Using English in education and scientific research of People’s Police Academy

Entering a new era of the intrustry 4.0, with the thriving of digital technology and globally accessible connectivity, the matter of education and training are not exceptions of the common flow. In particular, People's Police Academy has identified foreign languages and informatics as compulsory standards for officers, lecturers and students of the whole academy, considered   these knowledge  as the pivotal bridge that qualifies the Academy’s readinessto meet all the requirements of becoming the country's key educational institution.

In the course of education, the Academy has focused on improving the level of foreign languages, especially English for officers, lecturers and students of the Academy in various effective forms such as: organizing regular foreign language training courses for officers, lecturers and students; opening training classes and exchanging knowledge with foreign countries such as Thailand, Korea;  cooperating  training courses in English with foreign institutions such as the University of Maryland in the United States (two accomplished courses) and promoting exchange programmes with RMIT of Australia; sending  students to study master and full-time postgraduate programs in English in many countries such as the UK, Australia, China, Japan, etc; organizing training, workshops, seminars, regional and international scientific conferences with several regional, international and non-governmental organizations,; regulating the required foreign language standard  for for student’s graduation; paying special attention to strengthen and trial teaching in English in all faculties, departments, centers of the Academy.

One of the most outstanding activities is the pilot of full teaching several subjects of some faculties, departments and centersin English. The People's Police Academy is eligible to fufill these extremely demanding and precedentless tasks and, because the Academy standardizes all the necessary qualifications  related to the curriculum, the lecturers’ academic level, as well as students’ language proficiency  and thehigh agreement toward developmental orientation , of the Academy in the new era. The PPA’s lecturers have accumulated experience in master degree training programs associated with foreign countries, in the implementation of training and teaching tasks for foreign countries, ,in attending international and regional conferences and international exchanges related to international integration process of People's Police Academy. For the first time, the People's Police Academy has successfully organized the first Contest of Teaching in English (2017) in the entire academy.This was a very successful and innovative program, highly appreciated by not only leaders of the Ministry of Public Security and the General Department  but also othertraining institutes of the People's Police. The chosen subjects were taught totally in Englishbymany units such as: Criminal Investigation Department, , Faculty of Law, Forensic Science and Criminal Police Department, etc. The contest consolidated that the implementation of English-based teaching is plausible and uncovers/prevails the prospect of successfully using English as a tool to serve the purpose of scientific research, education and regional and international integration.

It is safely statedthat English is one of the universal tools to profoundly benefit police-driven researches. Many countries have a scientific approach to criminal justice, criminology, police science, police are less confidential and narrowed, thus can be exploited very excessively through Internet channels and academic exchanges. Currently, the People's Police Academy has had a English library serving the Maryland class, English researching material has also been collected by the Library and Archives Center. The People's Police Academy has also published the People's Police Journal in English and the English website, which is also one of the breakthroughs for English application in scientific research, many staff and lecturers have actively contributed research articles in English, contributing to the improvement of researching skills in English on various issues related to criminology, social order and crime prevention in the world and in Vietnam.

Notably, the Institute has recently signed the Plan No. 1892/ KH-T32-CSDT released on September 6, 2017 about organizing the criminal science research contest. The aim of this contest is to equip a general and in-depth understanding of the situation and achievements of criminal science inglobal scale. Since then, resources and references have been expanded to contribute to the development of common theoretical components of criminal science, criminal strategy and criminal methods in Vietnam, creating a movement of using English for research on criminal science issues effectively. This successful competition will be a demonstration of the use of foreign languages to solve/deal with the problems that the world has studied and published such as Criminal Science theories outreach in many  countries of the world (United States, Germany, England, France, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asian countries,etc.); theoretical and practical issues; investigative tactics applied around the world (interrogation, , interviewing, confrontation, searching, arrest, identification ,investigative experiment, expert consultation, etc); theoretical and practical application of said  methods in investigating specific crimes in the world; The status, model and experience of organizing investigation bodies, and the application of science, technology and techniques in criminal investigation of different countries in the world.

Over the region and in the world, many countries have benefited from the strategic use of the international languages, English included in the work of state/administrative management, social work, international integration, education and scientific research. For example, any Singaporean can communicate fluently in Chinese and English, two dominant languages in the world which enable a more easy access to the vast ocean of international knowledge. There is one of the main reasons for the development of Singapore in many aspects including education and training and science and technology. Another example is Malaysia, a multi-lingual country where Malay, Indian, Chinese and English are prevalent. In Malaysia, Security, taxi drivers, masons can speak well in 02 languages, Researchers can be proficient in two to four languages including English, it is fully understandable that their research libraries and materials are mostly at international level. In addition, , at any international conference, Cambodian, Indonesian, Korean, Chinese delegates can speak fluently English and therefore, they are confident and knowledgeable within the academicevironment, which shows how they value the English language.

From above-mentioned analysis and assessment, the People’s Police Academy, in the course of development, is in need of striving to enhance the possible practicality of English in teaching and sciene research activities in certain directions as bellow

    Firstly, expanding forms of training associated with bacholar degree education in English

To serve the purpose of becoming the national key university, , the Academy has planned to develop some training programs taught entirely in English to attract foreign students . There are certain majors that can be entirely taught in English (except for general subjects) such as the Crime related to social order safety investigation and Forensic Science. With the English background of staff and lecturers, in the process of becoming a main educational institution, performing its mission, the  People's Police Academy has offered exchange programmes with regional and international police academies in Thailand, Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia... based on the model: Exchanging undergraduate students in each country in model 2 + 2 (two years in the country and two years abroad) or model 3+1 (three years in the country and one year abroad). Thus, this is expected to be one of the next breakthroughs in the international cooperation in training and level improving.

- Secondly, English is the foundation for the People's Police Academy to successfully organize links with prestigious academies and universities around the world to organize master training of the majors which both parties predominate and can gain recognition creditfor, such as: Cooperating with the University of Maryland (USA) to train Masters, major in: Criminal Justice Leadership, opening connection with RMIT (Australia) for training in double majors: Information Technology (Cybercrime); Orienting to open connection with the University of Lyon 3 (France) for training Master of two majors of Law and Foreign Language. These programs are taught in foreign languages (except for a small proportion of subjects taught by Vietnamese scientists). Training is in the model of 1 + 1 (01 year in the country and 01 year in foreign countries), or studying of the subject in the country + doing research activities and graduating thesis abroad.

    Simultaneously, English will be the foundation for the People's Police Academy to build and develop majors which the People's Police Academy has a extraordinary potential to offer instruction in English (excluding general courses) and attract foreign students to study and exchange postgraduate students. It is expected that in 2020, the Criminology and Crime Investigation Major shall be taught in English.

- Thirdly, to acclaim  the scale and status of the national key university, the Academy needs to organize research groups specialized in Law, Criminology and Criminal Investigation Science, Forensic Science, , Network Security andCyber Crime Prevention, , the traffic order and safety management, etc. This includes Vietnamese students and invited foreign researchers or faculty members who are lecturers from the academy or university withwhich the Academy associated in training (Royal Thai Police Academy, National Police University of Korea, University of Maryland - USA, RMIT University - Australia ...)

- Fourthly, In addition to the above-mentioned official programs, through the international cooperation and exchange of information, the Academy will develop some professional training programs in English to attract foreign students, research and academic exchange, which focus on  following fields Criminology; Criminal Justice; State management of traffic order and safety; Residency management; Cyber Crime Prevention;Forensic Science,; Criminal investigation; etc.

At the same time, English will be the basis for the People's Police Academy to build training centers for professional law enforcement for regional countries, including the training of police forces to remain/keep peace. Vietnam police is trying to build a similar model to that of the military force and trainingcompetent soldiers to join the international peacekeeping force, just as the Party's position has confirmed: “Vietnam is willing to be a friend, a reliable partner, a responsible member of the international community”

 - Fifthly, The People's Police Academy is a national educational institution that strives to take a leading role in scientific researching and gaining a national, regional and international prestige. The Academy has qualified staffs who are capable of effectively handling the key scientific and technological research tasks of the State and the Ministry of Public Security in the fields of the criminal prevention, the State management of security and order, the structuring of the people's police force and the specialized agencies in charge of ensuring social order and safety. PPA advises and assists the Minister of Public Security in matters related to the protection of national security, criminal prevention and the assurance of social order and safety at strategic and tactical levels. At present, the situation of social order and safety is non-traditional, transcending national boundaries, global, criminals are also "integrating" and at the same time embodying the era of information technology, so that products of global integration and science and technology simultaneously have the presence of crime with different tricks.

In scientific research, the Academy should actively receive technological transference in crime prevention around the world. Coordinating, cooperating, enhancing learning and exchanging experiences with international organizations (International Police Executive Symposium (IPES), International Criminal Police Organization INTERPOL, Association of Southeast Asian Chiefs of National Police (ASEANAPOL), Non-governmental organizations (NGO)...); the Academy, the police universities in the region and the world, creating links in scientific research, police technological transference is advisable. In short, the change and improvement of foreign language skills for English teachers and students of People's Police Academy  is urgent requirement and inevitability in the path to become national key educational institution. We believe that, with such orientation and vision, the People's Police Academy will always play a pivotal role in the common development of the public security schools and academies in education, scientific research and international cooperation meeting the requirements of the new situation.

NVV

References:
1.    Documents of the XI, XII National Party Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam
2.    Project “Overall planning, improving the training capacity and quality of training and retraining establishments in the People's Public Security Forces till 2020” approved by Decision No. 1229/ QD-TTg dated 22 July 2011 by the Prime Minister
3.    Decision No. 3013/ QD-BCA-X11 dated 12 June 2013 by the Minister of Public Security on approving Component Project No. 3 of Project 1229 of the Government;
4.    Decision No. 3999/ QD-BCA-X11 dated June 26, 2015 by the Minister of Public Security on recognition of the People's Police Academy as a key institution of higher education in the public security sector.

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