VietNamNet Bridge - Many university lecturers, who study abroad on school funding, do not return after graduation. It is nearly impossible to recoup the training cost. 

Deputy director of the Da Nang University Ngo Van Duong said many lecturers were sent abroad for training courses, leading to a manpower shortage to the school.

“We draw up long-term personnel plans before sending our lecturers abroad. Therefore, if they don’t come back, we will lack lecturing staff,” he said. 

In general, the school sends a lecturer abroad to attend a training course for doctorates when it plans to appoint the lecturer as the dean of a faculty. If the lecturer doesn’t come back, the school will lack a dean and will have to adjust the staff planning.

According to Luu Trang, rector of the Da Nang University of Education, while a lecturer is away for training course, the school will have to find another lecturer to undertake the official lecturer’s job for at least two to three years. 

Many university lecturers, who study abroad on school funding, do not return after graduation. It is nearly impossible to recoup the training cost.

In case the official lecturer does not come back to take his new duty, the school will have to recruit another lecturer to replace him. However, it is very difficult to find new lecturers, because lecturers all must have high qualifications.

If the lecturers who study abroad with funding from Project 322 or 911 don’t come back, the state will lose tens of billions of dong. 

The Can Tho University in mid-2016 sued VTN, a lecturer at the school, in the Ninh Kieu district Court, asking for reimbursement of VND600 million it had spent to fund VTN overseas study. 

N said that she studied on a scholarship granted by the Japanese Government and she only received 30 percent of the basic salary from Can Tho University during the three years of staying in Japan. Therefore, she refused to pay VND600 million.

The school later had to withdraw the petition to collect more legal evidence related to scholarship sources.

According to Ha Thanh Toan, rector of Can Tho University, the school has dismissed 30 lecturers who violated the commitments they made with the school (lecturers stayed abroad after graduation, or they returned to Vietnam but left the school) and asked them to reimburse VND10 billion.

However, to date, the school has received no money from them.

Duong admitted that though the provisions in the agreements signed between the school and lecturers are clear, it is still difficult to force lecturers to reimburse money if they break the commitments.

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