Dr. Pham Thi Hong Van – The belief in scientific research and teaching activities

Scientific research and teaching are two main activities of lecturers that higher education institutions always focus on in their long-term development strategies. In teaching activities, each lecturer affirms his or her position through expert knowledge, colorful lectures and teaching experience which made students’ heart impression. With Dr. Pham Thi Hong Van, Head of the Department of Corporate Finance at the Faculty of Finance and Banking (FFB) of Van Lang University (VLU), we feel the trust and sharing of our predecessor. She not only gives us knowledge and experience in her career but also sometimes makes jokes in her intonation and brings humor in each lecture. She motivated us to study with the image of successful VLU alumni returning to school to exchange. They were also previous students who were good at fundamental subjects such as Principles of Finance and Business Finance. 

Our impression is also her tireless efforts in studying and researching. Initially, she encountered many difficulties with implementing quantitative techniques in economic research. Since starting to work on the doctoral thesis, the thesis was carried out over a long period of time, the research results were reviewed and edited according to comments, so the model also changed and the results had to be rerun for many times. When the thesis was completed, more experience in handling econometric techniques to produce reliable results was accumulated, from which she had many other research projects published. Her research is not only published domestically but also in prestigious international journals. Her scientific research products are not only scientific articles but also scientific research topics at school and ministerial levels. She is also currently the head of a scientific research project at the ministerial level (Ministry of Education and Training). The project is being implemented on schedule and is in the process of completing documents for acceptance in 2023.

With many years of teaching experience at the Faculty of Finance and Banking in the field of corporate finance, she compiled the Principles of Finance textbook as a learning resource for students in the field of business & management. The VLU-branded curriculum compilation activity is also a way for VLU lecturers to be officially recognized by the scientific community for the effort and intelligence they have invested in science. In the upcoming plan, she will publish the Corporate Finance Textbook, completing the general knowledge chain on corporate finance for the business and management sector.

With scientific research activities among students, lecturers play the role of leader, support and guide students in implementing research products. Scientific research activities among students at FFB are of great interests to the leaders and are annually implemented. Dr. Pham Thi Hong Van is one of the lecturers who conducts many scientific research projects with her students. For each of these research projects, she guides students to publish scientific articles in prestigious journals which bring confidence and pride to the students in scientific research. In addition, their research works are also submitted to scientific research awards. Recently, a student scientific research project guided by her won third prize in the National Student Science Contest "The Eighth Olympic in Econometrics, 2023" - received a certificate of merit from the Executive Board of Vietnamese Students’ Association.

Certainly, we all know Warren Buffet's favorite quote: "If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together." Indeed, she did not move fast by going alone, but she chose to incubate, lead and accompany students in scientific research activities. In just the past two years, a series of student research projects under her guidance have been accepted and participated in student scientific research awards with practical topics. The above results show the mind and vision of the person who inspires and nurtures the seeds of scientific research in students. For instance, student Nguyen Van Duc - a member of the scientific research group, left sincere words of his supervisor’s thanks. He said: " Mrs. Hong Van is enthusiastic and dedicated in teaching as well as helping my group achieve good results in scientific research. She knows the strengths and weaknesses of each individual in the group, thereby allocating work so that the group achieves the best results during the research process. My group received a lot of support from the beginning to ending because of my group’s little experience. All members of my group are very grateful to her for your dedicated support during the past time." There are no beautiful words to describe her dedication like the sincere and profound thanks from the students themselves. This is an affirmation of an exemplary lecturer in learning, teaching and scientific research.

We wish her to always maintain the fire of enthusiasm in science, promote her strengths and shine in her career!