History

In October 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed the decree to establish Hanoi University of Literature - the precursor of the current VNU University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi. In April 1956, University of Hanoi was established. During this period, fundamental foundation for the disciplines of social sciences and humanities as well as the university's tradition and reputation were laid.

In September 1995, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities was established on the basis of social sciences and humanities from University of Hanoi, and became an official member of Vietnam National University, Hanoi - the country's leading comprehensive and most prestigious training and research center.

For over 70 years, the University has represented the convergence of leading revolutionary intellectuals such as President Ho Chi Minh, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, erudite scholars including Professors Dang Thai Mai, Tran Van Giau, Dao Duy Anh, Cao Xuan Huy, Tran Duc Thao, and generations of eminent academics who have founded and developed the social sciences and humanities in the country, and brought international fame to Vietnam.

Mission

USSH, VNU has the mission of training high-quality and highly-skilled human resources; researching, creating and disseminating knowledge of Social sciences and Humanities, contributing to national construction and protection and international integration.

Core value and operating slogan

"Pioneering - Creativity - High quality - High capability"

Vision until 2035

Uphold the advantages of a university of basic sciences, focus on developing USSH into a research-based, multi-disciplinary, and inter-disciplinary university with leading and highly capable experts; generate new majors and minors, play a pioneering and crucial role in offering and studying the basic sciences of Vietnam based on regional and international standards; to rank among the top 100 leading universities in Asia and 500 universities in the world.

- Strategic goals

+ General goals

Develop USSH into a research-based university, validate its leading position in teaching and studying social sciences and humanities in Vietnam, rank among the top 150 best universities in Asia by 2035, and top 100 best regional universities on pars with the advanced universities (500 universities) in the world.

+ Specific objectives

Train high-quality and highly skilled human resources for the sake of industrialization, modernization and international integration

• Provide favorable conditions for the promotion of creativity, thinking and a start-up spirit, and create an open, friendly and harmonious academic environment, etc. so the intellectuals, learners and society participate in the development of USSH and contribute to forming a learning Society.

• Every academic year, USSH's faculties and divisions, centers and research institutes invite at least one expert from a prestigious foreign university to teach and have academic discussions at the University. The number of invited experts increase over time.

• Create majors and minors approved by VNU, continue to polish the current programs in an inter-disciplinary manner, extend high-quality programs based on a socialized approach, and propose the formation of some advanced programs that are inter-disciplinary; extend international cooperation with prestigious regional and global universities.

• Focus on training high-quality human resources at all three levels: bachelor's, master's and doctoral. By 2025, the number of graduates will have been maintained at 20% of all the University's students. By 2025, the number of regular students will have been 7,800 and that of talented high school students 300. 2% of the regular students will have been foreigners.

By 2025, 10% of the graduated students will have studied such majors as Oriental studies, International studies, Journalism, Public Relations and Tourism; who are good at both professional knowledge and foreign languages and can successfully take part in the market of the ASEAN Economic Community.

• Continue to maintain and improve the quality of teaching, produce professional academic staff with great pro-activeness and creativity in teaching and researching activities. This is the "strategic solution" in USSH's long-term development orientation.

Produce high-quality research products

• Define some prioritized fields of research that are attached to Vietnam's development needs and Vietnamese historical, cultural, social, national and human traditions; to its particular model and path of development; to its role and position in regional and international relations; its sovereignty, security and especially in and around the sea and islands, etc.

• Found and develop at least 02 prominent laboratories/research centers at VNU level; an Institute of Policy and Management, a Laboratory of Social Investigation dealing with ethics, lifestyles and other social issues.

• Plan and establish a leading group of staff, maintain 01 strong research team or potential research team at VNU level for each research orientation.

• Continue to improve international publication to ensure the 10% ratio of all of VNU's international publications.

Develop resources and implement the quality culture

• Based on the motto "Human is the center as well as the actor of the development strategy", the University offers strong mechanisms and solutions to training its staff especially skilled experts and leading scholars for its academic areas.

• Increase the number of lecturers to ensure the completion of missions, and extend the scale of training and personnel of some units.

• Invest in improving the quality of staff and officers in order to meet the demands of training and research objectives in the context of deep integration and developing into a research-based, autonomous, creative, connective and pioneering university.

• The University's staff and lecturers are adamant, resourceful and creative in teaching and researching, are conscious of the advanced methods, viewpoints and approaches. The University's lecturers have both good professional and foreign language capabilities to participate in international courses, academic discussions, research projects and scientific dialogues.

• Create mechanisms to attract skilled and capable experts to the University; take advantage of the resources and training programs and projects to invite international experts and scholars to teach and give academic presentations, take part in academic conferences and conduct research papers.

• Continue to develop financial resources, effectively utilize the budgets provided by the State and devise solutions to diversify financial resources and draw funds from joint projects with USSH's partners as well as domestic and foreign institutions.

• Improve the quality control from progress to efficiency in all the University's operational areas, professionalize management, training and research activities; and create a spirit of community, in which everyone shares responsibilities in resolving the common tasks related to the University's development. Prioritize quality according to USSH's strategies and objectives; conduct quality assessments as prescribed by Asian University Network (AUN-QA); and make sure that the quality of 100% of the bachelor's programs and 30% of the master's programs is assessed and assured according to domestic and international standards.