Jul 31, 2011

Treasure everyday of your life


Dear readers,
Another college entrance exam season has passed. As most universities have announced the results, some students are very happy while others may be lost, wondering what to do with their life when the door to college has closed in front of them.
In Vietnam, university entrance exam is considered an important measure to ‘filter’ good and bad students and grant those ‘eligible’ a ticket to go study further. Teaching in workshops at An Giang University, Susan& Neal Newfield express concern over young people’s pressure to pass the college entrance exams. The two professors wrote to us, expressing a very different view on the most important exam in a student’s life:
“It is important to remember that University exams measure a small percentage of what it takes to be a good person. They measure what is referred to as “traditional” intelligences […] What is also tested, in an indirect manner, is the student’s ability to take the type of test being given. The lesson that we as parents can learn from this is that our child’s failure on one exam does not make them a failure as a human being.”
The professors praise individuals with emotional intelligence who have developed sense of their own self-worth and know how to solve problems since they are more likely to become leaders in the future.
Usually at this time of the year when exam results come out, some teenagers who have experienced the first big failure in their life - failing the entrance exam - become too ashamed to talk to anyone. Some just leave home or even worst kill themselves as their dream to enter a prestigious college has been terminated.
Life is too precious to be wasted. Last week, the Norway massacre killing more than 80 people and the death of 27-year-old Amy Winehouse made us realize more about the meaning of life. Why don’t you, young, ambitious, potential individuals, just live your life more meaningfully and treasure every moment you have? There’s no point in committing suicide at crisis moment because “when a door closes, there is another door open.” It has always been true!
Let’s get brightened a little bit by meeting two expats who are enjoying their life to the fullest in Vietnam. One of them is Taiwanese editor Vinh Huong who has been living for four years in Hanoi. She prefers the tranquil capital of Vietnam rather than a modern Taipei due to one reason:
“Vietnam is a lot like the Taipei I used to know in childhood. In Vietnam, I often go drinking sugar cane with my landlord. As we sit on plastic chairs, waiting for our drinks, I often turn to look at the streets and feel happy in my heart.”
Vinh Huong said she can just talk to anyone sitting next to her in a café or a bus. She also finds life here less stressful and people friendlier than in Taipei. Good to hear that, we hope you enjoy your life in Hanoi!
In another story, Michael from America loves Saigon not only for its delicious food but also for the current development in the city that he is witnessing.
“The constant rush of traffic proves that this is literally a city on the move, while the skyscrapers going up downtown show, equally literally, that this is a city on the rise. I find it absolutely fascinating to be living in a city that is on the verge of becoming a truly international metropolis. The new financial tower, the new airport in the works, the (hopefully) upcoming subway system, and areas like Phu My Hung all highlight the ambitions of the city. This may be harder for locals to understand, but seeing all of this construction and activity is a novelty for many Westerners,” shared Michael.
In the article, the young American also mentioned going out with friends at night and getting back home the following day’s morning even though he is no longer a student.
We noticed this confession has been criticized by some readers. However, we published the story because in our column, we respect people’s different views and ways of living. Remember each story you send, each comment you write is a piece of mosaic that makes up our City Diary.
To end with, we would like to borrow a quote from our frequent reader, Hanoinite, as a message for you, all our readers: “Life is short, live it up! You're only young once!”
Enjoy your weekend to the fullest!



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Abandoning China: In Search of Cheap Labor, Businesses Turn to Vietnam

By Pierre Tiessen / Le Temps / Worldcrunch 
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2081532,00.html#ixzz1Tgy8qx00



The traffic rarely moves freely on the road which links the northern Vietnam city Mong Cai to Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province in southern China. Trucks rumble at high speed on this 150-kilometer-long stretch of road, which was repaved a few years ago. These trucks are carrying loads of clothes, shoes and bottom-of-the-range supplies destined to be sold in the region, but also in Guangdong, the neighboring province.

A local Chinese businessman explains: in Vietnam "everything is cheaper, since the workforce in China is getting more and more expensive." Across the border, he adds: "doing business is still worth it." China — the world's second-largest economic power — is no longer a manufacturing engine where blue-collar workers slaved away in factories in return for low wages.

In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, workers went on strike, picketing in front of the factory gates of foreign-owned companies. "But things have been getting better," says Qiang Li, founder of China Labor Watch (CLW), an American non-governmental organization. He estimates that in those factories, 85% of workers got a pay raise in 2010.

Qiang Li says pressure put on wages has had a "noticeable" impact: factory workers earn $141 a month, a 21 percent pay hike over one year. Still, Li thinks that "the working conditions are often unacceptable."

More and more Chinese and international companies have been turning to southeast Asia, Vietnam in particular, in search of cheaper labor. In Vietnam, the minimum wage does not exceed $85 a month in the large manufacturing zones.(See "China-Vietnam Border War, 30 Years Later.")

To witness this relocation trend, all you have to do is going to Bac Ninh, a city 40 kilometers north of Hanoi. A few years ago, there used to be large rice fields, but now they have been replaced by multinational companies and their local subcontractors.

Samsung's Bac-Ninh-based factory is its largest worldwide, employing 9,600 workers. Canon employs 8,500 workers, whereas Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, employs 5,600. The latter is the world's largest maker of electronic components and the largest private company in China, employing 420,000 people.

"Vietnam has become a very competitive and dynamic country," says a media consultant working at Foxconn's headquarters. Since 2000, Vietnam has been experiencing rapid industrial growth, which has exceeded its GDP by 6 points on average. However, it is impossible to know the exact number of Chinese companies which have recently relocated their factories in Bac Ninh or in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest economic region.

One thing is sure: long dormant trade and investment between China and Vietnam is suddenly starting to take off, says an European expatriate who is in charge of quality control in factories in the region around Hanoi. In January 2011, China invested several million dollars in two projects. The latter is currently the 8th largest investor in Vietnam.

Thanks to the China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) free trade agreement, which was implemented in early 2010, Vietnam has increased exports to China by 49% over the past twelve months, even though the trade deficit with China was close to 9 billion euros in 2010.

The small and medium-sized Vietnamese businesses are those taking greatest advantage of this boom. In Dongxing, a Chinese city located near Mong Cai, large streamers are hailing the free trade agreement reached between China and Vietnam. They have announced the construction of Asean's largest cross-border market was finally finished. This 52-hectare-large site cost 200 million euros, and will soon allow for businesses and merchants to sell and/or buy all the products that Vietnam can produce at a low price.(See "The Jungle Hmong: A Forgotten Ally On the Run.")

Chinese companies are gaining an increasingly strong foothold in the Vietnamese market: the state-owned giant in the infrastructure and public works sector, the company CSGEC, has been building huge industrial complexes in Mong Cai. Many middlemen from Guangdong also have their own offices there.

The Renminbi, China's official currency, is used as a benchmark whereas the Dong, Vietnam's official currency, was devalued last Februar, the fourth time in the past fifteen months. Local observers warn that Vietnam is increasingly falling under China's sphere of influence. China is indeed Vietnam's top importer, as well as an important supplier with industrial equipments, electronic products, steel and oil products.

"Our local market is full of Chinese manufactured goods," says Vietnam News, the Vietnamese Daily, in 2011.

Vietnam is now trying to stop importing 15 000 kinds of products, including wine and certain manufactured goods. Local observers have noticed that the customs levied on some products have been on the rise. Finally, in early 2011, the Vietnamese government launched a public awareness campaign to encourage people to buy Vietnamese-made products.



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Vietnam: Các dịch vụ của YourVietNamExpert

Chúng tôi xin hân hạnh giới thiệu với quý doanh nghiệp các dịch vụ sau đây:


Các chuyên gia YourVietNamExpert tự hào với hơn 30 năm kinh nghiệm trong lĩnh vực tư vấn, dịch thuật, xử lý nhiều văn bản và tài liệu về pháp lý cũng như trong lĩnh vực kinh doanh trên thị trường trong và ngoài nước.


Các chuyên gia YourVietnamExpert thông thạo ngôn ngữ pháp lý và am tường nhiều loại văn bản, tài liệu và thủ tục đăng ký các trường Quốc Tế.


Các chuyên gia YourVietNamExpert sẵn sàng giúp các quý doanh nghiệp che lắp những khoảng cách trong giao tiếp và củng cố thêm kiến thức chuyên ngành nhằm nắm bắt đúng và tận dụng được những cơ hội kinh doanh một cách hiệu quả nhất.


Các chuyên gia của YourVietNamExpert không những thông thạo ngôn ngữ pháp lý mà còn thấu hiểu nhiều loại văn bản, tài liệu về pháp lý, ví dụ như từ giấy triệu tập của tòa án hay thư từ khiếu nại cho đến việc kí kết hợp đồng và tài liệu tài chính cũng như các quy chế và văn bằng sáng chế.

Ngoài ra, đội ngũ biên thông dịch của chúng tôi có những kĩ năng cần thiết và nhạy bén trong việc nắm bắt các quy trình xúc tiến thương mại trong nhiều môi trường kinh doanh khác nhau.


Với mục tiêu là người bạn đồng hành của doanh nghiệp tại Việt Nam, chúng tôi cung cấp một hệ thống dịch vụ chuyên nghiệp về các lĩnh vực Tư Vấn, Quản lý Đầu tư, tập trung vào ba mảng kinh tế chính:
  • Quan hệ & Giao thương quốc tế;
  • Y tế & Chăm sóc Sức khỏe;
  • Du Lịch & Khách sạn.
Chuyên gia tư vấn với nhiều năm kinh nghiệm của chúng tôi, bà Anh Tho Andres, cư trú tại Thụy Sĩ, sẵn sàng giải đáp mọi thắc mắc của các quý doanh nghiệp qua các dịch vụ của chúng tôi.


Giới thiệu YourVietnamExpert.com

YourVietnamExpert là một đơn vị thuộc tập đoàn Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC), đăng ký kinh doanh tại Singapore từ năm 1994. Từ khi Việt Nam gia nhập Tổ chức Thương Mại Thế giới (WTO), cộng đồng quốc tế đã tìm thấy những cơ hội kinh doanh hấp dẫn nhưng cũng đầy thách thức. Hiểu được điều này, YourVietnamExpert tập trung cung cấp các dịch vụ tư vấn về nghiên cứu thị trường, tìm kiếm đối tác. Thế mạnh của YourVietnamExpert nằm ở đội ngũ chuyên gia thông thạo nhiều ngôn ngữ với trình độ chuyên môn giỏi, luôn sẵn sàng hỗ trợ bạn trong suốt quá trình kinh doanh với kinh nghiệm và kiến thức vững vàng trong các lĩnh vực quan hệ quốc tế, du lịch và y tế sức khỏe.

Vietnam: Giới thiệu YourVietnamExpert.com

Nhịp cầu đưa Doanh Nghiệp Việt Nam đến với cộng đồng Quốc Tế

Kim chỉ nam để doanh nghiệp tại Việt Nam tối ưu họat động kinh doanh và tìm kiếm cơ hội mới


Chúng tôi làm điều đó như thế nào?

Theo chúng tôi, chìa khóa dẫn đến thành công khi kinh doanh tại Việt Nam là sự thấu hiểu và tôn trọng giá trị lẫn nhau giữa doanh nghiệp và đối tác Việt Nam. Điều đó được thể hiện ở nhiều khía cạnh, trong đó có thể kể đến:
  • Định hướng chiến lược với cùng một tầm nhìn;
  • Khả năng giao tiếp và chia sẻ với cùng một ngôn ngữ;
  • Phục vụ cùng một đối tượng khách hàng.
YourVietNamExpert sở hữu một đội ngũ những Chuyên gia về ngôn ngữ và họat động kinh doanh tại Việt Nam, luôn sẵn sàng giúp các doanh nghiệp che lấp những khoảng cách trong giao tiếp đồng thời củng cố thêm kiến thức chuyên ngành nhằm nắm bắt và tận dụng hiệu quả những cơ hội kinh doanh đầy hấp dẫn trong thị trường sôi động này.

Với mục tiêu là người bạn đồng hành của doanh nghiệp tại Việt Nam, chúng tôi cung cấp một hệ thống dịch vụ chuyên nghiệp về các lĩnh vực Tư Vấn, Quản lý Đầu tư, tập trung vào ba mảng kinh tế chính:

  • Quan hệ & Giao thương quốc tế;
  • Y tế & Chăm sóc Sức khỏe;
  • Du Lịch & Khách sạn.
Chuyên gia tư vấn với nhiều năm kinh nghiệm của chúng tôi, bà Anh Tho Andres, cư trú tại Thụy Sĩ, sẵn sàng giải đáp mọi thắc mắc của các quý doanh nghiệp qua các dịch vụ của chúng tôi.


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YourVietnamExpert là một đơn vị thuộc tập đoàn Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC), đăng ký kinh doanh tại Singapore từ năm 1994. Từ khi Việt Nam gia nhập Tổ chức Thương Mại Thế giới (WTO), cộng đồng quốc tế đã tìm thấy những cơ hội kinh doanh hấp dẫn nhưng cũng đầy thách thức. Hiểu được điều này, YourVietnamExpert tập trung cung cấp các dịch vụ tư vấn về nghiên cứu thị trường, tìm kiếm đối tác. Thế mạnh của YourVietnamExpert nằm ở đội ngũ chuyên gia thông thạo nhiều ngôn ngữ với trình độ chuyên môn giỏi, luôn sẵn sàng hỗ trợ bạn trong suốt quá trình kinh doanh với kinh nghiệm và kiến thức vững vàng trong các lĩnh vực quan hệ quốc tế, du lịch và y tế sức khỏe.

Letter from Japan 31 July - Energy Savings in Japan

Original Title in Vietnamese - Translation by Anh Tho Andres @yourvietnamexpert.com

Letter from Japan from our Japanese Friend of Vietnam

Hiện tại nước Nhật đang đúng vào mùa lễ hội mùa hè và người ta tổ chức lễ hội khắp nơi trên nước Nhật. Tại Nhật khi tham gia lễ hội người ta mặc các trang phục như trong hình.


Tại Nhật hiện nay đề tài về tiết kiệm điện đang được đề cập rất sôi nổi. Trong đó, để tiết kiệm được một phần nhỏ lượng điện tiêu thụ, người ta không ướp lạnh bia để uống như trước đây mà bán ra thị trường loại bia chuyên dùng đá bỏ vào cho bia lạnh trước khi uống.

Ở Việt Nam tại hầu hết các quán người ta cho đá vào bia cho lạnh rồi mới uống nên việc này đối với người Việt không có gì là lạ, thế nhưng tại Nhật khả năng làm lạnh của các tủ lạnh rất mạnh nên việc tung ra thị trường bán các loại bia này là một bước ngoặt lớn.

Hiện nay người ta đang nỗ lực cải cách công nghệ và phát minh ra các công nghệ mới để phục vụ cho việc tiết kiệm điện, vì thế liên tục các sản phẩm mới được tung ra thị trường và phong cách sống (life style) của người Nhật cũng dần thay đổi. Việc này có thể cũng liên quan đến việc phát triển của nước Nhật trong tương lai.


English translation by Anh Tho Andres @yourvietnamexpert.com

Japanese Business News 31 July
 
Dear All, I am sending you some business news from Japan.

At this time of the year, Japan is celebrating the Summer Festival and everywhere in Japan, you can see lots of celebrations going on. During these celebrations, Japanese would put on their traditional clothes as you may see on the picture.

At present, the question of how to save electricity is hot subject among the Japanese population. One of the practices used in electricity saving is to serve beer with ice cubes instead of serving refrigerated beer as before.

This practice is not new to Vietnamese who are used to be served their beer this way, but for the Japanese living in Japan, where the energy consumption needed to run the cooling system is so high, this 'innovation' is a big change in Japanese thinking.

Big efforts are being done to bring about new technologies allowing an efficient energy saving policy, and many innovative products are being launched to respond to this demand. Japanese are also changing their lifestyle. All these changes will have an impact on the Japanese economy in the future.


Japanese Business News : YourVietnamExpert has the pleasure to bring you business news in Japanese/Vietnamese to serve the community. This is part of our effort in bridging the relationship between Vietnamese and Japanese companies and create more business opportunities through our growing network. YourVietnamexpert Team

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Vietnam - Foreign companies under scrutiny by Tax Department


Source: Vietnam Business News
The HCM City Tax Department said its efforts to crack down on transfer price abuse by foreign-invested firms have proved successful, with tax revenues in the first seven months increasing by 22 per cent.
It joined battle two years ago with foreign-invested firms that under-reported profits or claimed losses by manipulating transfer pricing and they have begun to take it seriously, it said.
Nguyen Trong Hanh, deputy head of the department, told Tuoi Tre newspaper that the number of foreign-invested firms that had claimed losses for several years but have recently reported profits increased by 8 per cent.
Last year, for instance, 60 per cent of foreign companies in the city reported losses while Vietnamese firms of the same size in their industry were profitable both at home and abroad.
Many achieved this by importing machinery and goods from their parent companies abroad and fraudulently invoicing them at high prices and under-invoicing products they sold to their parents.
But the department was hamstrung because there were a huge number of firms in the city but limited personnel.
In Tan Binh District, for instance, the department had to monitor 14,000 firms with just 40 officials, he complained.
In 2009 and early 2010, the department investigated 40 firms on suspicion of pricing-transfer abuse. Since then, they had been reporting profits.
One of them even reported a profit of VND100 billion (US$4.8 million).
The department had its sights on large foreign-invested firms from South Korea, Japan, mainland China and others.
Recently many cases of abuse had been discovered around the country and punished.Officials admit that the practice continues because of the country’s inadequate legal framework. — VNS

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YourVietBooks: Trung tâm Biên Phiên dịch Việt-Pháp (C.F.I.T)

YourVietBooks: Trung tâm Biên Phiên dịch Việt-Pháp (C.F.I.T): "Trung tâm Biên Phiên dịch Việt-Pháp (C.F.I.T) là một dự án hợp tác song phương giữa Học viện Ngoại giao và Đại sứ quán Pháp tại Việt Nam, ..."

Traduction juridique F/V. Plus d'info sur http://www.yourvietnamexpert.com/French

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YourVietBooks: La Nouvelle Organisation Mondiale du Commerce

YourVietBooks: La Nouvelle Organisation Mondiale du Commerce: "Original version in French: La Nouvelle Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC) Proposed English Title: The NEW World Trade Organisation (W..."

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YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR;Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality.We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.

YourVietBooks: LEXIQUE DES TERMES JURIDIQUES FRANÇAIS - VIETNAMI...

YourVietBooks: LEXIQUE DES TERMES JURIDIQUES FRANÇAIS - VIETNAMI...: " Original Title in French: LEXIQUE DES TERMES JURIDIQUES FRAN ÇAIS - V..."

Vous cherchez un traducteur expérimenté, contactez-nous. Contact@YourVietnamExpert.com

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YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR;Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality.We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.

Jul 30, 2011

Vietnam - What’s wrong with history?


Following recently reported record low scores in the history section of the national university entrance exam that took place earlier this month, educators throughout the country have entered a heated debate over what causes the decline.
As statistics released by hundreds of universities around the country show, the number of students who scored average (5.0 points out of 10) or above in the history test makes up a minuscule 0.3-5.0 percent, the lowest in the past few years.
Figures from Tien Giang University in the southern province of Tien Giang reveal 98 percent of the candidates who sat for the history test had a below-average score. Specifically, the highest mark is only 5.25, while 47 of its 253 test takers scored zero.
In the central province of Quang Nam, 99 percent of the history test takers at Quang Nam University failed to get an average score of 5.0 in July’s exam, the school said.
At Ton Duc Thang University in Ho Chi Minh City, an equally high percentage of the candidates, 99.6 percent, also failed to get an average score on the history test.
Only 3.6 percent of the candidates taking the test at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture had an average or above-average score.
Saigon University in the southern hub complained that only 5 percent of its 2,300 history test takers could get a 5.0.
“This is unprecedented,” an examiner at Quy Nho University in the central province of Binh Dinh sighed.
Assoc Prof Ha Minh Hong, dean of the history faculty at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Ho Chi Minh City, said the test questions this year challenged the rote learning method, resulting in such dismally low scores.
As Hong pointed out, to get an average score, the students need to think critically and connect the dots, not simply to regurgitate the information from the textbook.
“It was a really tough test,” Huynh Duc Thien, a history lecturer at USSH, concurred.
Why the dismal results?
“We simply did not have enough time in class,” many teachers explained. 

With history often regarded as a ‘second-rate’ subject, high school students have only one or two 45-minute sessions a week, hardly enough time to drill them in the subject, many teachers complained.
Thinking about or analyzing a historical event is virtually impossible within such short periods of time. The problem becomes worse when the goal of the textbook is mainly to cram the students with as much information as possible within the allotted time.
Even seasoned teachers of history admitted that they have trouble trying to cover all the materials the Ministry of Education and Training require them to go through with their students in class.
Nguyen Ai Hang, a history teacher at Tran Phu High School in Ho Chi Minh City, said they are lucky to have enough time to present a skeletal outline of an event to the students, much less analyze or help them think critically about it as demanded by the exam’s questions.
“We should review the curriculum of this subject, and the time allocation for it as well. How can you cover all historical events and at the same time teach your students to think critically about them with just one or two classes a week?” complained Pham Van Roanh, another history teacher at Bui Thi Xuan High School in Ho Chi Minh City.
Having just one or two classes a week, 12th-graders who sit for the university entrance exam after graduation are expected to memorize almost everything about world history from 1945 till now and Vietnam’s history from 1919 until present.
Many teachers suggested designing a more ‘relaxed’ curriculum to replace such an ‘ambitious’ one.
“The textbook is so thick, packed with so many events, dates, and statistics, and yet we have very limited time to learn it,” Vuong Linh, a student protested.


Vietnam’s national university entrance exam 


The national university entrance exam is administered annually by the Ministry of Education and Training on July 4 and 5 or 9 and 10.
To be admitted to the university of their choice, high school graduates are required to pass admission tests on a set of three subjects among math, physics, chemistry, biology, literature, history, geography, and foreign languages (either English, German, French, Japanese, Russian, or Chinese), depending on their majors.
2011 history test questions prepared by the Ministry of Education and Training
Question 1 (3 points)
Analyze the reasons why Nguyen Tat Thanh left Vietnam to find ways to liberate his country.
Question 2 (2 points)
What are the differences between the Political Thesis of the Indochinese Communist Party issued in October 1930 and the first political platform of the Communist Party of Vietnam?
How were those differences resolved between 1939 and 1945?
Question 3 (2 points)
What victory helped the Vietnamese achieve their stated mission of “driving the Americans out of the country” during the resistance war against the U.S. (1945-1975)? Describe the victory’s impact on the development of the revolution in the South.
Choose one of the following two:
Question 4a (3 points)
Write about the establishment and development of the biggest political-economic institution in the world from 1951 to 2000.
Question 4b (3 points)
Give a summary of the emergence of independent countries in Southeast Asia in 1945.



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Innovation and Higher Education in Five Asian Societies

Source: Worldbank
Besides coping with a larger number of student enrollments and delivering quality teaching, universities in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan have been under pressure to engage in entrepreneurial and research activities that foster economic and social development, and to cement closer ties with industry and business. This role is beyond the “comfort zone” of some higher education institutions. While the author chronicles the various efforts being made to develop national innovation systems and more university-industry linkages, he also asserts that the university sector in Asia has been a “late-comer” to these tasks and has yet to play a very important part in the promotion of innovation. In terms of policy recommendations, the author suggests that governments play an economy-wide integrating role, that regulatory frameworks be loosened, and that education systems build a culture of innovation. He also identifies good practices adopted by the selected cases for other developing countries.

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Higher Education Faculty in East Asia

Source: Worldbank
Government support for higher education in East Asia is high and there has been rapid expansion in this sector. But, as demand for access to postsecondary opportunities has grown, it has outstripped the supply of qualified college and university personnel. Weak instruction and inadequate infrastructure has led to poor quality. Meanwhile, instructors are being asked to teach larger classes, do more research, teach across a broader range of abilities, take on more responsibilities even as they hold second jobs to make ends meet, and ensure that graduates have more relevant, higher quality job skills when they graduate. Solutions vary by country, but the paper surveys the size and composition of the faculty across East Asia, how they are trained and recruited, their conditions of employment, and evidence of their effectiveness. The paper concludes with strategies for recruiting, compensating, supporting, and evaluating college and university instructional staff.

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Higher Education and Thailand's National Innovation System

Source: Worldbank
Thailand has achieved impressive and consistent GDP growth over the past half-century in large part through extensive economic diversification. The country has become one of the world's leading exporters of products ranging from rice, to sugar, to rubber, to prawns, to garments, to pickup trucks, to computer components. Despite these gains, there is growing evidence that Thailand suffers from a significant gap between the advanced nature of its export structure and the much more modest technological levels of its own firms and labor force. The country’s weak national innovation system is a key contributor to this disparity. The Thai bureaucracy, especially the line ministries, exhibits fragmentation and competition that in turn discourage fruitful interaction with the country’s firms and associations, financial institutions and, most critically for this paper, educational institutions and their links to the private sector. The authors trace these weaknesses to a development strategy that focuses largely on jobs and foreign exchange; divisions among political elites; and a set of structural factors – weak external threats, demobilized popular sectors, and easy access to resources and revenues – that underpins this strategy and the political divisions. The overall result is an environment that discourages both the demand for and the supply of innovation-promoting institutions. Analyses of autos, hard disk drives, and rubber flesh out this general picture and demonstrate cross-sector and even intrasectoral variation in the strength of innovation systems. In so doing, they suggest specific parameters within which more progress is possible than is evident from a purely national perspective. They also suggest that sector-specific successes constitute useful models for replication.

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Philippine National Innovation System

This paper assesses the state of the Philippines National Innovation System (NIS) and analyzes the plans in place to reform and strengthen the system. The NIS is defined as a conglomeration of high-quality academic and research institutions and their linkages with private industries. The paper finds the NIS to be underdeveloped, with respect to both world-class research institutes and research outputs, measured in terms of doctorates, publications, scientists produced and technology development and transfer. The paper implicates the failure to develop a strong NIS on the populist education policy, adopted at the turn of the 20th Century by the American colonial regime and sustained by successive post-independent administrations. Poor infrastructure along with a lack of stable and rational macro policies, rule of law and good government have all contributed to the neglect of the NIS. The government has authorized the use of unprecedented sums, by historical standards, to enhance research, scholarship and infrastructure development of S&T units of the University of the Philippines and a consortium of six other engineering schools. The paper suggests, among other things, that the Department of Science and Technology, the newly created Commission on Science and Technology and the university consortium draw up an operational plan for accelerating and sustaining the development of the NIS and the role of higher education within it.

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Higher Education Innovation in China

Source: Worldbank
China has the world’s largest higher education sector and has made impressive gains in making sure that such education is widely accessible. Government investment in the sector has been high, with total expenditures on higher education increasing six-fold from 1997-2005. Nonetheless, notes this study, universities in China have yet to become key drivers of innovation. China has also seen solid growth in R&D spending, but the bulk of this spending (70%) goes to industry, with universities performing less than 10% of R&D. Still, universities in China find themselves having to operate in an increasingly market-oriented environment and a handful of elite universities are creating university enterprises, or entering into technology transfer contracts with firms. The author evaluates the basic characteristics, scale and performance of Chinese universities, while outlining their interaction with the other elements of the innovation system and assessing their ability to contribute effectively to the creation, adaptation and diffusion of technology and knowledge. The paper concludes with policy suggestions on how the contribution of higher education to the national innovation system could be enhanced both in China and possibly in other developing countries.



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Higher Education in East Asia - Innovation

Source: Worldbank

Innovation and technological capacity is fundamental to diversifying and upgrading product lines, but this capacity is still under-developed in much of East Asia. With the exception of Japan and Korea, most East Asian countries are struggling to develop the innovation potential of their higher education system. Governments across the region are devising strategies to support research centers and universities are offering specialized studies.
However, much more remains to be done in building partnerships between governments, universities, and industry to support applied research and technology transfer that meets R&D needs. According to the international ranking compiled by Webometrics, only China manages to have one university within the top 200 universities, and only China, Thailand and Korea make it to the top 500 with at least two of their universities.
Supporting higher enrollment in hard sciences and Ph.D.-level research, and developing skills for innovation such as creative thinking, are additional ways to grow innovation. Case studies are taking a closer look at where the innovation-related gaps are, with special attention to the advantages and disadvantages of a supply vs. demand approach.



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Vietnam tourism: better marketing?

by Ben Bland
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/06/06/vietnam-tourism-better-marketing/#ixzz1TZFHwK9c
With its fascinating history and culture and diverse scenery, from soaring mountains to two thousand miles of coastline, Vietnam has many natural attractions as a tourism destination.

But investors are growing increasingly concerned that Vietnam’s tourism industry is failing to live up to its potential and fear that a recent construction boom could leave hotels struggling to fill rooms.
Although Vietnam received a record 5m visitors last year, a 35 percent increase on crisis-hit 2009, it still attracted fewer tourists than Bulgaria, Syria and Ukraine, according to Baron Ah Moo, a representative of the lobby group for investors in Vietnam’s tourism industry.

Even neighbouring, poverty-stricken Laos and Cambodia, which are far smaller in terms of population and land area, put Vietnam to shame, registering far higher numbers of visitors per capita. Both received around 2.5m visitors last year, with populations of 6.5m and 14.7m respectively, compared to Vietnam’s 87m.

So where is Vietnam going wrong? The two key problems are the lack of a proper destination marketing campaign and Vietnam’s cumbersome visa requirements, according to Ah Moo, who is also chief executive of the hotels and resorts division of Indochina Capital, a long-standing foreign investor in Vietnam, with $540m in assets under management.

While other countries in the region have successfully used destination marketing to boost visitor numbers (think “Malaysia: Truly Asia, “Incredible India” and “Amazing Thailand”), Vietnam’s under-funded tourism authority has struggled to keep up.

Ah Moo reckons the government only spends of $1m-$1.5m on tourism promotion, a number dwarfed by the investment in tourism advertising from the likes of Thailand and Malaysia.

The Vietnam tourism administration’s latest attempt to generate a new catch-line through a public competition floundered when the winning entry – “Vietnam: A Different Orient” – was dropped in April following criticism from the public and the industry.

Vietnam’s previous slogan – “The Hidden Charm” – was perhaps more an accurate summary of the problems facing the country’s tourism industry than an effective promotion tool.

“The slogan should be the outcome of a destination marketing campaign, not the starting point,” said Ah Moo. “They need to ask what they really want Vietnam to be.”

But he urged the government to take on Cowan, the marketing agency that came up with the latest slogan, or another such firm, which officials have indicated they will do.

Marketing matters, other tourism industry executives say, particularly because many visitors still see Vietnam as a “cultural destination” and once they have been once and ticked it off their list they are much less likely to come back than visitors to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, who often return to favourite resorts or towns.

Visas are another bugbear of the tourism industry. Most tourists have to get a visa in advance from a Vietnamese diplomatic mission overseas or obtain a visa confirmation letter, which allows them to obtain a so-called “visa-on-arrival”.

The hassle and the cost put people off, especially when they can get in to Thailand and Malaysia without a visa and can obtain a genuine visa-on-arrival in Indonesia.

But the government remains concerned about the security implications of relaxing the restrictions and is not keen to make it easier for visitors from Western countries to come to Vietnam, at a time when they are setting the bar for Vietnamese tourists and students very high indeed, requiring guarantee letters and evidence of financial assets.

In a presentation to the government at the end of May, Ah Moo warned that the industry was facing a challenging time, with 2,500 hotel rooms set to be added to the market in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Danang this year, according to Savills Vietnam, and 3,700 next year.

That highlights one key problem in Communist-ruled Vietnam: while investment, particularly in real estate, has been growing at a rapid rate, the government and the bureaucracy tends to move at a much slower pace.
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We hope at SBC that a growing awareness on this sensitive subject will bring some profitable and sustainable achievements.

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YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.