VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi has stated that the state agencies in the city always keep the doors open to welcome the excellent university graduates who come first at the finals. However, most graduates keep indifferent to the invitation.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department for Interior Affairs Nguyen Thi Vinh has affirmed that all the valedictorians this year would be admitted to the state agencies in Hanoi without having to attend the civil service examination.

The statement was made at the meeting with 275 valedictorians and 107 most excellent graduates held in Hanoi some days ago. This is for the 10th consecutive year Hanoi runs the valedictorian commendation program.

Of the 107 gloried valedictorians, five had the highest achievements from both the university entrance exams and the finals; one is disabled and one foreign student. Hanoi has gloried 1080 valedictorians over the last 10 years.

The program aims to choose the best civil servants for the city, while creating most favorable conditions for the talented people to show their ability and devote themselves to the city’s development.

However, the results of the program prove to be modest. By 2010, Hanoi had gloried 861 valedictorians, while only 57, or 10 percent, had accepted to work at the state agencies in Hanoi, even though the agencies always keep the doors open to welcome the excellent graduates.

Especially, the city has announced that it would still welcome excellent graduates to the branches and divisions where there are enough officers. However, very few valedictorians have chosen to work for Hanoi’s state agencies.

Le Su Nang, the first chair of the Hanoi Valedictorian Club, said that the enthusiasm for work of the valedictorians has decreased year after year because they have to struggle hard for food and clothing.

Also according to Nang, in 2004, three valedictorians, or 3 percent, were recruited for the local departments in Hanoi. The figure rose to 17, or 6 percent, three years later. Especially, the figure tends to increase significantly in recent years since the city authorities offer better working conditions for the excellent graduates.

However, Nang does not think that 10 percent of valedictorians work for state agencies is a bad result. Not all excellent graduates have the aspiration of working for administrative agencies, while not all Hanoi’s agencies need more staff. In many cases, some branches need more qualified staff in some fields, while the valedictorians finish other majors.

In general, new graduates, who feel excited with their learning achievements and have enthusiasm to devote to the development of the country and the city, would be happy to work for state agencies. However, the enthusiasm would reduce just after a few years, since the low pay cannot ensure a normal life for the talented workers.

There have been no official statistics which can show if there is any relation between the majors of the excellent graduates and their jobs. However, Nang said that most of the graduates accepting to work for state agencies are those finishing social sciences training and administration schools.

Analysts have also commented that economics school graduates would rather work for businesses or foreign institutions, which can pay them high, than working for state agencies for modest pay.

Nang has confirmed that some valedictorians at first accepted to work for state agencies, but they later left the agencies because of the low pay.

Van Chung