Vietnamworks’ study found that data science ranks fourth in recruitment demand and average income in Vietnam.

Do Ngoc My, rector of Quy Nhon University, said the demand for workers in data science is always high in Vietnam and elsewhere. However, there is a supply shortage.

According to ITViec, the IT industry in Vietnam lacks 350,000-400,000 workers, or 25 percent of workforce in 2020. Every year, 50,000 IT bachelor’s degree graduates are produced. However, 70 percent of them have to undergo additional training to be able to satisfy the requirements set by employers.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam’s workforce had a 3.79 out of 10 for quality, ranking 11th out of 12 Asian countries.

In the IT industry, according to Vietnamworks, the number of workers with postgraduate education levels (master, PhD) just accounts for 7 percent, while the number of bachelor’s degree graduates accounts for 74 percent and the remaining have only finished intermediary school (2-year training), junior college (3-year training) or general school (k-12).

Comprehensive training cooperation between universities and businesses can help create a high-quality workforce for data science and high technology development in the 4.0 industry era.

According to the rector of Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), Hoang Minh Son, university graduates don’t want to continue studying because of market demand and the unclear strategy on training engineers and master degree candidates.

Vu Ha Van, science director of VinBigdata, an arm of Vingroup, said that training a high-quality workforce should be the top priority.

“Instead of spending money to buy foreign products at high prices, it would be better to gather strength to prepare a new high-quality labor force,” Van said.

To implement this, Vingroup Innovation Fund (VINIF) has signed training cooperation agreements with five universities and research institutes, under which it will provide support in financial resources, technology, intellectual network and specialists to training establishments and postgraduates capable of studying and conducting research at an international level.

Under the agreement, VINIF will finance VND2 billion for each school in the first year and will give maximum support in the next three years.

Vingroup has launched a new program reserved for seniors. Those who plan to follow data science or AI will be additionally equipped with mathematics and programming knowledge for 6-12 months at VinBigdata. The program will pay the students without no strings attached.

Tran Minh Triet, head of John von Neumann Institute under the HCM City National University, said that since 2004, the school has been running training courses oriented toward data science, machine learning and AI. The program is open to university graduates as well as to excellent third- and fourth-year university students.

Thanh Mai 

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