In order to access new knowledge and thinking, have more experience and confidence to become a global citizen, studying abroad is the choice of many young Vietnamese. However, the current epidemic is a significant barrier to this dream. At this time, listening to the experiences and following the successful footsteps of those who have gone in advance will help young people have the right orientation and preparation for the future. Nearly 20 years of studying, working and living in Australia, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Viet Liem shared three principles and three profound lessons to young people in the program "Key to study abroad - Imprint of Vietnamese birds" organized by the UEH-International School of Business. The program was broadcast online on the morning of May 30, 2021. 

 

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Viet Liem is currently working at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia - Top 50 best universities globally and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ). With nearly 10 years of teaching in Vietnam and about 20 years of working and living in Australia, he has experienced many different positions from being a lecturer, scientific research coordinator, Ph.D. program director, director of the Postgraduate program at the Department of Marketing, University of New South Wales. In 2018, he was honored to be the first Vietnamese to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City. 

 

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Viet Liem received the title of Honorary Doctorate of UEH

 

Three Principles: Enthusiasm - Awareness - Realization

It is the guideline on the journey of knowledge discovery of Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Viet Liem with three principles: Enthusiasm - Awareness - Realization. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem said these three principles are inherent qualities in each of us. Enthusiasm is the energy and interest in work. When we have an interest in what we do, that interest creates positive energy. This energy helps us overcome many challenges in work and study to regenerate new energy.

Awareness is about focusing and knowing what you're doing. Having an interest in work is not enough, but we need to focus on work and know what we are doing in order to promote creativity. In the work that Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem is currently doing; it is very important to be creative so that he can produce new value and transmit new knowledge to his students.

Realization is learning lessons from yourself. In the process of studying and working, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem shared three main lessons: 1. Self-study is critical; 2. Expanding your limits; and 3. Serving to perfect yourself. 

 

Lesson 1: Self-study is critical

The first lesson that Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem has, that is "Self-study is critical", one must become his teacher. When studying abroad, the challenges he encountered were the language barrier and the new field of expertise in management and marketing. He is a technical person who studied Russian for 7 years in high school and 5 years in university and only started learning English in his final year. He was enthusiastic to self-study and research to see the root of the problem. His enthusiasm and interest in learning brought about positive energy to help him overcome those obstacles.

 

Lesson 2: Expanding your limits

The enthusiasm and interest in self-study mentioned in the first lesson helped Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem overcomes the difficulties, and also from the second lesson "Expanding your limits", which says "If others can do it, I can do it". This second lesson can be seen from the fact that his research results have increased over time in both quantity and quality. It is also the result of applying all three principles of Enthusiasm - Completeness - Realization. The research work brought Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem interest and enthusiasm at this stage is no longer a binding condition but becomes very natural and will help us to become "complete" and learn "lessons" from within ourselves. In academic fields, the knowledge we create will never end, because knowledge itself always has limitations, so there are always new research ideas to continue to learn and explore.

 

Lesson 3: Serving to perfect yourself

He shared his role as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal to illustrate the third principle of “Serving to perfect yourself”: Serving the community to perfect yourself. Managing the entire operation of AMJ requires many factors, which means he must learn daily. After a first term, thanks to the interest and enthusiasm, the Journal was elevated to Grade A with the support of many Associates during the first period of taking over the Journal (rated B according to ABDC).In 2020, he took nearly a year to sign a cooperation agreement with SAGE Publishing. This change opens up many new opportunities, new connections, new faces for AMJ. Reviews of the Journal are all positive. He believes that this job of serving the community helps him to improve himself.

Besides, even though he is settling down in Australia, he always thinks about Vietnam, with his motto being "Leaving to return". He is always ready to support Ph.D. students, young lecturers in Vietnam and participate in teaching research methods and international seminars.

 

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Viet Liem shared at the CEO training course of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

 

Sharing experiences on how to keep the fire and motivation for themselves during the research time, according to Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem, the result of research, in other words, published scientific article, is an important motivation. From this result, the researcher realizes that he can do it, surpass his own limits, and become even more interested in researching. Besides, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Liem believes that three important components in the formula to create knowledge include: (1) Identify the phenomenon or problem that needs to be studied; (2) Use theory, logic, and empirical evidence to explain that phenomenon; (3) Use language to convey this new knowledge. Among these, the two latter components have their limits. In particular, theory and language both have relativity and approximation to a certain extent. Figuratively, the research phenomenon is the tree, the theory and the language are the tree's shadow, following the tree's shadow we find the tree at the root. The tree is also a symbol of truth, of knowledge that scientists are constantly searching for and discovering.

 

Hopefully, with three profound principles: Enthusiasm - Awareness - Realization and three lessons: Self-study is critical, Expanding your limits, and Serving to perfect yourself, young people will soon find a suitable way to develop their fullest potential.

 

Source: Department of Marketing and Communications.