Passengers left waiting at local airports

Flight delays and cancellations by local carriers remain high despite the efforts of the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam over the second half of last month, a senior CAAV official has said.

The administration reviewed problems facing airlines and airport managements in a bid to resolve the delays and cancellation at the three major airports in Ha Noi, Da Nang, and HCM City, Vo Huy Cuong, deputy head of the CAAV, was quoted as saying in Dau Tu (Viet Nam Investment Review) newspaper.

Before July, the average ratio of delays and cancellations was 25 per cent, and it remained at over 20 per cent by the end of July. The transport ministry wants a 90 per cent ratio for on-time flights.

At the Da Nang International Airport, despite several measures like early opening of check-in counters and increasing ground services equipment, delays and cancellations of domestic flight reduced by just 9 percentage points.

It dropped from 28.3 per cent to 18.06 per cent for Vietnam Airlines; 30 per cent to 22.47 per cent for Jetstar Pacific; and 47 per cent to 38.4 per cent for Vietjet Air.

Aircraft returning late was the main reason for the delays and cancellations, accounting for 59 – 62 per cent of them, Cuong said.

Nguyen Ngoc Son, deputy director of the Northern Airports Authority, explained, "Most airlines do not have spare aeroplanes, and so if just one flight comes late, a series of others suffer delays."

But aircraft are never able to leave within 30 minutes of arrival as scheduled, taking a minimum of 50 minutes instead, he said.

Another factor, and one that is out of airlines' control, is the serious overloading of airport infrastructure, especially at Tan Son Nhat in HCM City.

"Tan Son Nhat has a maximum capacity of 20 million passengers a year, and in 2013 the number was exceeded and the infrastructure was stretched," Dang Tuan Tu, its director, said.

The Northern Airports Authority has admitted that airlines cancel flights or switch passengers to other flights due to shortage of aircraft or low occupancy.

At a meeting with the CAAV's inspection department last week, Duong Tri Thanh, deputy general director of Viet Nam Airlines, suggested closing check-in counters 40 minutes before the flight, or 10 minutes earlier than now, to allow ground service units enough time.

"To reduce flight delays and cancellations, besides improvements by airlines, passengers on domestic flights should arrive at the airport two hours before their flight," he said.

The CAAV agreed with the suggestions but said airlines had to amend regulations governing delays and cancellations.

The Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has instructed the CAAV, Viet Nam Air Services Company, Viet Nam Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Jetstar Pacific to take drastic measures to reduce delays and cancellations as well as make airlines more accountable.

This month the CAAV has to finalise a draft circular – and send to the ministry – on increasing compensation for passengers affected by delays and cancellations.

Vietnam issues action plan to prevent Ebola

The Ministry of Health on August 7 issued an action plan on preventing the Ebola virus disease in Vietnam as the disease is raging across West Africa and likely to enter and break out in the country unless preventive measures are taken proactively.

The ministry said as of August 1, Vietnam had not recorded any Ebola cases, but the deadly virus may enter the country through tourists, guest workers coming from or others transiting via West African countries.

To be well braced for Ebola, the ministry has ordered its disease prevention steering committee, provincial departments of health, preventive medicine centres, hospitals and relevant agencies to ready their infrastructure, equipment and personnel.

It has also been working with customs agencies to closely monitor people, animals, vehicles and goods travelling through border gates to take control of the situation.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

It then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.

The disease is a severe acute viral illness often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

On August 6, WHO reported Ebola death toll rose to 932, mostly in West African countries.

Da Nang warned of power cuts

Central Da Nang City will face periodic power cuts in some areas for five days from today.

This is to enable the replacement of a 110kV busbar system, an ideal and cost-effective electro-technical enhancement of modern distribution boards, at the city's 500kV transformer station.

Representatives of the Central Power Corporation (CPC) said the power cuts would improve power supply to Da Nang City and neighbouring areas.

The Da Nang Power Company gave notice of the power cuts a week ago to allow residents and businesses to prepare.

However, the cuts are still likely to affect residents' daily lives and the operation of enterprises whose production activities heavily rely on electricity, said Nguyen Dinh Phuc, deputy director of the city's Department of Industry and Trade.

CPC representatives said power priority would be given to Governmental offices, hospitals, water factories and for use during important political and social events.

To maintain operations during blackouts, most businesses will use generators, but these can only generate enough power for lighting. As a result, production at some enterprises will come to a standstill.

Huynh Van Chinh, chairman of a textile company, said production would be cut by about 40 per cent because its generator could only meet 60 per cent of needs.

He said the company's employees would be asked to work overtime before and after the planned power cuts to make up for production losses.

Ha Noi seizes fake clothing labels

The Ha Noi Market Watch yesterday seized nearly 60,000 counterfeit labels and products forging the trademarks of famous brands from two units manufacturing clothing spare parts in Gia Lam District.

Tuoi Hung Shop and Thi Huong Shop in Ninh Hiep Commune's Trung Quan Village were found to have forged Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Zara and D&G trademarks.

All confiscated items were destroyed.

Doctors identify fruit linked to children's deaths

Doctors from the Viet Nam Military Medical Academy 103 yesterday identified the fruit that apparently caused the deaths of three children on August 1.

The doctors identified the fruit as Hong Trau (scientific name Capparis versicolor) which has pink seeds.

They said that they were testing the fruit on animals. The type of plant toxin in the fruit that caused the children's deaths is yet to be identified.

On August 1, a group of H'Mong children from Xuan Truong Commune, Bao Loc District, Cao Bang picked up the fruit in a forest and ate it.

All these children reportedly developed symptoms such as stomachache, nausea and diarrhea and three of them died the same day.

The Health Ministry has asked the health officials in Cao Bang Province to closely monitor the case for drawing final conclusions.

Rural training plan approved

The Prime Minister has approved a programme aimed at producing 40,000 trained workers for rural factories by 2015 and 100,000 by 2020.

The programme, which aims to boost industrial development in the countryside, also targets to support about 4,000 people at training courses to start businesses by 2015 and 10,000 people by 2020.

The programme also plans to support technological transfer and the application of modern equipment for 600 factories by 2020.

Students serious about work

A new survey of more than 2,650 students in Ha Noi, HCM City and Da Nang revealed that 47 per cent planned to find a job as soon as they graduated from college.

The survey, funded by Unilever and Adecco companies, also revealed that 33 per cent of the students wished to seek higher education abroad. Nearly 7 per cent said they wanted to take a gap year to give themselves a break before engaging in the labour market while around 4 per cent were unsure about their future plans.

The survey also showed that students were confident about their career prospects. Nearly 21 per cent said they would be able to find a suitable job after graduation, 29 per cent said they would manage to do so after one or two months and another 25 per cent said it might take them three months.

The rest said they might be able to find a job in five to nine months.

English lecturers to be tested

The Education and Training Ministry said yesterday that it would organise the inspection and assessment of English teachers or those using English to teach at non-State colleges and universities.

The inspections will be held next month to help schools review the English skills of their teachers so that schools can make plans to train them further. Tests will be given to assess speaking, reading, listening and writing skills through tests.

Teachers who have sat previous foreign language tests conducted by the Education Ministry will be exempt.

Those who obtained bachelors' degree or higher in English-speaking countries or who can present valid certificates, including IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, showing satisfactory results will also be exempt.

Lectures who are near retirement will also not be asked to sit.

Police seized a truck carrying more than 10 cu.m of high-value son huyet (melanorrhea laccifera) wood cut into hundreds of logs in the central province's Nam Giang commune yesterday morning.

All the loggers were able to escape the police.

Preliminary investigations showed that the timber, which is illegal to harvest, was transported from the reservoir of Bung River 4 Hydropower Planet to that of Bung River 6 Hydropower Plant, then tied together to flow along the river to Dai Loc commune.

Quang Nam People's Committee Deputy President Dinh Van Thu said the president of Nam Giang commune's People's Committee would be held responsible if illegal loggers continued to use the reservoirs for transporting wood.

Three men arrested over homicide charge

Ha Noi Police prosecuted three men for murder after a 53 years-old man was stabbed to death in his car on Pham Van Dong Street on Tuesday.

Nguyen Kim Binh, 43, allegedly hired Hoang Anh Tuan, 34, and Le Hong Thuan, 22, all from Ha Noi, to beat up Kieu Ngoc Thanh for VND30 million (US$1,440).

Binh and his friend, Nguyen Quoc Van, had earlier fought with Thanh over the debt of approximately VND1.9 billion (US$91,300) that Van owned to the victim.

Tuan and Thuan used a motorbike to stop Thanh's car and stabbed him twice.

The three men all had histories of crimes.

Police seize 6kg of methamphetamine

The local police caught a woman yesterday for transporting six kilograms of methamphetamine illegally along a stretch of National Highway 1A in the northern Bac Giang Province.

The police also searched the house of the woman, named Nguyen Thi Loan, and confiscated VND50 million ($2,350) in cash, five savings books worth about VND2.1 billion ($99,000) and RMB8,500 ($1,378).

The case is being investigated further.

Explosive device kills boy in Dien Bien

A 15-year-old boy died yesterday after an unidentified device he was playing with exploded in Thanh Xuong Commune in the northern Dien Bien Province.

The mother of the victim said that the boy had found the object two days ago on a hill near their house.

The mother added that she had hid the object, suspecting it to be dangerous, but the boy found it and started playing with it.

Vice head of the Emergency Department in the Dien Bien Province General Hospital Nguyen Thanh Chung said that the boy was seriously injured and bleeding when he was brought to the hospital yesterday afternoon.

The local authorities are trying to identify the explosive device.

Ho Chi Minh City health authorities say watch out for Ebola

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has called on all the preventive health centers in the city’s 24 districts to take preventive measures against the fatal Ebola virus disease (EVD), a viral hemorrhagic fever which has claimed over 900 lives in West Africa so far this year.

The department issued the call at a regular conference it held on Wednesday to review performance in epidemic prevention and control and discuss new tasks for the coming time.

At the meeting, the department’s division of medical affairs informed the participants of the deadly Ebola epidemic that is raging in many African countries.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 932 deaths had been reported or confirmed as a result of the Ebola hemorrhagic fever by Wednesday.

Nearly all of the dead came from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, where over 1,700 infection cases have been reported, the WHO said.

The WHO said 108 new cases were reported in those countries and Nigeria from Saturday to Monday.

The EVD has yet to spread to Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, but precautionary measures should be taken as the southern city is a popular destination for a large number of international tourists, including those from African countries, the health department said.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has warned that Ebola is a highly fatal virus that can kill 90 percent of the infected people.

According to the WHO, the EVD is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to the humankind.

The Ebola infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people.

The HCMC International Health Quarantine Center has released a report on measures to actively cope with Ebola.

The report said that there is no direct flight to Vietnam from Ebola-stricken areas in Africa.

Most African travelers come to Vietnam by sea with the travel time of about 15 days, long enough for anyone with the Ebola virus to develop specific symptoms and thus to be detected and isolated before they arrive in the country, the report added.

However, the city health department requested that the District 1 Preventive Health Center keep a close watch on the ‘backpacker’ area on Pham Ngu Lao Street to find out any signs of Ebola infections, as this area is a popular home to many foreigners, including those from Africa.

Sand exploitation threatens homes

Hundreds of houses located along the banks of the Luoc River in the northern province of Hai Duong's Tien Phong commune are being undermined by erosion.

"In the beginning, there was a small crack in the wall of our house, but now it has become finger-wide," Tien Dong villager Phung Thi Nhat said to Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper.

"We know that we are going to lose the house, but what can we do to save it?"

Nhat added that illegal sand mining was the main cause of the cracks.

Rampant mining for 20 years has made the river much deeper, creating higher waves to hit the banks, especially during flood season.

Most houses in the village have a web of cracks on their walls, including the house of Nhat's neighbor, Nguyen Van Thuan.

"Residents in the village have reported the erosion to the municipal People's Committee and have asked them for years to build embankments , but they have done nothing," said Thuan.

Three out of five villages in Tien Phong commune are outside the dyke and are threatened by erosion. They include My Dong 1, My Dong 2 and Tien Dong villages, said municipal People's Committee president Nguyen Gia Long.

He added that authorities had built embankments in My Dong 1 and My Dong 2 to protect the residents, but Tien Dong village with more than 300 households was still without protection.

"We are awaiting for funds from the Government to build it," he said.

Long said the People's Committee had plans to move Tien Dong villagers into areas within the Luoc River dyke.

A total of 16 households have already been resettled in safer zones and another 29 are waiting to move.

Few babies aged six to 18 months have been registered at public kindergartens in eight HCM City districts under a pilot daycare programme targeted especially at workers and poor families.

The kindergartens — in districts Tan Phu, Tan Binh, Thu Duc, Binh Chanh, 7, 12, Nha Be, and Hoc Mon — began to receive applications for enrollment on June 14 after earmarking one room on their premises for the tiny tots.

In each district, one or two kindergartens are part of the programme and are required to take in 10 to 15 babies.

Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, head of the Department of Education and Training's Kindergarten Education Division, told online newspaper Giao Duc Thanh Pho (City Education) that the kindergartens had facilities and care givers available.

Phuong Hong Kindergarten in Tan Phu District's Phu Trung Ward has designated a room measuring more than 50 square metres for the infants, but only two babies have been registered so far.

Hoa Anh Dao Kindergarten in the district's Tan Thanh Ward has also got only two applications.

Hoa Mi Kindergarten in Nha Be's Phuoc Kien Commune has received just one.

Vinh Loc A Kindergarten in Binh Chanh has apparently received the highest number — eight.

Phan Thi Thao, a resident of District 12, said her girl was 11 months old but had not been accepted by any kindergarten because the family did not have a temporary or permanent residency book.

She said that her child now went to a private facility.

Nguyen Thi Mai Thao of Tan Phu complained to City Education newspaper that she had a permanent residency book in Tan Thanh Ward yet her eight-month-old child was refused admission by Hoa Anh Dao Kindergarten because she herself was a housewife.

A spokesperson from the kindergarten said it only accepted six to eight children a year and gave priority to those of district officials and police officers.

Other women with babies aged six to 12 months said they did not want to put their babies in any of these kindergartens since they would be required to go every noon to breastfeed them.

Nguyen Trung Khanh, head of the Nha Be District education office, said some people felt insecure about sending very young babies to kindergarten.

Do Thi Thu Ngan, who works at the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7, is one such. Her child is six months old but does not go to kindergarten, she said.

"I have sent her to my parents in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. That is safe."

Firm told to pay out for landslide damage

Vinh Long Building Materials Joint-Stock Company was told on Tuesday to compensate four households for causing landslides that damaged their fish breeding cages.

The company, located in the southern province of Vinh Long's An Binh Commune, Long Ho District, must pay more than VND440 million (US$20,900) in compensation.

The households suffered losses totaling more than VND1.1 billion ($52,300) in 2012 when the landslide caused their fish cages to slide into the Tien River. The residents believed the landslide was caused by the company's sand exploitation and sued the firm when it refused to compensate them. The Vinh Long People's Court concluded that the landslide was the company's fault.

Minister orders enquiry into hydro-dam breach

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang has ordered authorised agencies to find the cause of the recent dam breakage at Ia Krel 2 Hydropower Plant in Central Highlands peovince of Gia Lai.

The dam broke for the second time last Friday, inundating 60ha of crops and damaging 30ha of rubber trees in Duc Co District.

Plant investor Bao Long Gia Lai Industries and Hydropower Joint Stock Company did not follow regulations on design and construction for the dam, vice chairman of the provincial People's Committee Pham The Dung said at a meeting with the minister on Tuesday.

The company was advised to build the dam during the dry months between April and June, but ignored this advice, according to Dung. After the dam broke for the first time in June 2013, the committee ordered the company to suspend operations, but it did not.

Minister Hoang required local authorised agencies to find out quickly who was responsible for the breakages, in addition to estimating damages so local residents could be compensated.

Hoang said the ministry would inspect hydropower plants nationwide to tackle the widespread problem of substandard construction.

The 5.5MW hydropower plant was built in Duc Co District in late 2009 and started to store water in early 2013.

Deputy PM inspects work on City's first metro line

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday led a Government delegation to inspect the the construction of the Metro Line No1 project in HCM City, the first of its kind in the country.

The railway route connecting Ben Thanh Market and Suoi Tien Theme Park will span 19.7km, including a 2.6km underground section. The line will have three underground and 11 elevated stations.

The total investment for the project is estimated at US$2.49 billion, with more than 88 per cent of the funds provided through Official Development Assistance from Japan, and the rest from the HCM City Government.

The route will be given a test run in 2019 before being officially put into operation the following year.

At the site, Deputy PM Hai inspected clearance work along the route, which has nearly been completed. Only some areas in Di An Commune in Binh Duong Province have yet to complete the work, but are estimated to finish by this October.

Deputy PM Hai instructed city leaders and relevant units to quickly resolve the problems in Di An Commune and get the project back on track following a two-year delay.

Vietnam enhances social assistance system

The Vietnam Social Assistance system strengthening project was officially launched on August 7 with the aim to ensure minimum living standard for people and sustainable poverty reduction.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Trong Dam said despite being a poor country, the Government of Vietnam has continuously issued new social assistance policies to enable the country to achieve the MDGs, including the goal of reducing poverty. However, there exist too many social assistance policies, creating a huge burden on management systems and difficulties for beneficiaries, leading to low uptake. The current management system has not kept pace with the speed of Vietnam’s development. Therefore the objective is to build a consolidated and modernized social assistance system which lays the foundation for delivery of social assistance in the long term.

The project will consolidate existing database into a national database of poor and near-poor households and social assistance beneficiaries, laying the foundation for programme consolidation and improving the effectiveness of public spending on social assistance. In the four pilot project provinces (Ha Giang, Quang Nam, Lam Dong and Tra Vinh), the project will test the strengthened, consolidated cash transfer programme by putting existing and new cash transfers for poor households with children and pregnant women into a “family package” which can guarantee income security for poor households in the long run. The programme will be delivered through improved management and service delivery systems.

Vietnam has an established system of social assistance cash and in-kind transfers. But the system is not as effective as it could be in addressing Vietnam’s poverty challenges today.

Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director to Vietnam said the project aims to support efficiency enhancing reforms to the social assistance system.  She hopes that the project will be implemented quickly and successfully and form the basis for scaling up improvements nationwide.

The Project supports the Government’s overall objective of poverty reduction through emphasizing the role of social assistance system for enabling poor children to reach their full potential and break the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

“I am happy to see that the Government of Vietnam has prioritised its youngest citizens under the proposed cash transfer”, stated Jesper Moller, Acting Representative of UNICEF in Vietnam.

UNICEF views this as a sound economic investment that will better equip the future generations to sustain the country’s rapid development amid demographic change.

In four pilot project provinces, the poor families with children and pregnant women will receive benefits and parenting advice in a timely and accessible manner; local social officers will benefit through simplification of processes and associated reduction in workload; programme administrators at the provincial and central level will benefit from enhanced ability to monitor programme implementation and support for policy formulation.

The project is a product of a partnership involving MOLISA, UNICEF, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank. The funding of US$ 60 million for the Project comes from the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s lending arm for low income countries on blend terms.

Int’l dental congress opens in Hanoi

As many as 1,000 dentists from 17 countries are attending the 7th Vietnam International Dental Exhibition and Conference (VIDEC) at the Cultural Friendship Palace which kicked off in Hanoi on August 7.

This year’s annual event, themed “Integration and Development”, is the result of a joint effort by the Vietnam Odonto-Stomatology Association, the National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology and the World Dental Federation (FDI).

During the three-day event, delegates will address 33 special reports  related to the field of orthodontics and dentistry including orthopaedic jawbone surgery, dental implanting , and periodontal treatment.

Speaking at the opening, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said that Vietnam’s odonto-maxillo-facial sector has actively contributed to taking care of people’s health over the years.

He added that the event  provides an excellent opportunity for Vietnamese dentists to exchange their knowledge, skills and techniques with foreign colleagues.  It also helps them access advanced technologies to improve and enhance the quality of dental care and treatment in Vietnam, he said.

Within the framework of the event, an international dental exhibition featuring state-of-the-art dental equipment along with modern technologies and products from the world’s leading manufacturers is taking place.

Taiwanese doctors provide free care to Dong Nai

As many as 1,600 needy residents of southern Dong Nai province received free medical check-ups on August 7 from a group of Taiwanese doctors from Taipei Veteran General Hospital.

Taipei Veteran General Hospital Director Lee San Kan,, said doctors from seven specialties including osteoarthritis, pediatrics, immune arthritis, obstetrics, dermatology, endocrinology and ear, nose and throat (ENT) were sent to Vietnam to help with the programme.

On the occasion, they also shared medical experience with  local doctors and nurses.

This is the 3rd consecutive year Vedan Vietnam Enterprise Corporation Limited (Vedan Vietnam) has launched such a healthcare programme with a total cost of nearly VND2 billion.

Annually, Vedan Vietnam implements numerous charitable programmes such as building houses, helping Agent Orange (AO) victims and granting scholarships to needy students.

Survey shows mountainous provinces face landslide risk

Many northwestern mountainous provinces were at risk from landslides, according to a recent survey carried out by the Viet Nam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources.

The initial survey was conducted in 10 mountainous provinces, and found that up to 35 per cent of the land, particularly in Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Son La, Yen Bai and Nghe An, was vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season.

Son La is in the worst state, with more than 1,600 points of potential landslides, 58 points of possible floods and 38 points of possible river bank erosion.

The survey is part of a plan to investigate, assess and zone landslide-prone areas in the mountainous regions of Viet Nam from 2012 to 2020.

The plan, targeting 37 high risk localities, aims to provide data for socio-economic development and relocation planning for residents living in areas prone to landslides.

Mountainous provinces are currently hurrying to relocate those people as the rainy season approaches.

During a teleconference on Wednesday, Chairman of Lao Cai's People's Committee Doan Van Huong asked localities to complete their work by August 15 at the latest.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that 266 households, mainly in the districts of Bac Ha, Bat Xat, Muong Khuong, Bao Yen, and Sa Pa, needed to be moved to safe locations.

As of July, the province had relocated 134 households to safe areas.

The department would continue to raise public awareness to help locals understand the importance of the resettlement work, he said.

In the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh, 7,146 households living in areas vulnerable to natural disasters, concentrated in the districts of Lac Thuy, Da Bac, Yen Thuy and Lac Son, are in desperate need of relocation.

Local authorities are keeping a close watch on weather patterns as well as landslide signals in order to alert residents when they need to take safety precautions.

Degrees not paramount for IT jobs

Professional degrees were not a key element technology employers used to recruit qualified personnel, three leaders of information technology enterprises have said.

In a recent programme held by VTC Academy, the leaders of VTC Online JSC, Appota JSC and FPT Software JSC said that working ability, individual experience and passion for work were much more important.

Do Tuan Anh, director of Appota JSC said his company had more than 200 employees, and many of them did not own degrees of distinction or degrees in another speciality.

"Degrees rank fifth position in my recruitment criteria. It comes after working experience, adoption capacity, self-studying skill and teamwork skill," he said.

Tuan Anh said he paid wages for employees based on their working ability. Thus, some who had degrees in another speciality were paid more than that with degrees of distinction.

Dao Truong Giang, marketing manager of VTC Online JSC said he saw the difference in passion and dedication in each employee.

"At my company, some well-performing managers and employees have not yet graduated from university," he added.

Dr Nguyen Le Minh, former deputy head of the National Programme on Careers, said that many university graduates were unemployed as they lacked social skills.

Many had to spend months to get acquainted with the job, he added.

Figures from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs show that about 162,000 people with some kind of degree remain unemployed.

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