the Professors, Doctors of the University of Maryland. On behalf of the Party - the Directors of the People's Police Academy, Major General, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem warmly praised the efforts of 38 students come from Local police units and police training schools in Vietnam. In the 17 months studying in Vietnam and 01 month practice, preparing the outline of graduation in the United States, with 10 subjects, they has developed a solidarity collective class, loved and helped one another. Overcome these difficulties, persistence, activities, positively researched, successfully completed the program course.

          In the closing speech, Mr Wellford on behalf of the leaders of the University of Maryland confirmed: University of Maryland highly appreciate the joint educational program on Master’s degree in justice leadership between the People’s Police Academy and the Univesity of Maryland, the UMD prioritized Prof. Dr. on the top of the world in the field of Criminal Justice to teach students as Prof. Dr. Kenneth S.APFEL, Prof. Dr. David Weatley ... at the same time, Professor, Doctors from the University of Maryland also highly appreciated the ability to acquire knowledge of the Vietnamese students, many students with excellent academic results, was rewarded by the University of Maryland and the People's Police Academy. In the future, the University of Maryland desire to associate with the People's Police Academy to train Criminal Justice leadership for the next course.

Major Cao Hoang Long (Logan Cao) on behalf of the New Masters speech

          Major Cao Hoang Long, the new Master of Criminal Justice leadership, on behalf of the class expressed deep gratitude to the leadership of the Ministry of Public Security, Office 165, the United States Embassy in Vietnam, the functional units of the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Education and Training, Professors, Doctors of the University of Maryland and the People's Police Academy supported and created favorable conditions for students have the opportunities to study and raise the level, the first cohort of the joint educational program on Master’s degree in justice leadership between the People’s Police Academy and the Univesity of Maryland struggle and training revolutionary moral qualities, effectively apply the learned knowledge in the political security, maintain social order and safety, in order to contribute the development and peace of Vietnam.

The Delegates take a souvenir photo with the new Masters of Criminal Justice leadership

          Students pleased to get the  Master's degree in Criminal Justice leadership awarded by Mr. Wellford, Director of the joint training program of the University of Maryland and Colonel, Dr. Tran Minh Chat – Deputy director of the People's Police Academy.

Can Xuan Dung- Photo taken by Ly Ly

Translated by Cain Vu