VietNamNet Bridge – Sending high-ranking specialists abroad could bring double benefits: it helps restructure the domestic labor market and strengthens the Vietnamese workforce.

A report says Vietnam now has some 9,000 professors and 24.300 PhDs, the highest in Southeast Asia, according to the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) Pham Bich San.

Labor experts believe that it would be better to export a part of the “PhD and professor force” to help restructure the domestic labor market.

Dr. Nguyen Van Nam, former head of the Trade Research Institute, noted that Vietnam recently has sent farmers to other countries to teach techniques.

Since Vietnam is the world’s rice biggest exporter, and Vietnam is a strong agricultural brand, Vietnamese farmers are welcomed in other countries with a significant agricultural base.

Nam said that Vietnam in the 1980s sent many scientists and educators to African countries. The senior workforce reportedly worked well in the countries and helped polish Vietnam’s image and position in the world.

“If Vietnamese experts are welcomed in other countries, the government should create favorable conditions for them to work abroad,” Nam commented.

He went on to say that the presence of Vietnamese workers in overseas labor markets will not only help workers get higher incomes, but also benefit Vietnam’s economy.

When Vietnamese work abroad, they will have more experience which they can use in their work after returning to Vietnam.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Tri, deputy head of the Institute of Sociology and Management Sciences, emphasized that the labor force migration is inevitable in the context of  global integration.

In Europe, all civil servants have to have at least one term of working at international organizations. According to Tri, it is necessary to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese professors and doctors to work in international working environment.

“This is a good way for Vietnam to follow to improve the abilities of its specialists and the workforce,” he noted.

Tri said there was no need to worry about the brain drain and the possibility that high- ranking specialists would not return to Vietnam after finishing their working terms overseas.

“I can say for sure that all Vietnamese want to devote themselves to the motherland,” he said, adding that if young professors work abroad, they would return after five or 10 years.

By that time, if Vietnam can create good policies to welcome talent, the senior specialists would return to the homeland.

Nam noted that the brain drain has existed for many years, and would not be worsened by the labor export policy.

He said the more worrying problem is the low qualification of Vietnamese PhDs and professors, stressing that this could be the obstacle for them to work in an international environment.

Vietnam is unable to send some specialists abroad to work because of their weak foreign language skills and low professional qualifications.

Dat Viet