VietNamNet Bridge – When Nguyen Van Thuan, an associate
professor in the Department of Animal Biotechnology of Konkuk University,
Seoul, posted a heartfelt article in a popular online newspaper about his
intention to return home – for good – the reaction of readers was overwhelming.
Most suggested that he should not
return to Viet Nam to start over academically since the research environment
obviously could not reach the level of South Korea.
"My Korean colleagues were
also very surprised at my decision, considering the research environment at
Konkuk and the many important research results we have announced," Thuan
said.
These days, Professor Thuan is
busy getting ready for his return to the HCM City this week, where he would
start works on developing a centre on infertility treatment. At the same time,
he would also teach and conduct research at the International University within
the Viet Nam National University.
At a recent national conference
on implementing the scientific development strategic plan from now until 2020,
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan noted that South Korea, with 48 million
people, spent US$53 billion a year on scientific development.
"With 80 million people,
that number is $1 billion for Viet Nam," Nhan said. "At that rate of
development, after two years we would fall 100 years behind South Korea."
So, following other Asian
powerhouses such as South Korea and China, Viet Nam is making an effort to
bring back scientists as the country wants to make research and development a
sharper focus during its next phase of growth.
In December 2012, the Ministry of
Education and Training introduced a draft regulation on preferable policies to
attract Vietnamese scientists home to teach, research and conduct technology
transfer in higher education institutions for a short-term visit, which could
prompt them to return for the long-term.
The draft regulation suggests
preferable policies on visas, income tax exemptions, insurance, accommodation
and other rewarding policies for scientists returning.
However, creating a good research
environment required money and other forms of support that could not be bought,
said Dr. Eren Zink, who studies the politics of science in Viet Nam and wrote a
paper titled "The science of returning home: a study of Vietnamese
scientists with advanced international degrees" for his doctoral thesis in
2010.
Zink, now a lecturer at the
Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at Uppsala University in
Sweden, interviewed 60 Vietnamese scientists who had pursued advanced studies
abroad and then returned to Viet Nam.
"Talented researchers should
have more freedom to design their own research projects; often younger
researchers have the most cutting-edge knowledge, but they are rarely allowed
to decide how the research project should be designed," Zink said in an
email interview.
But things are changing, said Do
Tien Dung, director of the National Foundation for Science and Technology
(NAFOSTED), an agency with an annual budget of VND200 billion (US$9.6 million)
set up in 2009 to reward talented Vietnamese researchers and encourage them to
conduct world-class research in Viet Nam.
About 4,000 scientists had
received NAFOSTED stipends, and the number of young scientists now accounted
for 60 per cent, many already having finished their studies abroad and with
research published in international scientific magazines, Dung said.
"We are only interested in
the quality of the scientific proposals, not in their past experiences or what
institutions they worked at," Dung said. "Here they will find fewer
hurdles with paperwork and procedure for grant approvals."
Also to encourage its fellows to
return home, Phuong Nguyen, country director at the Viet Nam Education
Foundation, which sends about 40 Vietnamese fellows a year to the US to pursue
advanced studies in science-related majors, said the foundation organised an
annual conference with discussions and speakers centered on the theme of
"on the way home."
Since 2010, the foundation has
reduced the number of months that VEF fellows can stay in the US after
finishing their studies from 36 to 18 months. According to Phuong, the decision
came after talks with ministries and leaders who expressed the need for the
fellows to return home sooner to contribute to scientific development back
home.
"We want to show them that
there are opportunities back at home," Phuong said.
Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, who received
a master's degree in geographic information sciences for development and
environment from Clark University in the US in 2010, said she returned home
because "what I studied in the US is better applied here, considering my
familiarity with the country's geographical conditions."
Thuy, now a researcher at the
Viet Nam National Satellite Centre, said she and other young fellows who went
abroad obviously never expected the facilities at home could match the level in
the US. "We get used to it: the paperwork, the lack of rewarding policies
and other conditions."
Pham Bao Yen completed her Ph.D
in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
returned in 2011 as a researcher at the Ha Noi University of Science in
molecular biology. Yen said she was surprised by the modern equipment in the
laboratories but also faced difficulties such as the likes of the availability
of chemicals.
In 2008, the Ministry of
Education and Training submitted a proposal to the Office of Government to
attract expatriate Vietnamese scientists back to the country.
The scheme aimed to attract
scientists back to Vietnamese universities and institutions with attractive
salary packages and funding support for research projects, equipment and
laboratories, expecting to cost $80 million over the following eight years.
But it did not come to fruition.
Professor Thuan said getting the
talent back home should not be a short-term scheme, but a long-term process.
Still, he believed his return would pave the way for more Vietnamese students
at Konkuk to consider returning home as a valuable option.
"My biggest hope now is that
within the next 2-3 years I can conduct successful research on asexual animal
cloning in Viet Nam," he said. "I return when the country is in need,
it's more valuable than when ‘the house is already built'."
Source: VNS
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