The Global Talent Competitiveness Index GTCI 2019, which has been released by INSEAD, in cooperation with The Adecco Group and Tata Communications, said that Vietnam ranked 92nd among 125 surveyed countries, lower than most ASEAN countries, including Laos, and only above Cambodia.

This is the fourth consecutive time that has Vietnam fallen in GTCI grades. Vietnam ranked 87th in 2018 and 86th in 2017. Of 12 norms, Vietnam received only 33 for creativity .

GTCI measures the development and capability to attract and retain talented staff of countries and cities.

Pham Pho, former rector of the Sai Gon Economics & Polytechnic Junior College, said the ranking is just for reference. The rating agency might not understand Vietnam well, and Vietnam might not show all of its advantages and problems, he said.

The ranking needs to be carried out based on the numbers of PhDs, professors, associate professors, engineers, universities and qualifications of workers, he said.

“Vietnam has been weak at ‘marketing’, while the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has not attached much importance to the ranking,” he said. “In fact, Vietnamese intellectuals are in no way inferior to other countries.”

A university lecturer in Hanoi affirmed that Vietnam has a high number of PhDs, professors and associate professors, and most of them are trained and recognized overseas. The problem, according to the lecturer, doesn’t lie in the lack of talented people, but in the way of cultivating them. 

“The brain drain has caused a big headache to Vietnam. This is because of the lack of the policies to retain talents,” he said.

Pho agreed that it is necessary to create the best conditions for talents to work in Vietnam.

“Scientists returning to Vietnam from overseas need labs to work in, for example,” he said.

In principle, material preferences, including high pay, play an important role in talents’ decisions to work in Vietnam, but they are not the most important.

A wrong view exists that state agencies and employers just need to offer high pay and big houses to invite well educated people to work for them. 

However, Pho pointed out that they need to work in a good environment where they can use their talent to the fullest.

The expert mentioned Singapore as an example. The country successfully attracts talents not because of high living standards, but because Singapore offers good working conditions for them.

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