Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has approved the project titled “Training high-quality human resources among ethnic minorities in key sectors for the 2026–2035 period, with orientation toward 2045.”

The project seeks to expand access to quality education and build a core team of ethnic minority professionals and workers to serve the country’s goals of economic, social, defense, and security development.

Annual enrollment target: 2,000–2,500 ethnic minority students

The plan aims to enroll 2,000 to 2,500 ethnic minority students annually in college and university programs between 2026 and 2035, including 1,000 to 1,500 highly capable students expected to become key contributors to workforce development in ethnic and mountainous regions.

The proposed sectoral distribution includes 7–10% in health sciences, 5–10% in agriculture and forestry, 5–10% in tourism, and the remainder in other disciplines aligned with local development needs.

The number of ethnic minority postgraduate students - including those in master’s, doctoral, and preparatory university programs - will be increased by at least 10% annually.

By 2045, the project aims to broaden and strengthen training programs for high-quality ethnic minority human resources across strategic sectors.

Focus areas for each stage

From 2026 to 2030, the project will prioritize training in key areas such as healthcare, information technology, agriculture, finance and banking, teacher education, tourism, and social work.

Between 2030 and 2035, the focus will expand to other fields critical to the development of ethnic minority, mountainous, border, and island regions.

Tailored policies and modernized training ecosystem

To ensure effective implementation, the plan emphasizes capacity building for training institutions, particularly boarding and semi-boarding schools for ethnic students and preparatory universities.

Selective investment will be made in core higher education institutions to strengthen facilities, academic programs, and teaching staff.

Training curricula and materials will be updated and modernized to match regional realities while promoting digital transformation and technology integration in education.

The project also aims to build a training ecosystem connected to the labor market, ensuring sustainable employment outcomes for graduates.

It will develop specific support mechanisms for ethnic minority students, including tuition and living expense assistance, housing and internship support, and foreign language and IT training programs.

In addition, the policy encourages talent identification and nurturing, reforms admissions procedures, and attracts qualified teachers and experts to remote and disadvantaged areas.

Thanh Hung