For the first question on the Prime Minister’s opinion on the current status of scattered tertiary education by delegate Dao Xuan Yen from Khanh Hoa, the Government chief said Viet Nam’s population is around 88 million, including 60 million in working age.
Vietnamese population entered “golden” stage since 2007 and the stage is expected to last 30-35 years.
Of the people in working age, as of 2012, the trained rate reached 46%, including 8% holding tertiary qualifications compared to 20.1% in Malaysia, 14.2% in Thailand, and 33.6% in the Republic of Korea.
On the other hand, Viet Nam had 250 students per 10,000 citizens in 2011 while Thailand had had 374 in 2005, RoK with 674, Japan with 316, France with 359, UK with 380, Australia with 504, Hungary with 432, and Chile with 407.
PM Dung concluded that Viet Nam is lacking both teachers and workers, labor structure is improper. Therefore, the Government has adopted the Strategies for education and training development, vocational training, human resource development until 2020. The recent plenary session of the 11th Party Central Committee also agreed on the need to seek ways to improve the quality of education and expand training forms.
The Government is determined to make sure that all pupils who pass university entry examinations can realize their dreams despite their financial shortages as Viet Nam seriously needs them. Besides, the country is also in serious need of skilled workers and technicians.
PM Dung said that career opportunities can be found both in tertiary education and vocational training but success only comes when we have aspiration, will, determination, stuff and sense of responsibility.
To deal with the big question on how to have a high-quality workforce with proper structure, he believed that it is necessary to have synchronous solutions, including the aforesaid ideas.
Regarding the question (by Nguyen Anh Tuan) on measures to step up the construction of career advisory centers and vocational training facilities for the youth, PM Dung said he has approved a program for this initiative. He tasked interior levels to allocate adequate capital for the Youth Union Central Committee to secure the progress of these establishments.
PM Dung also asked the Youth Union to especially focus on career advisory services and vocational guidance. He also hoped these establishments to perform well.
For question (by delegate Bui The Duy) on the role of intellectuals trained abroad, PM Dung affirmed that the Party and the State particularly take care of this issue. Viet Nam is now in need of high-quality workforce.
Viet Nam is now focusing on developing education and training system at all levels in terms of quality and scale in a bid to produce a workforce eligible for the national development.
Meanwhile, the country also pays attention to over four million Vietnamese learning and working abroad, including about 100,000 graduates and postgraduates. The Government has promulgated a number of policies to encourage overseas Vietnamese to come back and join hands in national construction.
PM Dung pledged to create favorable conditions for all individuals, especially overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to return to the country. He said the Government is reviewing and supplementing related mechanisms and policies.
The PM also called on overseas Vietnamese to understand and share the country’s difficulties. Although Viet Nam has gained great achievements and became a middle-income country, numerous difficulties still remain due to war legacies and socio-economic development cause still faces challenges.
The Party and State will continue to issue policies to attract and create favorable conditions for overseas Vietnamese intellectuals but the country may not meet all their requirements immediately, the Government stressed.
Delegate Dang Tat Dung said it seems that Viet Nam has paid inadequate attention to the use of professional workforce as the country lacks of specific policies.
On behalf of the PM, Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan said Viet Nam attaches importance to human resources training but mechanism for human resource development is a new issue.
Until 2010, Viet Nam had a system of universities and colleges. However, the country did not have an agency for national human resource forecasting, thus output mainly depends on training capacity instead of social demand.
Last year, the PM approved a strategy on developing human resource through 2020. In 2012, 62/63 provinces, cities, ministries, agencies and sectors have completed their own human resource development projects. This is one of the two pillars of the new human resource development models.
Over the past time, sectors and localities only stressed on capital, land exploitation but human resource development has not been paid due care. In the time to come, they will calculate demand for human resource.
Employers and businesses have often complained about human resource but few actions have been taken. We need to shift from complaining to shaking hands with the State to take necessary action, Deputy PM Nhan said.
He also praised the Youth Union Central Committee’s initiative to set up an organization to gather overseas Vietnamese students and urged the Youth Union to coordinate with the Government’s bodies to introduce the country’s facilities like high-tech parks, Viet Nam-Germany University, Ha Noi University of Technology to them. These facilities are good places for overseas Vietnamese doctors.
As enshrined by the Resolution of the 6th Plenary session of the 11th Party Central Committee, the State will place orders with scientific and technological researches.
Deputy PM Nhan said that overseas intellectuals call find suitable places to promote talent in Viet Nam if they are determined enough. Professor Ngo Bao Chau, who won reputed Field prize and was invited by many foreign universities, pledged to return and work in Viet Nam for three months each year. Mr. Chau was appointed director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics. Another professor, aged 31, is now working for the Polytechnic University after studying in the UK.
Regarding the policy on granting preferential loans to poor students, Ms. Pham Lien Ha from the Diplomacy Academy of Viet Nam questioned the Government’s future measures to increase the volume of the loans.
On behalf of the PM, Deputy PM Nhan said this policy was launched in 2007 and 300,000 students acquired the loans while many other needy students could not afford. The issue was reported to the PM who then directed the Ministry of Education and Training, Bank for Social Policies and the Ministry of Finance to redesign the student loan program. Up to now, 2.8 million people have benefited from the program while the country’s total number of students is 2.2 million. This is the highest ratio among ASEAN member States.
Each student can borrow up to VND 1,050,000 per month and the volume can not be further increased due to economic hardships.
It is expected that by 2015, the Government will spend VND 50,000 billion (equivalent to US$2.5 billion) for the student loan program. The PM also requested that the program can not be stopped in any circumstances.
By Hai Minh
