VietNamNet Bridge – Ten years have passed since a program for training 1,000 post-graduates in the Mekong Delta region, but the number of people sent abroad for higher education is below the target.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Viet Dung, vice persident of Can Tho University, at a seminar on human resources for the Mekong Delta region – Photo: Trung Chanh

According to Associate Professor Dr. Le Viet Dung, vice president of Can Tho University, the quality of personnel in the region has been improved but not as much as expected.

At a seminar on human resources in the Mekong Delta region last week, Dung said since the Mekong 1000 program was introduced in August 2005, provinces in the region have sent 600 people abroad for post-graduate study.

They have studied at 160 institutions in 23 countries like the UK, Australia, Japan, Germany, Belgium, the U.S., the Netherlands, France and Norway. Around 400 candidates have finished their courses.

Dung said of the 600 people, 21.7% study economics, 14.1% biotechnology and food sciences,13% agriculture and fisheries, 9.6% information technology and telecommunications, 9.8% education and law, 8.7% construction, 7.2% environment, 3.3% medicine and pharmacy and 12.5% others.

In terms of region, 51% of the trainees have studied in Europe, 6% in America, 24% in Asia and 19% in Oceania.

Talking about the quality of the Mekong 1000 program on the sidelines of the seminar, Dung told the Daily that the result is quite good. “Most of the trainees have been back to their organizations to work and just a few have chosen to work for enterprises,” he said.

According to Dung, the program has contributed considerably to the formation of vocational schools in the delta, which is the key element to increase the quality of personnel. In addition, after finishing their education, they have returned home and assisted local authorities.

However, of the 400 trained, the number of trainees of each of the 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta is insignificant, especially those working at colleges and vocational schools, so no big change in the quality of human resources has been made, Dung said.

Dr. Vu Anh Phap from the Mekong Delta Development Research Institute cited data of a 2014 report as saying the region has 18 million people, with 10.5 million of working age (58%). Nonetheless, only 10.4% of them (over one million people) have undergone training, he continued.

The Mekong 1000 program has slowed down in recent years, Dung said.

The program is expected to have 1,015 trained, with 825 of them taking Master’s programs and 190 pursuing doctorate studies, at a total cost of more than US$49 million.

The initially estimated cost for each Master’s and doctorate student is US$20,000 and US$30,000 respectively. However, the actual costs are over US$34,200 and US$59,000 each.

SGT