“Brilliant” not always good

Not only high-grade brainpower, modern knowledge and technology but also advanced working methods of the world are what overseas Vietnamese scientists can bring to universities of Vietnam.

With their professional working style and their passion for science, those people can help speed up the movement of scientific research and kindle the fire of ambition among young Vietnamese scientists.

To bring into full play the sources of overseas Vietnamese brainpower, the first issue is that Vietnamese universities must select high-quality scientists who are suitable for their conditions and development requirements.

Professor Nguyen Huu Duc, Rector of the University of Technology, said: “When our science is at a too low level, anybody abroad is ‘brilliant’ in our eyes. Even when they are really ‘brilliant’, perhaps they and we are not compatible.”

According to the professor, Vietnamese universities must reach a certain level of science to be able to select suitable overseas Vietnamese intellectuals and to ‘absorb’ scientific advances that overseas Vietnamese intellectuals transfer.

An overseas Vietnamese professor who has worked as a lecturer in Vietnam for nearly three years said that he had not transferred modern knowledge to Vietnamese students yet because the scientific level of Vietnam was not up to the standard that students could benefit from that advanced knowledge. The professor also said that Vietnam didn’t really have a demand for extremely high knowledge.

In addition, universities must have sufficient information to select the right persons. They can base their requirements on their overseas relations or search scientific works or articles to evaluate the quality of overseas Vietnamese scientists. The websites of foreign universities often have full information about their lecturers.

Associate Professor Ta Phuong Hoa, Vice Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Hanoi University of Technology, said: “If we don’t carefully select we may choose ‘false’ professors and thus overseas Vietnamese intellectuals will not believe in scientific assessment ability of Vietnamese universities.”

Who is appropriate?

To draw overseas Vietnamese scientists to return home, universities must know advantages and difficulties that they face when they return to work in Vietnam.

Overseas Vietnamese intellectuals can be divided into four groups based on their age and scientific positions.

The first group is scientists between the ages of 30 to 50, who are exerting themselves to prove their positions at their organisations abroad. Those people have children who are growing up so it is difficult for them to return to Vietnam for a long period.

In this group, there are several outstanding individuals who can find funds for some scientific projects and they can return to Vietnam to work as lecturers of training courses or to organise seminars and workshops with the sources of funds that they find. After they leave Vietnam, they can guide Vietnamese teachers through the Internet.

Professor Lan Tran Gien from Canada’s Memorial University, an overseas Vietnamese scientist who often returns to Vietnam to implement public health projects, suggested that universities take advantage of the year of holiday of overseas Vietnamese professors to invite them to work in Vietnam that year. In North America, each six years professors have one holiday year when they don’t have to work but are still paid 80% of their normal salary.

The second group is professors who are about to retire (from 51 to 65 years old). Those people have gained certain positions and their children have matured already. Those people can go everywhere to work but they are full of vim (both experienced and in good shape) and their jobs at foreign universities are stable so it is difficult to invite them to return home without sound treatment mechanisms.

The third group is retired professors. Those people are very experienced and have a lot of time. Most of them studied at general schools in Vietnam so they are close to Vietnam. However, their biggest disadvantage is health.

The fourth group is excellent Vietnamese students who study abroad and are kept to work as lecturers at foreign universities. However, it is difficult to attract those people to return home if Vietnam doesn’t have a sensible policy for domestic scientists in general, not only for overseas Vietnamese ones.

However, professor Nguyen Huu Duc said that attracting Vietnamese students abroad was a temporary measure because they are good but they work under the guidance of foreign professors and are not independent enough in research activities. Thus, high-quality training models in Vietnam will be more effective and more sustainable.

Giving power to overseas Vietnamese experts

When local universities can’t compete with foreign ones in terms of salary, the key is respect and the way of organisation to help overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to work in Vietnam.

Professor Huynh Huu Tue, who gave up a job with a monthly pay of $10,000 at Canada’s Laval University to work as the Head of the Information Processing Faculty of the Hanoi University of Technology, confirmed: “You do not need too many preferences but just a good working environment; overseas Vietnamese intellectuals will return at a suitable moment.”

“More importantly, overseas Vietnamese scientists need to be able to participate in the process of making out development policies, recruiting lecturers of Vietnamese universities,” said Professor Lan Tran Gien.

Through scientific projects, some overseas Vietnamese will not only work without reward but also bring about financial sources to Vietnam.

“The Vietnamese side needs to help overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to regularize the use of those sources of funds by appointing them as advisors of Vietnamese universities so they can return home to organise seminars, workshops and training courses without using money of Vietnamese universities,” said Professor Lan Tran Gien.

In other countries, training courses and curricula depend on professors but in Vietnam, training courses depend on designed programmes so Vietnamese universities may not take advantage of overseas Vietnamese professors.

Professor Nguyen Quoc Binh, Deputy Director of the HCM City Biotechnology Centre, said that the curricula of Vietnamese universities were in Vietnamese style so they restricted the participation of overseas Vietnamese experts.

“Vietnamese universities only ask us to teach what they lack while the key is changing the whole curriculum. It is needed to assign overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to re-design curricula because knowledge of Vietnamese universities is too outdated,” Professor Binh said.

Source: VietnamNet.