A friend of mine in the USA sent me this article today. It's pretty accurate in my opinion. Lack of human talent is absolutely the one of the biggest limiting factors in Vietnam's economic growth.
Universities in Vietnam are quite weak and produce graduates short of practical knowledge and, more importantly, critical thinking skills. Rote memorization is emphasized over writing or application of knowledge. Corruption and purchase of grades is not uncommon. I've found that otherwise very smart people often have no idea how to state an argument, support the argument with point-by-point claims, then summarize the argument to make a compelling case. These are basic thinking, communication and problem-solving skills. We've had to teach them from ground up in our company, with some nice success. One aspect I love about the Vietnamese is how hungry they are for knowledge and learning.
Firms struggle to hire skilled professionals in Vietnam
By John Ruwitch
HANOI, May 13 (Reuters) - About a year ago, 2,000 of the
best and brightest from five of Vietnam's top universities were
invited to take a lengthy multiple-choice exam for a shot at a
job at Intel Corp. (INTC.O).
The giant computer chip maker had broken ground on its
biggest factory ever in Vietnam's commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh
City, and the $1 billion assembly and test facility, expected
to start operations this year, needed good engineers.
It was more than just another big project. The Intel
investment would put Vietnam on the global tech map and help a
rising star in the manufacturing world move closer to its dream
of advancing up the value chain.
But the results from Intel's test cast a spotlight on one
of Vietnam's biggest barriers to achieving that dream: its
inadequate and inflexible higher education system.
A fraction of the students passed the written exam,
covering physics, electrical engineering, maths and other
topics. They were given an English test and just 40 made the
final cut.
Than Trong Phuc, Intel's country manager for Vietnam, said
he was not surprised by the results.
"Is Vietnam a literate society with good people with
fundamental skills? Yes," he said. "But do these people already
have knowledge about chip-making in place? No. So we have to
start from the ground."
Company spokesman Nick Jacobs said the test was not
designed for hiring but rather to "evaluate the competencies"
of students and to be a starting point for dialogue with the
authorities.
Vietnamese newspapers and websites reported on the result,
though, and word quickly spread.
The Intel tale soon became a go-to anecdote in the foreign
business community to highlight the education system's failings
and one of the big problems when investing in the Southeast
Asian country, a lack of skilled professionals.
DEMAND IS ENORMOUS
Among Vietnamese, public debate has blossomed about what
many are calling an education crisis, especially at a time when
some argue education reform should be a top priority as the
government tries to right an economy buffeted by the global
recession.
The higher education system remains a throwback to
Vietnam's pre-reform days when the economy was small and
centralised, ill equipped for the country's new realities.
"The demand for education at the post-secondary level is
enormous. Demand way outstrips supply," said Jeffrey Waite, who
follows education in Vietnam for the World Bank.
"The system is under enormous pressure to respond by
expanding access, and there's always the risk of expanding
access at the cost of quality ... Quality is of real concern."
One huge problem is staff. Political credentials remain at
least as important in the selection of professors as
educational bona fides, despite a clear need for better
qualified teachers.
Less than 15 percent of teaching staff at higher education
institutes have a doctorate, and that percentage has not
changed in the past 10 years, Waite said.
Schools have little autonomy to tailor curricula and
students are rewarded for memorisation skills, not critical
thinking.
"I bet very few graduates could give a correct answer if
they were asked 'what is a market economy?'," said one recent
graduate who declined to be identified. "But you know what?
They made us memorise the Investment Law which took effect in
1987."
The school system, like other facets of life in Vietnam, is
also plagued with corruption. Plagiarism is reportedly rife.
Not surprisingly, the products of such a system are weak.
Only 30 percent of university and college graduates met
requirements for their jobs, state-run VietnamNet quoted the
Ministry of Education and Training as saying.
Between now and 2015, the two biggest cities, Hanoi and Ho
Chi Minh City, will need some 4 million "high-quality" workers
in fields such as information technology, tourism, shipbuilding
and finance. Based on the current level and quality of
training, at best 40-60 percent of demand could be met, it
said.
In IT, Vietnam's universities and junior colleges mint
110,000 new engineers a year but only 10 percent become
"effective employees", it reported.
TALENT DROUGHT
The talent drought is not limited to the tech sector.
"Whenever I talk to any company here, whether it's American
or not, they say that finding good people is one of the major
issues that they face," said U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak,
who has made education a top priority.
The Vietnamese government recognises the need for change.
The question is whether or not it will come fast enough.
"The major challenge in this phase of development for
Vietnam is really human resources," saidTon Nu Thi Ninh, a
former Vietnamese ambassador to Brussels who is now working to
set up a private university in the south, called Tri Viet
University.
"You can have all the influx of investment and capital you
want, but if you don't have the right human resources, in time
you won't make it."
Companies, meanwhile, are forced to be creative in finding
ways to fill their human resource pipelines.
Some foreign firms have partnered with Vietnamese
universities. Many have their own training programmes. FPT Corp
FPT.HM, one of Vietnam's top technology companies, even set
up its own university in 2006.
Intel flew its 40 successful graduates to Malaysia for
further training, and later this year will send 28 students to
Portland State University in the United States on two-year,
all-expenses-paid scholarships worth $2.24 million.
"They come back and the condition is they work for Intel
for three years, which is not a long time," Phuc said.
The company has also donated PCs to Vietnam, trained
teachers and offered $500 scholarships to 55 students
domestically.
The government has been drafting and re-drafting an
education strategy to take it through to 2020, but it has faced
criticism.
One former senior education official was quoted as calling
a late draft "unbelievably romantic". The start year keeps
getting pushed back and it is unclear when the plan will be
implemented.
The Ministry of Education and Training did not respond to
requests for an interview with Reuters.
One critically needed change, some say, is the role of the
central government, which must shift to one of broad oversight
rather than micromanaging matters such as tenure appointments.
"It's like they want to have their cake and eat it. They
know what they want. They want to have one or two of their
universities to be top ranked in the world. But they don't want
to give away what they have," the World Bank's Waite said.
(Additional reporting by Pham Hong Hanh; Editing by Alan
Raybould and Megan Goldin)
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