(Quanlynhanuoc.vn) – During the 61 years of establishment and development, the National Academy of Public Administration has performed well the tasks assigned by the Communist Party of Vietnam, the State and the Ministry of Home Affairs. It has always been a national center for training the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees for the home affairs sector and the country, making a significant contribution to the cause of national construction and defense.
NAPA Leaders receiving flowers and congratulations from the Minister of Home Affairs on the occasion of the academic year 2018-2019 opening on October 08, 2018.
NAPA’s establishment and development
In response to the requirement of building and training a contingent of cadres and public servants for the country, Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Home Affairs Phan Ke Toai signed Decree No. 214-NV on May 29, 1959 to establish the School of Public Administration under the Ministry of Home Affairs. This was the first training institution of public administration with the mission of training cadres and public servants at district and provincial levels in our country.
On September 29, 1961, the Government issued Decree No. 130-CP on changing the name of the School of Public Administration to the Central School of Public Administration under the Ministry of Home Affairs. On March 30, 1977, according to Decision No. 81-CP by the Government, the Central School of Public Administration was moved to under the Government Committee for Organization. Article 2 of the Decision clearly stated tasks of the Central School of Public Administration: “Training members of the People’s Committees at district, provincial levels and equivalents; training administration officers of the People’s Committees at district, provincial levels and equivalents; training staff in schools of public administration and officials in charge of provincial and city departments and divisions”.
On May 12, 1980, the Government issued Decision No. 142-CP on merging the Central School of Public Administration and the Central School of Economics into the Central School of Public Administration and Economics. Accordingly, the training programs incorporated the contents of economic management and state administration.
On June 8, 1981, the Council of Ministers (now the Government) issued Decision No. 233-CP on separating the Central School of Administration and Economics into two schools: the Central School of Public Administration and the Central School of Economic Management and the former was under the Council of Ministers. According to Decision No. 91-HDBT dated September 26, 1981 defining the functions, tasks and organizational structure of the Central School of Public Administration, the School was mandated to assist the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers in organizing advanced and intermediate training courses on state management for public officials; to do scientific research on state management; to provide guidance on state management training for public managers at all levels; to train teachers of public administration from local schools of politics and provide training programs and materials to these schools.
On February 23, 1989, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers issued Decision No. 34/CT on strengthening the system of schools of public administration in provinces and cities. Accordingly, the Central School of Administration should be strengthened into a center of training and research on state management to meet the requirements in the new period. The School enjoyed the status as a ministry and its directors were involved in projects of the Council of Ministers on state apparatus reform and enhancing the effectiveness of state management.
On November 1, 1990, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers issued Decision No. 381-CT on changing the name of the Central School of Public Administration to the National School of Public Administration. The School was renamed the Academy of Public Administration in accordance with the Decree No. 253-HDBT by the Council of Ministers on July 6, 1992. Accordingly, the Academy functioned as a research center of public administration sciences and a training center of public administration for public servants and is under the direct management of the Council of Ministers.
In 2002, the Public Administration Reform (PAR) reduced the size of Government agencies and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) used to be under the Government was transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs by the Decision No. 123/2002/QD-TTg dated September 19, 2002 by the Prime Minister.
On November 13, 2003, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 234/2003/ QD-TTg defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of NAPA. Accordingly, the Academy is a national training center with autonomy and self-responsibility in terms of organizational structure, payroll and finance by the provisions of law; performing the functions of training civil servants, public employees, administrative civil servants at all levels, grassroots civil servants, pre-service personnel, trainers and researchers of public administration; conducting research on administrative sciences; and providing advice to the Government in the fields of public administration and state management.
According to Decision No. 60-QD/TW dated May 7, 2007 by the Politburo, the National Academy of Public Administration was merged with Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics into Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics – Public Administration and renamed the Academy of Public Administration. After 7 years of merging, on December 10, 2013, the Academy was separated from Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics – Public Administration to be under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was officially named the National Academy of Public Administration according to the Resolution No. 121/NQ-CP by the Government.
On January 23, 2018, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 05/2018/QD-TTg defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of NAPA, which affirmed its special position in the system of public servant training institutions as a national center, a special public non-business unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs, with functions of training administration, leadership and management knowledge and skills for public officials; training human resource; conducting research on administrative science; and providing advice to the Ministry of Home Affairs in the fields of administration and state management.
NAPA’s contribution to the development of the civil service of the country and the Ministry of Home Affairs
Civil service training
During 61 years of development, NAPA has made a great contribution to improving the quality of human resource in the state agencies at both central and local levels, training thousands of officials, principal officials and senior officials on public management knowledge and skills; pre-appointment training courses for leaders and managers at division, district, provincial department, ministerial department levels; training courses on civil service ethics, international integration; pre-service courses.
Since 1996, NAPA provided second degree undergraduate training programs on public administration. In 2000, NAPA started its full-time and part-time undergraduate training on public administration. Up to now, NAPA has trained 18 cohorts of full-time undergraduate training with about 27,000 graduates; trained 30,000 graduates of part time undergraduate training.
Regarding postgraduate training, NAPA has conducted 28 cohorts of master training with thousands of master graduates; 18 cohorts of doctoral training with hundreds of doctor graduates. NAPA has trained in Public Administration, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Public Policy, and Finance and Banking.
Development of training curriculum and materials
Implementing the tasks assigned by the Ministry of Home Affairs, NAPA conducted surveys on training needs, developed and completed the system of training curricula, textbooks and materials focusing on professional skills to meet the requirements of enhancing public servants’ capability at specific job positions. In recent years, NAPA has implemented the renovation of curriculum, textbooks, teaching materials in all its training types and levels in response to the actual needs of the learners and the training demand. It has developed the training program for vice ministers and equivalent; reformed its training courses such as the position-based training; training courses for public managers at provincial department, district, division levels; training courses for officials, principal officials and senior officials; developed a training program for lecturers of state management, training course on civil service culture; provided master training programs in public management, banking and finance, constitutional and administrative laws, public policy, economics management, and doctoral training program in public management.
NAPA has developed a system of training curriculum and textbooks for different training types at different levels to meet the various training needs of learners such as civil service rank-based training for officials, principal officials, senior officials training; job position-based and management position-based training; academic training for bachelor, master, and doctor.
Scientific research and policy consultancy
As a national center for scientific research on administration and state management, NAPA has conducted research on the state administrative apparatus, administrative science, public policy, etc. which serves the public administration reform (PAR) and promotes innovation in the management mechanism in ministries, agencies and localities. NAPA provides consultancy in the policy formulation to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government. Research, policy consultancy, and training always go hand in hand, forming the pillars of NAPA and affirm its position. Research works support the training and provide solutions to the urgent problems emerging in the PAR. The number of research projects at state, ministerial and institutional level has affirmed NAPA’s position.
Development and strengthening of partnership; active participation in international associations and communities of public administration
NAPA is a member of three big international organizations of public administration, namely: International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), Eastern Regional Organization of Public Administration (EROPA ), Asian Association of Public Administrators (AGPA). It has developed partnerships with more than 50 international institutions of administrative research and training, signed cooperation agreements with more than 20 training institutions in different regions in the world. NAPA’s international cooperation activities have mobilized resources to support it perform better the tasks assigned by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Development orientations for the future
With the tradition of more than 61 years of establishment and development and the reputation of a key and leading training institution for public servants as well as its important role in the revolutionary cause of the country in general and 75 year development history of the Ministry of Home Affairs in particular, NAPA is focusing on the following key tasks:
Civil service training
– Job title-based training programs and leadership training programs for public leaders and managers to provide the required knowledge and skills for civil service ranks and jobs; improving civil service ethics and culture as well as the capability to work in international environments.
– Tailor-made short training courses to meet the public servants’ need of 40 hour compulsory training every year. These courses aim to provide public servants with specialized professional skills and proficiency. NAPA has to closely cooperate with other state agencies for advice, to identify training needs and propose capacity building programs on administration and management for public servants. It has to design appropriate courses and modules for this job position based training program.
- Training courses on administration, state management; training of trainers and researchers from the civil service training institutions nationwide.
- Postgraduate training programs that are academic and practice oriented. Strengthening the existing master training programs and introducing new interdisciplinary master training programs; planning to develop the doctoral training programs in all specializations of the master training.
- Online training and distance training to enable learners to access to modern channels and methods of learning and self-teaching ability.
Research and international cooperation
Improve the research quality to enhance the training quality and NAPA’s position in the country and in the international arena. In order to build an academic, creative environment inside NAPA and make it an agency with critical thinking, it is necessary to implement the motto of linking theory with practice, to conduct empirical research, to propose evidence-based critical recommendation to contribute to the development of administrative science in Vietnam. Accordingly, a focus should be given on the followings:
- Quality research works on administration and state management at national and international level; more focus on the development of NAPA’s strengths and traditions of administrative sciences, public management, public policy and interdisciplinary sciences.
- Identifying key research orientations to serve the development of training curricula and materials, improving quality of teaching and research, and providing consultancy and comments for public policies and legal documents of the Government and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- Cooperate closely with central and local state agencies in conducting research projects as requested or participate in bidding for research projects, providing scientific arguments, explanations, recommendations for administrative management. at ministries, agencies and localities.
- Promoting research through increasing the publications on the prestigious international articles, research works at high level of the ASEAN region and the world. State Management Review strives to meet ISI or SCOPUS standards.
- Making NAPA a consulting center for training, national and regional center for administrative sciences and public management.
- Promoting courses for civil servants from countries in the region, building partnerships with advanced schools of public administration in the world, inviting foreign experts, lecturers and scholars in training and research projects, making NAPA adaptable to science – technology development and international integration.
Development of the workforce and organizational structure
Building a contingent of highly qualified lecturers and researchers who are capable to effectively transform the training and participate in teaching and research in the international environment. Ensuring the conditions for the development of the contingent of lecturers, researchers and managers; implement the preferential treatment and encourage researchers to work at NAPA; attract and honor the highly qualified scientific staff. In addition, implementing the policy of field work for lecturers in ministries, agencies and localities to acquire practical experience ; encourage lecturers to study, take internship, fellowship abroad, to participate in scientific conferences abroad.
In terms of organizational structure, it is necessary to develop specialized faculties into institutes to move to the direction of research and teaching in the fields of administration and public management.
Building physical facilities
Building a technological infrastructure to develop a modern, efficient system of information; apply informatics software in job management, training management. Building electronic libraries, furnishing lecture halls, learning facilities, and dormitory to reach international standards. In particular, developing a roadmap for autonomy implementation, promoting autonomy of the affiliated units.
Internal management and training quality assurance
Improving the training management and research. Developing internal management regulations and processes according to quality management principles.
Conducting training quality evaluation through evaluation feedback from students, the organizations which send their employees for training, through internal accreditation and independent accreditation to verify the accomplishment of the national and international standards. Making NAPA a national center for civil servant testing and civil service training accreditation.
Dr. Dang Xuan Hoan
NAPA President
