He is a symbol of a life with many ups and downs but always maintains his belief and desire to dedicate himself to private university education.

Teacher Le Cong Co was born in 1941, from Quang Nam, and currently lives and works in Da Nang City. He is not a strange name in the Vietnamese education industry, he is even known in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Difficult desire to open a private school

Unlike many other teachers, although Mr. Le Cong Co was originally a pedagogical university student, in his youth he almost did not follow the teaching profession but was active in the revolutionary movement in the pre-1975 urban movement in the South. He used to hold important positions in localities, was a National Assembly delegate, director of a tourism business...

After quitting his government job, Mr. Le Cong Co was tormented by the thought of needing to do something for the education he had longed for, needing a modern innovation. That was at the beginning of the reform period.

After researching and researching information from developed countries and pondering for many days, he thought it was necessary to propose a private university model, an idea that is so new, not only for the Central region but also for the whole country. . He recalled: "At that time, when I proposed this idea, many people agreed, but many people also opposed it, they thought that in our system, this was almost impossible. What should we do? The model of private schools at the university level can exist in Vietnam, while the public is the only one. Some people consider me a paranoid person."

Indeed, they have their reasons. Because in 1987, when Mr. Le Cong Co presented the project to establish a private university to the competent authorities, he was immediately deceived. But he still decided not to give up and had to continue on this thorny path.

He decided to accept a step back to find opportunities. If he couldn't do the whole thing, he would do it part by part. He ran back and forth to open the first private English Practice Center in the Central region in Da Nang. As soon as one thing was finished, he immediately moved on to another. With two computers donated by a friend from Canada, he decided to open an Electronics and Information Technology Center. When everything was relatively stable, he applied for joint training at universities, foreign language colleges, and information technology colleges. And initially it was successful.

In 1992, he continued to apply to open a private university in the Central region when Vietnam did not have any legal documents for a leading issue in education in our country. Having to wait another 2 years, in 1994, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet issued regulations on private universities.

Sipping tea, teacher Le Cong Co reminisced: "Now that I remember, there are many things worth mentioning. At that time, the difficulty was ambushes. My family and I had to persevere in order to pursue our ideas." My husband and I mortgaged our house to borrow 120 million VND to complete our project and submit it to the Government. But even with the regulations in place, we still encountered many difficulties, including naming the school. ..".

 

In 1993 and 1994, he took 50 train trips to Hanoi to campaign for the establishment of a private university in the Central region. When he asked to name the Central Region Private University, he was immediately rejected. His request to change the name to Duy Tan University was also not approved. But he did not back down, still determined to protect his desire to modernize and innovate education. He considered a step that could be considered risky... which was to find a way to meet directly with the head of the Government at that time to express his wishes.

It was not a simple matter, but after thinking about it, he saw that there was no other way.

Educational philosophy of loving people

Then one day at the Government Office, finding an opportunity, Mr. Le Cong Co "boldly" stood in the middle of the street, asked to meet Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and was fortunate to be accepted. After hearing his confession, the head of the Government agreed. Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet wrote a few lines to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh: "Dear Mr. Khanh! I think comrade Le Cong Co should be allowed to name the school Duy Tan, because this is a big movement led by the Vietnamese government." Revolution initiated by Phan Chau Trinh and suitable for a university in Da Nang, Central region...".

Duy Tan Private University was officially born in 1994, opening up many opportunities for education in the Central region...

With the educational motto: modern and humane, Duy Tan Private University has gradually affirmed its quality and reputation.

After nearly 30 years of operation, the school has about 1,000 lecturers, many of whom are trained in the US, Singapore..., many international articles, and international awards; The school has cooperated in training and scientific research with many major universities in the world. The school has enrolled and trained more than 60 graduate students, more than 3,000 graduate students, more than 110,000 students, and more than 12,000 intermediate students.

It is a great honor for Duy Tan University to be among the top 500 universities in the world (Vietnam only has 2 such schools) and the top 100 leading universities in Asia. It is worth mentioning that most of the school's graduates have stable jobs, suitable to their training field. Duy Tan University is a brand chosen by many state agencies, domestic private enterprises, and foreign-invested enterprises. The school has been awarded many noble awards by the state. As for Mr. Le Cong Co, who was Chairman of the Board of Directors and principal, he was awarded the title of Outstanding Teacher. In particular, in 2016, he received the title of Labor Hero of the Reformation Period - the first person in private education to receive this great honor.

According to Mr. Le Cong Co, whatever you do, you must truly care and love people, that is the most important and practical thing. Every educational philosophy must start from people, with the determination to act for people.