VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training looks for candidates for the key posts in the ministry. Vietnamese universities look for rectors by advertising their vacancies in foreign newspapers. This has never happened before in Vietnam.

However, only two candidates will be selected for the posts of training manager and scientific research and technology transfer manager. The candidates must at least hold a doctorate degree be trained in economic t or training management. They also must be fluent in at least one common foreign language.

Prior to that, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the plan to recruit for the posts of department directors and deputy minister.  This was a surprise, because in the past such important positions were filled only by appointment, not through open competitions.

Local education and training departments in Bac Giang, Da Nang and Phu Tho also used open competitions to recruit headmasters and deputy head masters for many schools in their localities.

analysts say that recruiting from the public for key positions marks a revolution in the education sector i, indicating that schools and management agencies  want to employ the most talented and righteous.

Most recently, on December 13, 2010, the Tan Tao University which had just been licensed by HCM City, advertised a vacancy for the rector’s positionon The Chronicle of Higher Education, a  well known US newspaper on university and higher education.

On the official website of the university, there are also vacancy announcement for lecturers. the university offers very attractive working conditions. Foreign lecturers are given subsistence allowance in addition to the salary, healthcare insurance, $1500 for airfare and a preferential rate for renting houses in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the FPT University has announced its PhD scholarship program for  2011. The university will choose the top 30 students out of  already excellent 400 graduates of100 high schools in Vietnam. The selected students will be granted scholarships for a doctorate degree in computer science.

In order to obtain the scholarships, which allow them to study both in Vietnam and overseas, candidates have to have excellent academic results, a passion for information technology and  research.

After placing two advertisements on the US newspaper, the Tan Tao University recruited a rector. he is a Vietnamese, the well known Professor Vo Tong Xuan, once President of An Giang University.

Xuan told VietNamNet that  the university received 200 applications. The school interviewed 52 persons and shortlisted 23, including 10 from Vietnam, who graduated from foreign universities, once got VEF or Fulbright scholarships. There were also foreign candidates from the US, Canada, Australia, Hungary and Russia.

When asked if advertising on the US newspaper was a “PR trick” for Tan Tao University, Professor Vo Tong Xuan said that the university is ready to pay high salaries to its lecturers because it wants them to work for a long term, and because the university really needs talented educators.

“Only the weak financially weak schools use visiting lecturers, i.e. lecturers who only work for a short time and then return to their countries. This means that students do not have opportunities to contact the lecturers,” he said

The lecturers selected for Tan Tao University all have doctorate degrees, and good research achievements. Their salaries range from 21,000 dollar to 26,000 a year. lecturers with teaching experience from foreign universities, can get $36,000 a year or higher.

Tu Uyen – Kieu Oanh