西南交通大学学报

第 56 卷 第 4 期 Vol. 56 No. 4
JOURNAL OF SOUTHWEST JIAOTONG UNIVERSITY Aug. 2021
2021 年 8 月

ISSN: 0258-2724 DOI：10.35741/issn.0258-724.56.4.62

Research article

Social Sciences

THE SOLUTIONS OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN IMPROVING THE

QUALITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES: THE CASE OF VIETNAM

提高人力资源质量的教育和培训解决方案：以越南为例

Pham Thi Thanh Binh

Associate Professor, Senior Researcher, Lecturer, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Hanoi, Vietnam;
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), Hanoi, Vietnam
Visiting Research Fellow, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines; Tokyo University, Japan; Japan
Institute of International Affairs, Tokyo, Japan; Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea; National Sun Yet Sen
University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, phamthаnhbinh297@yahoo.com.vn

Received: May 16, 2021 ▪ Review: June 11, 2021 ▪ Accepted: July 18, 2021 ▪ Published: August 30, 2021

This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

Abstract
Human resources are the decisive factor for the success and progress of a country and is the main
measure for assessing the level of social progress, equity, and sustainable development. The purpose of
this paper is to analyze the quality of Vietnam’s human resources, with a particular emphasis on the
shortage of high-quality human resources. The paper discusses the causes of the shortage of high-quality
human resources, and it also provides solutions for enhancing the education and training systems needed
to improve the quality of Vietnam’s human resources. The solutions for improving the education and
training systems are (1) reforming education-training systems, particularly vocational education; (2)
increasing financial resources for education and training to improve the ability of employees and
readjusting the investment structure; (3) focusing on developing national higher education to improve the
training of teachers; (4) strengthening partnerships between firms, universities, and vocational schools;
and (5) cooperating with international organizations to improve human resources. The novelty of the
paper is that it explores ways to accelerate the approval of the higher education development strategy for
the period 2021–2030 in Vietnam.

Keywords: Human Resources, Situation, Causes, Solutions, Vietnam

摘要
人力资源是一个国家成功和进步的决定性因素，是衡量社会进步、公平和可持续发展水平的主要
衡量标准。本文的目的是分析越南人力资源的质量，特别强调高素质人力资源的短缺。文章探讨
了高素质人力资源短缺的原因，并为加强教育和培训体系以提高越南人力资源质量提供了解决方
案。完善教育培训体系的对策是：（1）改革教育培训体系，特别是职业教育；（二）加大教育培
训资金投入，提高职工能力，调整投资结构；（三）以发展国民高等教育为重点，加强师资培训
734 Binh / Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University / Vol.56 No.4 Aug. 2021
；(4)加强企业、大学和职业学校之间的伙伴关系；（五）与国际组织合作，提升人力资源。该论
文的新颖之处在于，它探索了加快批准越南2021-2030年高等教育发展战略的方法。
关键词: 人力资源，情况，原因，解决方案，越南
I. INTRODUCTION
As an emerging economy, Vietnam has
increased its participation in the global market,
and this participation has led to an increased
demand for a high-quality workforce. In addition,
economic growth is associated with the increased
productivity of the labor force, and education and
training are key to assessing labor quality. The
Party and the State of Vietnam are aware of the
importance of human resources and have deemed
the issue of improving the quality of human
resources as the "top national policy" in the
current integration process. High-quality human
resources must occupy a central position and play
a leading role in Vietnam's socio-economic
development.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND
METHODOLOGY
Several studies have been conducted on the
shortage of high-quality human resources in
Vietnam, typically as state-level Key Science &
Technology programs (KX.01/11-15) [1], GSO
[2], ILO [3], Khanh [4], Quang [5]. According to
ILO [6], Vietnam has not yet had a skilled
workforce with the desired structure and quality.
This study confirms that there is a lack of proper
education, training, and utilization mechanisms to
motivate the workforce and lead the economy in
the right direction to competitiveness and
efficiency. According to Phong [7] and GSO [2],
the small size of the skilled workforce and the
inefficient utilization of Vietnam’s most crucial
resource has led to low social labor productivity
and weak economic competitiveness.
Other studies have discussed using education
and training to improve the quality of human
resources. Aldcroft [8] has shown the link
between education and development. He focused
on the impact that education and human resource
development have on economic performance.
Although much research has been done on the
shortage of high-quality human resources in
Vietnam, few studies have pointed out its causes?
What are the solutions of education and training
in improving the quality of human resources in
Vietnam? Tien [9] and Linh [10] focus on
research the situation of high-quality human
resources in the process of Vietnam’s
international integration. They firmed that much
of the problem stems from a lack of educational
reform. This research aims to examine and
comprehend the weakness of Vietnam's
education to put the solutions for its overcoming.
Vietnam announced a strategy to develop high-
quality human resources to meet domestic and
international demand.
The author chose this research topic because
of the importance, practicality, and topicality of
education, as well as the fact that the training
sector needs to be reconsidered in the context of
international and regional integration, as well as
in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 that
Vietnam is now facing. The author chose this
topic because of their research knowledge and
responsibility for selecting this research topic.
The methodology of this study is based on the
qualitative analysis and real evidence related to
Vietnam’s education and training system, as well
as the practical experiences in Vietnam’s
enterprises and companies. The author collected
the data from scholarly books and articles on
Vietnam’s skilled labor and its relation to
education and training system, as well as some
data cited from international organizations in
Vietnam and the state-level Key Sciences &
Technology program [1].
III. THE SHORTAGE OF HIGH
QUALITY HUMAN R ESOURCES IN
VIETNAM
In Vietnam, there is an abundance of human
resources compared to many countries in the
region and around the world. In 2020, Vietnam
has over 74.28 million people of working age out
of a total of 97.76 million people (accounting for
75.7%), and ranks third in Southeast Asia (after
Indonesia and the Philippines) and 13th in the
world in terms of population size. The number of
people between the ages of 20 and 39 is about 30
million, accounting for 35% of the total
population and 61% of the workforce [11].
Vietnam is in the period of a golden
population structure (2010-2040), which brings
many advantages to human resources and socio-
economic development. The working-age
population is quite large. In addition, in recent
years, Vietnam has made a positive effort to
improve its labor productivity and achieved
significant growth, both in value and speed. Its

labor productivity has picked up markedly, rising
by 5.8% a year on average in the 2016-2020
period, higher than that of the 2011-2015 period
(4.3%) and the expected target (5%). Vietnamese
workers are evaluated to have the advantages of
being smart, industrious, and skillful, while they
also have a high level of intellectual knowledge
compared to the national income level to quickly
absorb the world’s scientific, technical, and
technological advances.
Despite the recent high GDP growth rates, the
quality of Vietnamese human resources is still
limited, the percentage of trained workers is low,
there is a shortage of skilled workers, and it has
not met the needs of its integrated labor market.
Only 12 percent of Vietnam’s 60 million
workforce are highly skilled. Vietnam ranks 11th
out of 12 Asian countries in the quality of human
resources rankings with 3.79 points out of 10
[12]. Many Vietnamese workers are still lacking
in areas such as foreign language, IT skills, and
the ability to utilize technology. High-quality
human resources need to meet the following
requirements:
• The professional qualifications of human
resources: In the current trend of advancement of
science and technology, workers need to be
equipped with higher professional knowledge,
which is the foundation for improving their skills
and knowledge to achieve high working
efficiency.
• The physical requirements of human
resources: In order to meet and fulfill their
assigned tasks, the laborers must be physically fit
and have good health and professional skills to
conduct the production process in continuous and
prolonged time. They always have the
consciousness and mental refreshment to promote
high creative capacity. Therefore, in order to
improve the capacity of the human resource,
physiological standards are required to be
suitable for business.
• The personality and aesthetics of human
resources: Moral qualities and the behavior of
workers directly affects the quality of human
resources. Hence, improving the quality of
human resources not only focuses on the physical
and mental aspects, but also on the ethics of the
workforce.
Although Vietnam is in a period of population
growth, the trained labor force in Vietnam is
considerably small since most of the working-age
population has not received any professional or
technical training. The soft skills of Vietnamese
workers are at the medium or weak level,
especially teamwork skills and leadership skills.
735
The World Bank assesses that Vietnam lacks
skilled and high-skilled workers. For workers in
electronics and garment enterprises, the skill
response level to the technological changes is
very low. Vietnamese workers’ foreign language
skills are also low, so they face many difficulties
in the integration process. The limitations and
weaknesses of human resources are one of the
main factors affecting the competitiveness of the
economy. Generally, high-quality human
resources and skilled workers are still very
lacking compared to the social need to develop
Vietnam’s key economic sectors, particularly to
participate in the global value chain, as well as
upgrading Vietnam's position in that value chain.
The shortage of high-quality human resources
leads to the following outcomes:
• The lack of quality human resources is
likely to slow down Vietnam’s desired economic
transition from being reliant on labor-intensive
industries to producing high-tech goods, which
could reduce its competitiveness and labor
productivity. Vietnam’s labor productivity
remains low compared with other countries such
as Singapore, which has a productivity rate that is
15 times higher than Vietnam, 10 times higher
than Japan, and five times higher than Thailand.
• The shortage of high-quality human
resources prevents foreign companies from
investing in Vietnam. Many businesses have
found it difficult to find suitable staff. Around
40% of FDI firms in Vietnam find it difficult to
recruit skilled labors. Despite a mass exodus of
manufacturing caused by the ongoing trade war
between US and China, businesses remain
hesitant to relocate production to Vietnam due to
low-quality human resources.
• The low quality of human resources has a
negative impact on tourism activities and
industry. Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing
travel destinations in the world. However, there is
a lack of qualified human resources in the
tourism and hospitality industry, which requires
40,000 workers, but the number of graduates
from tourism schools is estimated at just around
15,000, of whom graduates from universities and
colleges account for only 12%.
Over the next five years (2018-2023),
Vietnam’s tourism workforce needs to grow by
20% annually to meet the rising demand. The
quality of human resources in Vietnam tourism is
in the same situation, while only 45% of the
human resources in the tourism sector were
trained. The rest did not meet their workplace
requirements. The demand for high-quality
736 Binh / Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University / Vol.56 No.4 Aug. 2021
human resources has been increasing in Vietnam
due to the following evidence:
First, Vietnam is now a middle-income
country able to compete internationally based on
possessing a highly skilled workforce. Tasks
requiring high skills have become more
important. Vietnam’s Human Capital Index for
Vietnam increases from 0.66 to 0.69 (2010-
2020). It is the highest among middle-income
countries. So, there is also a need to upgrade the
workforce's skills to create productive jobs at a
large scale.
Second, Industry 4.0, which had created a
series of positive technological changes, has
already replaced many low-skilled repetitive
roles with automation and robotics. Multinational
companies (MNCs) now need the cleverest
employees to compete and succeed globally.
High-skilled occupations have expanded most
rapidly, while mid-skilled occupations have
declined. Vietnam needs to solve the shortage of
technically skilled laborers by training highly
qualified workers in new industry sectors.
Third, FDI firms need highly qualified human
resources, especially after the Comprehensive
and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership (CPTPP) took effect in Vietnam
(January 14, 2019). More firms are choosing
Vietnam to relocate their production bases in
China to avoid the US-China trade spat.
Vietnam's demand for highly skilled workers will
continue growing steadily in the wake of
increasing foreign investment inflow, causing a
severe shortage of highly qualified human
resources in the time to come.
The lack of high-quality human resources has
become an increasingly obvious barrier to growth
in value-added exports such as high-tech goods
and keeps local firms from going global. The lack
of qualified workers is one of the biggest
problems foreign companies face when they
invest in Vietnam.
IV. THE CAUSES OF THE SHORTAGE
OF HIGH-QUALITY HUMAN
RESOURCES
The shortage of high-quality human resources
in Vietnam may have many causes. These
include:
First, the education approach and vocational
training system fail to meet the skill needs of the
nation’s industries. A key reason for the lack of
high-quality human resources lies in Vietnam’s
education system. From high school to vocational
training, university, and postgraduate schools, the
core process of training and developing human
resources still reveals many limitations despite
undergoing numerous reforms and innovations.
Education traditionally focuses on pure theory
rather than on practical skills. Educational
curricula are outdated, teachers are overwhelmed
and underpaid, and graduates lack the job skills
sought by the private sector. The quality of
training is low and is not well oriented toward
career selection. Current training programs do not
get as much attention as needed. They also lack
skilled lecturers and standards for developing
skilled human resources [18]. Education quality
at all levels is still low. In the Global
Competitiveness Report 2009–2010, Vietnam fell
five positions from its previous ranking, from
70th to 75th, with the quality of its education
system as one of its worst elements.
In addition, a large gap exists between
Vietnam's vocational education and the market's
requirements. Most workers choose to study at
university or postgraduate school without
considering the demand for human resources and
vocational training, and thus fail to meet the skill
needs of industry. Vietnamese students are also
not well oriented to the careers that the market
needs and mainly prefer to choose business,
commerce, and finance. This shows, to a certain
extent, that the Vietnamese labor market is
growing in favor of support services but has not
yet strongly developed industries in the real
sector, creating basic added value for the
economy.
According to the 2018 World Economic
Forum (WEF) [13], despite great efforts to
reform vocational training, Vietnam still ranks
87th among 90 surveyed countries in training
capability and skilled labor attraction. Vocational
schools set enrollment plans based on demands
from parents and students, not on demands or
needs of the society and economy. Only 10% of
high school graduates choose vocational training,
but the labor market needs more skilled laborers.
The number of university graduates is very large,
but their capabilities cannot meet firms'
requirements. Poor training programs are also a
cause behind the low quality of school graduates.
While the market changes regularly, the training
curricula remain about the same.
Secondly, the lack of technology
infrastructure. The demand for high-quality
human resources will continue to grow as
technology keeps advancing in the future. In
contrast, Vietnam's ability to absorb technologies
is low, making it difficult for them to cooperate
with foreign enterprises when opportunities arise.
While 80% of Foreign Investment Enterprises in

Vietnam use medium-level technology, 14% use
outdated tech, and only 5-6% use high tech.
Vietnam ranked 90th in technology and
innovation and 70th in human capital among 100
countries. Vietnam's technology infrastructure is
improperly linked due to poor planning and the
difficulty in attracting funds from non-state
sources. Many universities try to implement
technology in course registration; they lack the
infrastructure to ensure the process runs
smoothly, with financial inability mostly to
blame. Small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) account for up to 98% of all non-state
firms in Vietnam. Most of them are still using
technology from the 1960s and 1970s. Due to the
lack of funding, private firms, especially SMEs,
cannot afford sufficient investment in
technology. Most of them use technologies from
two to three generations older than the world
average. Enterprises were spending only 0.2-
0.3% of revenue on updating technologies,
compared with 5% in India and 10% in South
Korea. Only 20% of Vietnam's enterprises have
applied high-tech in their business, compared
with 73% in Singapore, 51% in Malaysia, and
31% in Thailand. As a result, Vietnam ranked
102nd out of 148 economies in the world [1].
Thirdly, spending and investment in education
and training are both low and unreasonable. The
annual rate of budget expenditure on education is
approximately 20%, equivalent to 5% of GDP,
but there are still many shortcomings. The rate of
recurrent expenditure accounts for around 82% of
the total state budget expenditure on education
and training. The investment in capital
construction is very low compared to the need to
invest in facilities, purchase teaching and
laboratory equipment. Vietnam's investment in
higher education is currently very low,
accounting for only 0.33% (out of the total 6.1%
government investment in education and
training). Meanwhile, in other countries in
Southeast Asia, the rate is much higher than
0.57% of Indonesia's GDP, 0.64% of Thailand's
GDP, 1.0% of Singapore's GDP, and 1.13% of
Malaysia's GDP [14].
State budget expenditure on higher education
has decreased sharply, while the revenue from
research and other sources is low. Therefore, the
financial resources of universities mainly depend
on tuition fees (most of them account for over
80%), so it is unsustainable. In the structure of
expenditure by grade level, spending on
preschool and general education accounts for
approximately 70% of the total expenditure on
education. Meanwhile, spending on college and
university training is over 12%; spending on
737
vocational education is approximately 10%. This
ratio directly affects colleges, universities, and
vocational education training quality, making it
difficult to compete with other countries in the
region and the world. Due to the investment
structure for education and training is not
reasonable, the facilities of Vietnamese schools
are still too low compared to many countries,
including countries in the region.
The level of access to higher education in
Vietnam is still low. The enrollment rate by the
welfare fund group is not uniform; even the
difference is large. There is a gap in the quality of
education among learners' skill groups and a low
level of research and technology transfer. The
university's research work is generally
underfunded, loosely managed, and the quality of
cooperation is still limited. The procedures for
preparing and disbursing investment capital are
complicated and insufficient to attract funding in
both the public and private credit markets.
Scholarships and student loans are low, loan
terms - payment is not attractive enough.
Fourthly, due to mismatch between supply
and demand. Demand for skilled workers in
Vietnam has grown strongly. However, their
supply has not kept up with this increasing need.
Demand for experienced team leaders,
supervisors, managers, and directors has grown
most strongly. Many companies have not found it
easy to recruit mid-level and senior staff. This is
due to a low supply of these types of workers in
the labor market.
Additionally, many Vietnamese laborers lack
necessary skills such as language, cognitive,
behavioral, and technical skills. So, the shortage
of quality employees is one of the biggest
disadvantages of Vietnam's human resources
market. The relative demand for higher education
graduates is rising faster than the relative supply.
Vietnam's demand for high-quality human
resources will continue growing steadily due to
increasing foreign investment inflow, causing a
severe supply shortage of highly qualified human
resources in the market. In information and
technology, many Vietnamese and foreign firms
wish to set up software development centers.
However, they cannot find enough engineers to
meet their demand because of the supply
shortage. Technology 4.0 has led to a conversion
trend in different areas of the human resources
market, especially in technology and
manufacturing. As a result, there is also higher
demand for new occupations in the job market,
such as data analysis, engineering, and
automation. At this rate, Vietnam has been
738 Binh / Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University / Vol.56 No.4 Aug. 2021
lagged behind the employers' demand for new
quality roles.
The supply of skilled tourism workers falls
short. The severe shortage of qualified workers is
a huge challenge to the rapidly growing tourism
sector. The sector’s demand for human resources
will be two or three times the number needed by
other major sectors such as education, health, and
finance. The training of high-quality human
resources in tourism and hospitality has failed to
keep up with the increasing demand for
employment. The tourism sector needs
about 40,000 more laborers a year, particularly
skilled workers and qualified professionals, while
the number of graduates is around 15,000 a year.
The gap between labor supply and demand will
be exacerbated if Vietnam does not have
effective measures to solve this problem right
now.
V. THE SOLUTIONS OF EDUCATION
AND TRAINING IN IMPROVING
THE QUALITY OF HUMAN
RESOURCES
Vietnam considers human resources a golden
key to its future success, and improving the
quality of the skilled workforce should become
the most crucial factor in its competition and
growth. Suppose Vietnam cannot solve the
problem of improving the quality of human
resources soon. In that case, it will face the risk
of a crisis in the quality of human resources, the
consequence of which is a decrease in the
economic competitiveness, difficulty to escape
from the "middle-income trap", and loss of the
opportunity to participate in the international
labor market. Resolving the issue of the quality
of human resources could bring benefits for
businesses and society. In order to improve the
quality of human resources to meet the increasing
requirements of the labor market and
international economic integration, Vietnam's
education and training system needs to focus on
several key solutions:
Firstly, the rigorous reform of the education-
training system, particularly renovating
vocational education. In order to enhance the
quality and competitiveness of Vietnam's
workforce in the domestic and international labor
market, the rigorous reform of the education-
training system, especially vocational education,
is very much required. Vietnam identifies the
development of high-quality human resources,
including vocational education as one of the three
breakthroughs of the Socio-Economic
Development Strategy to escape the middle-
income trap. Vocational education should be
viewed as a development investment, which shall
be prioritized in socio-economic development
projects.
Teachers are one of the decisive factors for
the success of educational innovation. So, to
improve the quality of education must start with
the teachers. One of the new points in the revised
draft of the Education Law is raising the training
standards of teachers. Improving the quality of
teachers and teaching methods is first taken into
consideration because their quality could be the
trade-off by responding to the excess demand of
skilled workers. Vietnam’s government aims to
increase the number of Ph.D. teachers in the
colleges and universities to 25% respectively by
2020. The training for teachers will be conducted
domestically and internationally to keep up with
modern technological developments. During the
period 2011-2020, the newly approved strategy
on vocational education aims to raise the rate of
trained workers from 23.5 million by 2015 to
34.4 million by 2020 [17]. In March 2018, the
Vietnamese government introduced Decree No.
49/2018/ND-CP, providing for vocational
education accreditation. To achieve the goals, it
points out some groups of solutions, particularly
on renovating vocational education:
First, vocational education should follow
market trends and needs closely. Naturally, a
balance between supply and demand for skilled
workers needs to be maintained. Additionally,
policies should be enacted to ensure close links
between the two entities to encourage
cooperation and contribution to training.
Second, vocational education has to meet
international standards so that students will be
equipped with the latest necessary technical and
soft skills to overcome the challenges put forth
by global economic integration.
Third, Vietnam needs to improve its
forecasting ability to grasp and predict its
businesses and economy's demands quickly.
Promoting digital transformation in the field
of education, gradually form an open, flexible
and interconnected education system, focusing
first on higher education and vocational
education, creating conditions to expand the scale
of education and training while improving
quality, promoting lifelong learning, updating
knowledge and skills in human resource
development. Technology should be used to
improve the quality of the sector's human
resources, including e-learning and building a
database about tourism human resources. The
application of cloud computing in training
activities has been considered an option that

provides meaningful solutions for education and
effectively resolves human resource issues for
companies during the Fourth Industrial
Revolution.
Secondly, increasing financial resources for
education and training to improve their quality
and readjusting their investment structure.
Improving the quality of human resources
through quality improvement for each employee
is necessary. In order to maximize the ability of
workers to complete the work, the employee
should have sufficient physical strength, health
with professionalism, toughness to meet the work
requirements. The employee must be active and
proactive in implementing the work, apply the
knowledge that is trained in the work, and adapt
to changing environment to promote the high
creative capacity of each employee in solving
work. In order to improve the quality of human
resources in this approach, Vietnam has the
highest per capita expenditure on education over
the past years, about 12% of GDP per year on
average compared to only 8% GDP in the United
States; around 4.6% of GDP in China. According
to the household's income, the proportion of
spending on education in Vietnam is even higher.
The state budget for education and training is
20% of the total budget in 2016; it increases
approximately by 28% in 2020. In addition,
Vietnam now has many incentive policies and
other financial decisions, such as bank loans for
students to study and to support education
development. Vietnam is making great efforts to
develop the education system in particular, to
improve the quality of human resources in
general.
The major share (more than 80% on average)
of expenditure on education and training
accounts for recurrent expenditure, while the
proportion of capital investment is modest. In
2018, Vietnam allocated 5.8% of GDP per year
to education. It is one of the countries with great
interest in education. If the family's contribution
is included, this figure reaches 8% of GDP while
Vietnam's GDP increased by 7.1% in 2018 to
reach around US$240 billion. The investment by
the Vietnamese government in education has
been increasing and maintained at 20% of total
budget expenditures in 2019.
Readjusting the investment structure for
education and training to improve the quality of
each labor is needed. Investment in education and
training in Vietnam is sourced from both state
budget (including education bonds, loans and
aids) and private sources (education fees,
revenues from scientific and technological
services, contribution of organizations and
739
individuals). Investment from the state budget
has a primary role. Budget expenditure allocated
to education and training in Vietnam is relatively
high compared to other countries, including the
developed countries. However, Vietnam being a
small economy, the total annual budget
expenditure on education and training remains
modest in absolute terms.
It is necessary to adjust the investment
structure for education and training that is
directed at increasing investment on the
development and reducing recurrent expenditure.
Simultaneously, adjust the structure of
expenditures between levels of education and
disciplines. Prioritize investment in preschool
and general education from both the budget and
the society, focus the budget on universalization.
The ratio between training fields should be
harmoniously developed.
Thirdly, focus on developing national higher
education by enhancing teachers’ training
facilities. The demand for high-quality human
resources in the context of Industry 4.0 improved
timely innovation by the higher education
system. Higher education is booming in Vietnam
and is viewed as the key avenue towards raising
the quality of human resources. Vietnam’s higher
education reform that has been carried out since
the late 1990s of the XX century has recorded
remarkable achievements. First, university
networks and the scope of higher education have
better met people’s learning requirements.
Second, the quality of higher education has been
gradually enhanced. Third, equity of access to
higher education has been improved. Fourth,
university governance has changed for the better.
Fifth, teaching and administrative staff have
considerably increased in terms of quality and
quantity. Sixth, private higher education has
developed. Seventh, investment in higher
education has increased, and last, higher
education institutions’ physical facilities have
improved.
In 2020, the Higher Education Development
Strategy for the period 2021–2030 was approved.
WB proposes increasing the public budget for
higher education from 0.33% of GDP in 2020 to
0.8% of GDP before the year 2030. In 2018, Law
on Higher Education was promulgated with the
renewal of operating mechanisms for public
higher education institutions. At the same time,
university enrollment has also doubled since
2000 (more than 50% of enrollees are female).
Priority should be given to sending university and
college lecturers overseas for training through a
variety of funding sources. This encourages
highly qualified scientists from national research
740 Binh / Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University / Vol.56 No.4 Aug. 2021
institutes and Vietnamese scientists in foreign
countries to become involved in teaching in
universities and colleges. Thanks to this, the
percentage of university lecturers holding a
master's or doctoral degree is currently over 75%.
After developing an internationally recognized
training program, the number of international
publications of scientific research tripled.
Vietnamese universities have appeared in
prestigious university rankings worldwide.
The objective of national higher education
policy is developing comprehensive higher
education institutions with one or two world class
universities (Top 200). Furthermore, higher
education needs internationalizing. In terms of
Vietnam’s higher education, internationalization
can be seen in the establishment of foreign
invested universities and foreign training
programs run either entirely by foreign
universities or through cooperation between a
foreign and Vietnamese institution.
Strengthening partnerships between firms and
universities and vocational schools is essential.
Education in Vietnam is currently not linked to
training and demand. The educational and
training infrastructures provided by both
government and industry are insufficient to
prepare employees to take full advantage of
economic integration. Therefore, vocational
schools should cooperate with enterprises in
training in order to give students opportunities to
work with machines at enterprises. However,
only private vocational schools are aware of the
importance of cooperation with enterprises.
Technical and vocational education and training
are seen as principle ways of providing the labor
force with the skills that Vietnam needs.
Businesses and firms should cooperate with
schools and colleges to produce more skilled
workers. Accordingly, schools can focus training
on businesses' real requirements. Businesses
should not only forecast labor demands and work
with education establishments but also participate
in building education curricula and teaching.
In order to have high-quality human
resources, there needs to be a stronger link
between schools and universities and firms. On
the one hand, the government should regularly
provide analysis and forecasts of market trends
and develop more policies to help enterprises
improve their human resources. On the other
hand, companies should provide information
about their demands to schools to improve the
quality and effectiveness of training. Universities,
colleges, and vocational schools should update
training programs according to enterprises’ real
demands. They should also work with companies
to offer their students soft skills and creative
thinking skills. Companies need to have periodic
training programs and improve the quality of
training by strengthening co-operation among
businesses, universities, and associations.
Schools and universities should invest in
equipment and renew the curriculum. Firms
should involve themselves in training processes
by providing scholarships, setting up
requirements for new recruits, and creating places
for students to practice. Businesses also need to
consider setting up human resource development
funds as well as co-operating with other
companies in training and recruitment because
most Vietnamese firms are still financially weak.
It is necessary to forge close ties between schools
and businesses for training. Through links
between schools and institutions and businesses,
training programs are always adjusted, updated,
and made more modern, helping them to adapt to
new technologies and globalization requirements.
Expanding cooperation with international
organizations to improve the quality of human
resources is important. The participation of
foreign providers is essential to improving
vocational education and training (VET) in
Vietnam. To facilitate foreign participation
across all areas of education, the government
issued for consultation a draft decree on
cooperation and investment in education and
training involving foreign partners. Two
important decrees are: Decree No. 135/2018/ND-
CP, dated October 4, 2018, on amending and
supplementing a number of articles of the
government's Decree No. 46/2017/ND-CP
stipulating articles of investment conditions and
activities in the field of education; and Decree
No. 86/2018/ND-CP 06/6/2018 regulating
foreign cooperation and investment in the field of
education. These two decrees have created
favorable conditions with more incentives for
foreign investors to enter the education sector in
Vietnam. From 2010 to 2020, Vietnam achieved
certain successes in attracting foreign investment
in the development of educational services.
Foreign capital was invested in large-scale
projects related to Vietnam’s education and
training. Specifically, as of 2009, Vietnam had
128 foreign direct investment projects related to
education and training, involving a total
registered capital of US$275.8 million. In 2009,
there were 12 projects involving a total registered
capital of US$30.4 million. Ten years later, in
2019, the cumulative number of projects had
increased 4 times to 526 projects, and the
registered capital increased sharply by 15.8
times, reaching US$4.3762 billion. There were

72 newly licensed projects involving a total
registered capital of US$67.4 million in 2019.
During the period from 2018 to 2019, foreign
investment in education and training skyrocketed
from 12th place to 9th place in terms of
registered capital among foreign-investment
fields in Vietnam. By the end of the 2018–2019
school year, the number of foreign language and
informatics centers had reached over 3.9
thousand, an increase of over 1.1 thousand
centers compared to the previous year. Non-
public and foreign-funded centers have received
nearly 2 million learners. The participation of
foreign investors in the field of education and
training also contributes to the diversification of
teaching methods and content and helps Vietnam
keep pace with the general trend of international
education.
Vietnam attracted 455 foreign invested
projects in education with total capital of more
than US$4 billion. The Vietnamese government
also approved 530 joint training programs
between local and foreign universities, including
more than 80 programs with British
schools. Vietnam’s government is trying to
expand English-language education and promote
transnational cooperation and exchange with
countries like Australia, France, the U.S. [15],
Japan, and Germany. It also acceded to
international education agreements, such as the
Asia-Pacific Convention on the Recognition of
Qualifications in Higher Education [16]. Study
abroad of Vietnamese students and scholars is
explicitly promoted, while the government
simultaneously seeks to increase the number of
foreign students and researchers in Vietnam.
VI. CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
This research paper is novel because it
pursues timely objectives and the tasks of the 13th
National Congress of the Communist Party of
Vietnam (January 2021), affirming that highly
skilled and qualified human resources meeting
the development requirements of society will
play an important role in the development and
construction of the country. Its novelty is also
expressed in contributing to the current debate in
the literature, as well as emphasizing a leading
role of education and training in improving the
quality of human resources for meeting the
requirements of the Fourth Industrial resolutions
and international integration. This research paper
also helps promote quick approval of a higher
education development strategy for the period
2021-2030. The scientific novelty of the paper
741
also consists of a conducted large-scale study
describing the author's theoretical and practical
prerequisites.
This paper emphasizes the new contents in
education and training system of the 13th
National Congress of the Communist Party of
Vietnam that have been mentioned by Linh [10].
It analyzes Vietnam’s current situation of the
shortage of highly qualified human resources that
has been shown in the study by Hoa [11]. Most of
them agree that it is necessary to radically reform
the education and training system, especially
vocational training and higher education.
Vietnam's international integration process is
taking place more and more deeply and has
brought about great achievements in education
and training. However, integration also puts
Vietnam's education and training under constant
pressure to improve quality in order to build
highly competitive human resources. The
resolution of the 13th Party Congress identified
one of Vietnam's development orientations for
the period of 2021–2030 that is creating a
breakthrough in fundamental and comprehensive
innovation in education and training, improving
the quality of human resources, and attracting
and applying important talent. Education and
training have a vital role in improving the
knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values of the
labor force that contribute to achieve Vietnam’s
further economic growth.
Thanks to the fundamental and
comprehensive reform of education and training
according to the development needs of the
society, the scale of Vietnam’s human resources
is expanding; the labor force has increased from
50.4 million people in 2010 to about 54.6 million
people in 2020 with a more reasonable structure
and significantly improved quality of human
resources that is a suitable match for market
needs. The rate of trained workers increased from
40% in 2010 to 64% in 2020. During this time,
the proportion of trained workers with degrees
and certificates increased from 14.6% in 2010 to
24.5% in 2020 [10].
Clearly, the fundamental and comprehensive
reform of education and training in Vietnam is a
practical solution to improve human resource
capacity, especially high-quality human
resources, serving the requirements of science
and technology application, renewing the growth
model and economic restructure, and accelerating
Vietnam’s industrialization and modernization
process. Vietnam not only considers education a
top national policy but also emphasizes priority
on investment for education development in
742 Binh / Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University / Vol.56 No.4 Aug. 2021
socio-economic development programs and
plans.
Currently, Vietnam is accelerating its
industrialization and modernization process, and
expanding foreign relations and cooperation with
countries around the world. This provides both
opportunities and chances as well as risks and
challenges that require the creation of high-
quality human resources to meet reality and the
requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
and international integration for developing the
country quickly and sustainably.
In the next 10 years (2021–2030), education
and training will continue to be carried out in the
spirit of NQ29 on fundamental and
comprehensive renovation of Vietnamese
education in order to successfully build high-
quality human resources in sufficient quantity,
ensuring quality and reasonable structure. High-
quality human resource is really the core force
that will turn Vietnam into a modern-industry
country with middle income in 2030 and a
developed, high-income country in 2045.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is funded by Vietnam National
Foundation for Science and Technology
Development (Nafosted) under grant number
502.01-2019.1.
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