LookAtVietnam Bridge – A project to attract overseas Vietnamese experts and scientists to participate in research and technology transfer in educational establishments in Vietnam between 2008-2020 is currently being planned.

Overseas Vietnamese scientists gather at a meeting in HCM City.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), the hundreds of millions of dollars project will draw participants from many sectors.

About 300,000 of the Vietnamese estimated to live and work abroad are university or post-university graduates and account for 10-15 per cent of the total number of Vietnamese expatriates. They have specialised in various sectors, including technology, electronics, air space, aviation and telecommunication.

A survey recently conducted at 49 Vietnamese universities indicated that 596 foreign experts have been employed on short-term contracts or as guest lecturers. Of the figure, only 52 were overseas Vietnamese.

Working framework

Professor Dr Hoang Ngoc Ha, director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment, under the MoET, vowed to create favourable working and living conditions for overseas Vietnamese scientists should they return to their native country to work.

Professor Ha said the MoET would advertise "job vacancies" in the mass media and Vietnamese representative offices abroad to attract overseas Vietnamese scientists.

The MoET has been appointed as a focal point in the recruitment process and will aid applicants in completing all formalities that will enable their return to and work in the country.

Regarding the working conditions, Ha said the MoET would encourage educational institutions to renovate their teaching programmes along the line of international standards and improve the efficiency of scientific research as well as technology transfer.

Apropos of the financial area. Ha said the Government would cover most of the cost for the implementation of the project.

The Government is supporting 70 per cent of the project's costs until 2010 and 60 percent of the costs for the next period, 2011-2015. It hopes universities will be able to balance the budget themselves for the period 2016-2020.

(Source: Viet Nam News)