‘Vietnam lacks quality leaders, experts’
HANOI: Vietnam needs to improve its mechanism for recruiting, using and remunerating talent in the country as it pursues national development.
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences chairman Bui Nhat Quang said the country lacked quality leaders and managers, along with experts and scientists truly dedicated to their profession.
Speaking at a scientific forum in Hanoi, he said Vietnam was in dire need of great intellectuals and leading experts ready to start projects of a lifetime.
“The process of conducting scientific research and technology transfer at research institutes and universities still faces difficulties and limitations. Vietnamese intellectuals operate under creatively constrictive conditions and can only react passively to issues that impede the country’s development.”
According to a Vn Express news report, Bui said this was due to the lack of an effective local mechanism for recruiting and managing talent, along with low salaries and bonuses.
“Party and state guidelines regarding intellectuals are yet to be made adequate and synchronised to meet the requirements of reality.”
He said such limitations had resulted in a modest intellectual contribution to the country’s socio-economic development, disproportionate to Vietnamese potential.
The forum gathered over 200 scientists, managers, and experts from different departments and ministries from national and local levels, research institutes, universities and organisations.
University of Social Sciences and Humanities’ International Studies former dean Professor Vu Duong Ninh said he found local scientific research to be both serious and meticulous, especially doctoral dissertations.
However, all their works got scuppered when it came to the authors putting forward their personal recommendations and opinions.
“Many quoted the ideas of others or gave generalised points of view, fearful their own opinions would cause unsolicited consequences,” Vu said.
He said authorities need to encourage and protect researchers in presenting their views as Vietnamese intellectuals have a great desire to contribute to the overall development of the country, especially its international integration.
“So they need to speak up, and make their opinions count,” he said, adding that Vietnam should organise more scientific discussions to make it feasible.
Vo Dai Luoc, director of Vietnam Asia-Pacific Economic Centre, said intellectuals were the most important Vietnamese force in its Fourth Industrial Revolution. “However, Vietnam still lacks the necessary intellectual and creative freedom. Remuneration remains inadequate, with public sector wages still lower than private sector salaries.”