WNAM REPORT: With a population of over 100 million, Vietnam has an advantage in providing a large workforce for the science and technology sector. However, many existing limitations are causing challenges for domestic technology companies, even on their home turf, when it comes to recruiting labourers.
According to statistics, Vietnam currently has nearly 78,000 digital technology companies with approximately 1.9 million workers in the information technology (IT) sector. However, these firms still face difficulties in recruiting high-quality human resources in the current context.
According to experts, most companies want to hire employees who can start working immediately. However, achieving this is very difficult. One of the reasons is that many high-tech industries in Vietnam, including those considered key for the future like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, are still relatively new. At the same time, the education sector has limited programmes to train workers in these fields, leading to a gap between the needs of businesses and the capabilities of educational institutions to provide relevant training.
Many enterprises have chosen to re-train their workforce, but this effort also faces certain challenges. For workers, it may take only a few months, or even just a few weeks, to become familiar with their jobs. But for high-tech industries, the process takes much longer. For example, it can take nearly a year for an engineer to reach full proficiency. Meanwhile, not many businesses have the patience or resources to sustain such training efforts.
In fact, foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, with their strong financial capacity and years of experience, are able to attract more talents. In contrast, most Vietnamese technology companies are small- and medium-sized enterprises with limited capital and experience, so they face numerous difficulties.
To solve the obstacles hindering the development of high-quality human resources, it is essential to strengthen coordination among the “three key stakeholders”: the State, educational institutions, and businesses. In addition, strong policies should be established to encourage enterprises to invest in research and development (R&D), cooperate with research institutes and universities to apply scientific results in practical production and business activities, and at the same time, develop markets for science and technology products.
Alongside this, the role of education and training institutions must be emphasised. In high-tech sectors, the most significant investment is not in machinery, but in people. Human resources are the greatest asset in this field. Therefore, universities and colleges should proactively update and innovate their training programmes to align with the real demands of the market amid the rapid development of science and technology.
In recent years, the Government has paid great attention to formulating policies aimed at developing high-quality human resources and creating a solid foundation for domestic digital technology enterprises.
According to Nguyen Thi Nga, Deputy Director of the Department of Personnel and Organisation under the Ministry of Science and Technology, the ministry is currently leading the drafting of decrees guiding the implementation of the Law on Science, Technology, and Innovation. Among them is a decree on mechanisms and policies for high-quality human resources, focusing on three main aspects. First, the State will prioritise assigning science and technology tasks directly to organisations and enterprises that are successful in attracting talented individuals. Second, regarding the working environment, the State will focus on developing national key laboratories equipped with modern, comprehensive facilities to serve science, technology, and innovation activities. Third, individuals will be able to enjoy commensurate benefits from their contributions to innovation activities.
However, localities and enterprises should not solely rely on State policies but must also establish concrete plans for developing their own human resources.
In Hanoi, Nguyen Viet Hung, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Science and Technology, said that the city will soon issue a resolution specifically focused on developing high-quality human resources. Currently, its high-quality workforce comes from research institutions, educational organisations, enterprises, and the civil service. Therefore, the Hanoi People’s Committee will collaborate with research and training institutions to develop additional support and incentive policies to foster high-quality human resource development in the coming period.
