VietNamNet Bridge - Whether Vietnamese students should return to Vietnam after they finish overseas study is a topic of hot debate on social networks.


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Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs Nguyen Duy Thang said his two children also stayed abroad after finishing school.

The topic emerged again after Do Hoai Nam, a Vietnamese in Silicon Valley, commented about Vietnamese students who do not plan to come back to Vietnam after finishing study because they cannot get appropriate job opportunities. 

Calling this ‘paranoia’, Nam, who studied in Australia, worked as a waiter and took many different jobs to earn his living before setting up a business. He believes he understands overseas Vietnamese students.

Twelve out of 13 champions at the ‘Road to Olympia’ competition did not come back to Vietnam to serve the fatherland after finishing studying overseas
Nam’s comments immediately caught the attention of the community of overseas Vietnamese students because he is founder and CEO of Emotiv Systems, which developed a brain-computer interface, a rare Vietnamese success in Silicon Valley. 

The comment has received nearly 10,000 likes, 1,000 shares and 1,200 comments.

Facebooker Anh Pham believes that it is arrogant to criticize Vietnamese students just because they don’t return to Vietnam after finishing overseas study. 

He believes that the pursuit of happiness is the legitimate right of people and that one can make contributions to the homeland in his own way.

According to Anh Pham, until the Vietnamese income per capita is still low at below $5,000, Vietnam should have policies to encourage Vietnamese to study abroad and work to prepare for plans to be implemented 10 to 20 years later. 

Facebooker Tam Pham commented that every individual can best understand what he wants and needs to do, and should make decisions based on his conditions. 

The debate about whether to stay abroad or return to Vietnam became even hotter when Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs Nguyen Duy Thang said his two children also stayed abroad after finishing school.

Thang, asked by the National Assembly’s deputies why 12 out of 13 champions at the ‘Road to Olympia’ competition did not come back to Vietnam to serve the fatherland after finishing studying overseas, said: “I think many deputies here have children or relatives staying abroad. My children also did not return to Vietnam.”

However, he thinks it would be better to keep an ‘open viewpoint’ about this, because one can contribute to the fatherland through different ways rather than working in Vietnam.

Nguyen Thanh Vinh, the runner up at the first ‘Road to Olympia’ competition, in an interview to Tri Thuc Tre, said he intended to come back to Vietnam after finishing the university education. But he later changed his mind because he could not see any clear job opportunity.

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