Journalist Nguyen Duc Tai with a passion for digital media and e-commerce

VietTimes – Nowadays, many journalists have become businessmen. But there are also journalists who have turned to become teachers, typically journalist Nguyen Duc Tai.

Dr. Nguyen Duc Tai - Head of E-commerce and Digital Economy Department, Dai Nam University.

Fate to journalism

Since he was a student at the University of Commerce majoring in international trade before the year 2000, Mr. Nguyen Duc Tai has participated in many social activities and known many journalists. When participating in a cultural project on restoring Nguyen Dynasty costumes with artist Trinh Bach, journalist Vu Thi Tuyet Nhung at Hanoi Television (HanoiTV) told Mr. Tai that he should apply to become a reporter for HanoiTV's Culture and Society Department.

So, while he had not yet graduated from university, Mr. Tai applied for HanoiTV along with 1,000 other candidates while the station only needed to recruit about 10 people, including Announcers and Editors.

After being recruited, he was assigned to conduct science and technology programs, of which information technology was a key focus. While working, he also learned about professional expertise and scientific and technological knowledge. The programs that journalist Nguyen Duc Tai undertook quickly captured the attention of television audiences.

The program Information Technology and Life, ICT Forum has won the Second Prize of the National Television Festival, even the radio genre also won the Ngo Tat To journalism award of Hanoi city.

After 6 years working for HanoiTV, journalist Nguyen Duc Tai was invited to participate in developing VTC5-ICT channel, VTC Digital Television Station when it was first established. Of course, he was still assigned to take charge of programs on information technology and ICT communications according to his working capacity.

Journalist Nguyen Duc Tai during a field trip.

However, for some reasons, after 4 years he quit his job at VTC and switched to communications work, building the Green TV channel for the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (TKV). After 7 years working at TKV with hundreds of reports and documentaries about the coal industry, miners, and the environment, he started to try his hand at a new field in the army, which is building a content strategy and content business for Viettel Television Company - the Military Telecommunications Group.

The military environment and Viettel's unique training method on system creative thinking when trained with Israeli professors in short-term courses urged him to transfer this knowledge to students. That was the basic foundation that made him switch to the training profession with the desire to help students create specific products from the system creative thinking method.

PhD in e-commerce

Realizing that it was time to return to the specialized knowledge he had learned in the field of international trade, in 2007, journalist Nguyen Duc Tai decided to register for a PhD in e-commerce at the Institute of Trade Research under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It was also the first PhD course with students studying state management in e-commerce that this agency trained.

In 2017, with many years of experience in television, multimedia communications and in-depth research on e-commerce, journalist Nguyen Duc Tai started a new career as a university lecturer. The first environment he participated in was the position of Head of the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations of Hoa Binh University. At the end of 2020, he received an invitation from the leaders of Dai Nam University to promote the establishment of the Faculty of E-commerce and Digital Economy to officially enroll the first course from the 2021-2022 school year. Of course, in addition to the new students recruited for the new school year, students of economics, business administration... if they wish can also study in the following years at this Faculty.

Dai Nam University student.

According to Dr. Nguyen Duc Tai, in the 4.0 era, both teachers and students need to have a very different mindset about teaching and learning in the current Digital Transformation trend. Information and knowledge can be found easily on the Internet. Therefore, the role of a teacher is not only to teach according to the lesson plan but also to update all the exciting practical situations in their major during class hours. In addition, it is necessary to guide and encourage students to self-study and research so that the results are valuable knowledge products.

He also added that once students have to pay tuition and the salaries of teachers there, there must be fairness in providing knowledge, creating value through the products that teachers guide. The learner must be the center, not the teacher. In addition, it is not only the school's job but the teachers themselves must proactively relate to businesses and employers so that students have a practical working environment to meet future job requirements.

Journalism still has value

When asked about the value of journalism experience when switching to teaching, Dr. Nguyen Duc Tai affirmed that of course it is very valuable. At least universities have their own scientific journals and all staff and lecturers must be responsible for writing scientific research articles to publish in the journal.

In teaching and learning, it is certainly not possible to limit knowledge to the scope of the curriculum but also to the vibrant realities taking place in society. Therefore, students need to be provided with additional methodological knowledge so that they can learn by themselves and collect more knowledge from outside.

Memories with journalist Lai Van Sam (left) in a reality TV show about coal industry workers.

Also from his own experience in journalism, journalist Nguyen Duc Tai said that those with solid professional knowledge and journalistic ability can absolutely have the opportunity to become journalists. And it is not impossible that his students from the Faculty of E-commerce and Digital Economy will become reporters for specialized press agencies in this particular field.

And Mr. Nguyen Duc Tai himself has no intention of giving up his journalism career. He revealed that he will soon build and become the Editor-in-Chief of an electronic magazine specializing in the field of economic and environmental management within the system of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.