Development of human resources in science and technology – experience from The United States and application in Vietnam
VNU Journal of Science: Policy and Management Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1 (2016) 95-103
Development of Human Resources in Science
and Technology – Experience from the United States
and Application in Vietnam
Trꢀnh Ngꢁc Thꢂch1,*, ꢃào Thꢀ Thu Thꢄy2
1The Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, Teens and Children's Parliament,
22 Hùng Vương, Ba Đình, Hanoi, Vietnam
2Ministry of Science and Technology, 113 Trần Duy Hưng, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam
Received 12 January 2016
Revised 12 March 2016; Accepted 19 March 2016
Abstract: In the modern society, human resource is the most vital source for the development of
every nation, race or ethnicity because only qualified people can properly manage other sources.
Therefore, many countries in the world have implemented policies to enhance domestic human
resource and attract high-quality workers from other countries. In order to help the economy of a
country integrate with international organizations, it is essential to mention the important role of
science and technology work forces. The training and developing high quality human resource has
become a top mission in many countries and the United States (US) has become the leading
country in the field.
Keywords: Human resources, science and technology work forces, experience, United States.
was 48.386 USD” [1]. The natural resources
and socioeconomic conditions were the positive
factors to assist the US enter international
organizations.
The rivalry between countries in the 21st
century will be the battle of a national synthetic
power in the field of advanced science and
technology.
1. The current state in training high quality
human resource in the US∗
The US is a large country, surrounded by
Canada, the Atlantic Ocean, Mexico and the
Pacific Ocean. It is constituted of 50 states with
a total area of 9.629.047 km2. “The US is the
largest country in the world and it is also a
country with the most advanced science and
technology. In 2012, the population of the US
was 314.07 million. In 2011, the human
development index (HDI) was 15.094 billion
USD and the GDP per capita in the same year
To achieve that result, the US had to go
through 200 years of development with the
materialism and a driven force of: “Human
resource is the center of all development”. The
US has brought out multiple strategies to
develop human resource in science and
technology while participating in international
organizations. Its achievement in the field of
_______
∗
Tel.: 84-913249386
Email: ngocthach74@gmail.com
95
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96
science and technology and human resource
training has become a lesson for Vietnam and
many other countries in the world.
scientists from other countries have migrated to
the US. This reality clearly answered the
question why the US has the huge number of
top scientists in many disciplines.
1.1. Allocation of expenditure for education and
training in America
1.2. Success in university education
The US is a country with a morden
education system, especially in higher
education, considered as the most effective in
the world [2]. The US also takes the lead in
high quality science and technology human
resource. The famous educationist Gunnar
Myrdal once said: “Throughout the long history
of America, education has always been the hope
to improve each character and each society” [3].
Most historians agree that the advancement in
economy, politics, science and culture of the
US were achieved in a short period of time
thanks to the development of education.
In the US, generalizing high school
education is initiated in a way that says all
citizens must be educated to create a society of
freedom, and level improvement and self-
proficiency. In the US, the education system is
compulsory and free until the age of 16 or 18.
Each state has its own schools, called “public
school”, and the “Federal Office of Education”
will be in charge of the whole country. The
system contains:
- Nursery schools or kindergartens for
children from the age of 2 to 6.
- Primary schools with 6 or 8 years from the
age of 6 to 12 or 14.
With a long term strategy, the expenditure
for higher education in the US all came from
different sources, such as companies, state
organizations, non-governmental organizations,
religious organizations, sponsors, and so on. In
order to fully develop equality in education, the
US has deliberately removed the barrier of
expenses so that all students can go to school.
“According to the GDP rate, the education
budget in America has soared continuously:
5.3% of the GDP in 1960, 7% of the GDP in
1991, and currently it is approximately 7.5% of
the GDP, which is a much higher amount of
education budget in comparison with other
developed countries [4]. The budget above is
used for building schools, supplying modern
devices and training educators. The affluent
budget has given schools the ability to build
modern infrastructure, train educators, and also
create student support funds.
- High schools with 4 years of junior high
school and 4 years of senior high school, from
the age of 12 to 18.
- Colleges and universities.
According to published statistics “The US
has around 80.000 primary schools and 32.000
high schools. The rate between students and
teachers is 20 for primary schools and 5 for
high schools, which is actually a very
encouraging rate, compared to South Korea, a
country with a developed education system,
where the rates are only at 36 and 30” [4].
The scale of university education and
professional high schools has escalated quickly,
bringing the US to the period of mass university
education. Many countries and international
organizations have accepted that the US has the
best university education in the world.
American education has many prominent
qualities: the training quality reaches a high
level in which creativity is encouraged, training
program is close to reality and constantly being
updated, modern technology is used in training,
researching and training is closely attached to
each other.
As to human resource development, the US
cultivates a creative environment, encourages
talented individuals, fosters and attracts these
people in many fields. World War II has left the
US, the only country in the world, with
opportunities to attract a large number of
human resources, resulting from that, a lot of
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97
As a country with a highly developed
education, practicality, and a system of the best
universities in the world, along with the “Red
Carpet” policy which welcomes international
students, the number of foreign students in the
US is continuously rising and topping the chart.
According to the US Open Doors report from
the Institute of International Education (IIE):
“In the school year of 1954-1955, the number
of international students in the US was 34.000.
After that, the academic year of 2003 to 2004
had more than 572.000 students. For the
academic year of 2006-2007, there were
583.000 students studying and researching in
America”.
model and training program. “In Asia, many
high quality universities such as Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), National
University of Singapore (NUS), Chulalongkorn
University
University,
(Thailand), Seoul
Korea University,
National
Yonsei
University, Tsinghua University (China) all
apply American university programs in their
academic system [5]. All the Asian universities
listed above use the same manuals from
Harvard, MIT, Stanford, University of
California, Berkeley, and so on.
In order to correctly comprehend the
content of American university manual,
university professors use English and not
focusing too much on compiling the manual. If
the majority of students need references, the
university will begin to compile. The translation
from English to other languages is actually not
encouraged in these universities because most
of the students in these universities can speak
English fluently. By applying these university
education models and American university
programs, Asian countries have rapidly created
skillful human resource, which is good at
science and technology, has improved
management skills and developed the main
industrial fields. More importantly, it helps
shorten the industrialization time and enhance
the rival ability nowadays.
In accordance with the result of rating and
listing the best universities in the world, “The
US has 88/200 top universities which takes up
44%. In 2000, The US has around 3.600
universities and colleges with more than 10
million students. Also, the rate of people at the
age of attending universities, colleges,
vocational schools has increased rapidly: from
56% in 1970 to 76% at the beginning of the
1990s and 78% currently”.
What makes the originality of American
education system is the diversity in quality. It
ranges from high schools which have been
upgraded to universities to the best universities
in the world. It cannot be controlled in the same
management that the ministry of education
from other countries conducts. The diversity
seems to be infinite, anything can be taught. A
high school student who wasn’t ranked high in
the past can still attend the most prestigious
university in America if his IQ his high. The
weak performance in the past is not a standard
to consider, the fault can come from schools,
not the students. It is an education system that
appreciates individual value through the whole
process of development. With that conception,
American universities have selected a large
number of students with talents and trained
them to become more efficient.
Companies are also concentrating on
developing human resource and training labor.
“In 2002, the expenditure for training labors in
companies is 210 billion USD. It increases to
600 million USD in 2005 and more than 800
million USD in 2000 and now it reaches to
1.000 billion USD” [4].
2. American experience in university
education to meet the demand for human
resource development
2.1. Collecting sources to train talented
individuals in leading areas, especially
focusing on science and technology human
resource
Most of the developed industrial countries
have applied the American university education
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98
In 2001, the US applied a program in
applied. In 2003, one third of the classes which
followed BEST had their own website. The
talent training method emphasizes on
mathematical tools and Inter-disciplinary
Studies. Students get used to applying tools and
processing multi-dimensional data when taking
part in science subjects. The budget for
scientific research of students rises constantly.
In 2001, 67% of students getting financial
support for research from the federal budget,
mostly focusing on basic sciences. Therefore,
many outstanding pieces of research have been
made by talented young student [6].
training talented individuals for Science and
Technology (called the “BEST” program:
Building Engineering and Science Talent) in
several reputable universities. The objective of
this program is to widen the scale of Science
and Technology labor force, through attracting
the young and talented individuals to science
and technology to replace the former
generations. This program advocacy is to focus
mainly on training American born citizens. In
2003, many prestigious universities designed
and applied 124 curriculums in training Science
and Technology, classified as priority training
according to the BEST program. Even though
the financial support from the government to
these university talent programs is not major,
the financial source can be distributed
“generously” to truly talented students. In the
US, Science and Technology human resource
training can receive a large support from
investment in Science and Technology
infrastructure and R&D activities. Investing for
Science and Technology in the US is standing
at 2.8% of the GDP, taking up 44% in science
and technology gross expenditure in OECD
countries. This figure ranked first in the world.
2.2. Well practicing of education management
The two effects that made the trademark of
American education nowadays are the scale
(effects on law) and diversity (culture). The
federal constitution allows local communities to
properly control the administration in public
schools by letting the community takes charge
of making policies and teaching plans for the
schools.
School managers who are voted by the
communities must fulfill all the needs from the
local and their concern for education. All
schools and universities have their own self-
managing groups, associations or steering
committees and all are independent on drafting
standards, accepting students and facilitating
their own requests for graduation. The main
result for this unique situation is the diversity
and flexibility in the post-graduate and graduate
university system of the whole country. Each
year, hundreds of research papers, which
strictly undergo the peer-reviewed process, are
published. Each school has their own research
and education evaluation department. The
inspection and evaluation get stricter by each
stage. The public debate on quality, contents
and educational goal takes place widely across
America.
National Research Foundation has made
positive effects on university research,
especially on training young and talented
groups. Therefore, each year around 3000
patents are given to universities in America.
Training Science and Technology personnel is
mainly conducted on collaborating effectively
in research activities. For 127 universities in the
US, 78% of the total bachelor degrees were
given in 2000 and 87% of the total master
degrees in science and technology. According
to the BEST plan, universities must take the
main responsibilities in training young and
talented human resource.
The method of training human resources in
the US changes constantly. Applying modern
technology in teaching and research is
compulsory for professors in universities;
especially information technology is widely
2.3. American education system always initiates
specific goals
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99
Basically, American education strives for an
equal education opportunity, despite social
class, or race/ethnicity. Cultural effects on
American education are also important but
harder to define. The generally high educational
level is always considered indispensable in
American education system.
to teach a diverse “population” of students with
different social, educational, and health needs.
- Establish cooperation, whenever possible,
between local educational office, high quality
educational institute, student’s parents, labor
force, and business community with local job
associations, to provide and support educators’
specialty development programs.
American education has a tradition to serve
the purpose of uniting people with each other,
which is the “Americanize goal.” Schools in the
US have served the purpose of uniting hundreds
of cultural groups, languages, religions and
socio-political backgrounds that represent
millions of immigrants.
2.5. Education system is always accredited
Because of its diversity and flexibility,
along with the outstanding precedence of
Science and Technology, the American
education system is considered to have a high
accreditation rate. In the US, state licensed is
based on meeting three requirements for
establishing schools according to each state,
such as material facilities, security, deposit, tax,
and so on. Accreditation is concerned with
academic quality. Being established does not
mean that it has been accredited. Therefore, the
US has an apparent differentiation between
accredited universities and degree coming from
diploma mills.
Education helps improve society – reducing
disparities in social background, race or
ethnicity, which is accepted by many people
nowadays. The majority of public and private
schools are enthusiastic on supporting this
“democratic diversity” and manifest it in
selecting their students.
The major goal for education is a way of
“making yourself better” or “rising above the
world”, which is a basic part of the American
dream. Millions of people migrate to the US
with a hope of having a better life with a better
education for themselves and more importantly,
for their children. The starting point – despite
the last goal being money, fame, power or
simply, knowledge – often starts from the
doorsteps of a university.
In the US, there are two offices that
recognize accrediting agencies, which are
Department of Education (USDE) and CHEA.
Among them, USDE is a government office and
CHEA is an independent office that is certified
by government and accrediting agencies. Up to
2010, these two offices have created database
for schools after high school (around 60% are
universities), accredited with 7.000 schools and
18.000 training programs [7].
2.4. Dignifying the responsibility of educators
The most common type of evaluation is
through the assessment forms from students.
The requirements for educators are being able
to convey and ensure the knowledge output as
well as student’s assessment.
Throughout 200 years of development, the
American education system has come a long
way. The system has trained a large number of
students at advanced level, who covered 40% of
the national labor force. In reality, the US is one
of those countries that have the highest number
of the world’s top scientists. Such high quality
human resource has brought the US to a
superior position.
The dignifying of educator’s responsibility
is determined by:
- Every educator has the right to take part in
the initial training process and activities to
improve specialty. Through that, educators will
be equipped with knowledge and essential skills
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second language such as English, and former
teaching methods. There are two approaches
and assignments of these programs in Vietnam:
firstly, invite American professors to come and
teach in Vietnam; secondly, choose young and
qualified trainees to visit the US to learn,
acquire, and implement the training model.
These approaches can be done at the Vietnam
National University, Hanoi. The result can be
evaluated to enhance the human resource
training in several potential universities in
Vietnam.
3. Applying American experience in training
and developing human resource in Vietnam
The American training and educating
programs can be applied to Vietnam by this
order:
3.1. Arranging selection of Vietnamese talented
students to study in talent training program
In America, talented students are selected
and
through
multiple
examinations
classification of IQ index, EQ (emotion index),
and CQ (creativity index). The competing rate
to study in reputable universities with talent
training program is high. Due to the fact that
after completing their degrees or training,
students can quickly find jobs with high income
in big companies. The current method in
selecting talented student in Vietnam is not
suitable. Thus, Vietnam can adopt some
To provide students with reference, the
Ministry of Education and Training needs to
provide financial support to translate essential
documents into Vietnamese. It is certain that
the money used for translating and publishing
those documents is not as much as hiring
Vietnamese authors to compile the manuals.
The benefit firstly goes to the government since
additional money can be saved for education.
The second benefit is that students can receive
benefits from translation of scientific
documents. Because some manuals compiled
by Vietnamese authors are too simple, the
important content for developing analytical
abilities is usually cut, and some matters are not
presented accurately based on the authors’
subjective ideas.
recruitment
methods
from
American
universities, for example, using the assessment
standard of ETS (Talent Discovery and
Selection), to select candidate for the talent
training programs.
3.2. Selecting several programs which have
been successfully applied in many Asian
countries and can possibly be conducted in
Vietnam
3.4. Changing teaching method
Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Stanford’s
programs are examples. As for business and
administration talent training program, it is
suitable to apply the program from Harvard (for
further information about the Harvard Business
School and Kennedy School training program,
Teaching method is one of the essential
keys in the educational process. The
exploration, instruction, encouragement of new
ideas, exchange and public debate are
considered as important phases in the
educational process. To apply technologies in
classroom, universities need to invest in modern
devices, and link university training with other
research institutes and industries to produce
more valuable scientific findings.
visit
For
mathematics, science and technology training
programs, BEST ideas and goals can be ideal
(for
further
information,
visit
3.5. Supplying facilities for universities
3.3. Focusing on training educators
To advance the training quality and promote
training linked to scientific research and
application, the government needs to prioritize
Not many people can teach such programs
in Vietnam, due to the weaknesses in
inadequate knowledge, incapable of using
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101
and provide facilities, such as modern devices,
for the prominent universities. It is essential to
upgrade universities to research centers at the
national level by adopting models from
developed countries around the world. There is
no Nobel Science prize winner who did not take
part in any big project nor did not go to
laboratories and not own any modern technical
devices for research purposes. Academic
freedom and tolerance are the two basic
conditions for creativity and innovation.
regulations on university accreditation were
enforced. Accreditation continued to be
reinforced and developed along the
promulgation of other processes. However, the
knowledge of managers and educators,
particularly, and the society, generally, on
accreditation are very limited. Many people are
still misunderstanding of this concept.
Nowadays, the Ministry of Education and
Training is deploying the education quality
accreditation following the American model
that is used by many countries in the world. The
American accreditation model is a process
evaluated by an organization independent of the
educational office to examine and approve
quality of education programs and institutes.
3.6. Promoting collaborations between
university and industry
Currently, university training programs are
diverging from the industrial skill requirements.
Therefore, it is necessary to promote the
3.8.
Strengthening
the
collaboration between Vietnam and the US
educational
collaboration
and
association
between
universities and enterprises. By doing so, the
university can provide training and prepare high
quality individuals for the development process,
and at the same time, university can receive
funding from the enterprise. These funds can be
helpful in renovating training programs, support
research activities, and commercialize research
products. In South Korea, China and Japan, the
relationship between universities and industries
are very close. Especially, some universities
have switched to the enterprise university
module like the MIT in the US, and the NUS in
Singapore. In addition, enlarging university
operation means that universities must have
self-control abilities.
Throughout these years, the Ministry of
Education and Training and education
managers have focused on networking and
developing exchange programs with prestigious
universities and institutes in the world.
Especially, during recent visits, many
Vietnamese and American politicians have
mentioned the concern about national education
achievement. Many forums and seminars on
education were held by the two countries in
Washington D.C and Houston.
Some of the specific results of the education
association from the visit of Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung, are the agreement contract
signing to establish the education specialty
group between the Vietnam Ministry of
Education and Training and the US Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. This contract is the agreement
to boost educational collaboration between the
two governments. According to the record of
international students from the Institute of
International Education (IIE) in 2007, for the
first time in the US, Vietnam was ranked in the
“top 20” countries with the most number of
international students and the highest increase:
“the number of Vietnamese students studying in
3.7. Building model of ensuring educational
quality in Vietnam
Education accreditation is new field in
Vietnam. Systematically, it started when the
training accreditation office from the University
Department at The Ministry of Education and
Training was established in January 2002. Since
then, it is extended for every academic level
and different training level since 2003 after the
Examination and Accreditation Office was
established. Accreditation was strengthened
since December 2004 when the temporary
T.N. Thạch, Đ.T.T. Thủy / VNU Journal of Science: Policy and Management Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1 (2016) 95-103
102
American universities have increased from
4.597 to 6.036 students” [7].
has provided applicable lessons for Vietnam’s
industrialization and modernization process.
4. Conclusion
References
[1] Chi Canh Hoang, M.A and Tran Vinh Hoang,
M.A, September-October 2013, Training and
developing human resource in some countries and
experience for Vietnam, Development and
Integration Journal, number 12.
Training
developing human resources in Science and
Technology during our process of
talented
individuals
and
industrialization and modernization is an urgent
need. Nowadays, not only Vietnam National
University, Hanoi but also other universities
have conducted talented bachelor training and
high quality bachelor degree. In reality,
Vietnam have gone through a lot of activities
that is considered movements but in the end,
successful movements are limited but failed
ones are many.
[2] Van Kien, 2003, “The battle for recruiting
talented individuals in the 21st century”, Young
Scholar’s Knowledge Journal, published on
October 2nd
[3] Dolas K. Spevenson, 2007, Life and Regulations
in the US.
[4] Vu Van Hoa, M.A, November 2013, Experiences
from countries on high quality human resource
development and policy implication in Vietnam,
Information and Socioeconomic Prediction
Journal, number 95.
As a result, education management agencies
need to have an assessment to get experience
before conducting it on a larger scale. Training
and using high quality human resource must
start from students’ and employers’ needs, and
it is insufficient to respond only to trainers’
needs. Training and education is successful
only when the needs for training high quality
human resources meet with the requirements of
the socioeconomic development process. The
American experience in training human
resource in the field of Science and Technology
[5] Tran Van Tung: Applying American model of
training talented individuals in Vietnam, Flash
Journal, March 22nd 2012.
[6] Trinh Ngoc Thach (2012): Managing model of
training high quality human resources in higher
education in Vietnam, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi Press.
[7] Le Hoang Viet Lam, October 2010, American
education and some suggestions for Vietnamese
education, Scientific Conference: “Methods for
improving effectiveness of university and college
education management in Vietnam”, Vung Tau,
Vietnam.
Phát triꢅn nguꢆn nhân lꢇc khoa hꢁc và công nghꢈ - Kinh
nghiꢈm tꢉ Mꢊ và ꢋng dꢌng ꢍ Viꢈt Nam
Trꢀnh Ngꢁc Thꢂch1, ꢃào Thꢀ Thu Thꢄy2
1Ủy ban Văn hóa, Giáo dục, Thanh niên, Thiếu niên và Nhi đồng của Quốc hội,
22 Hùng Vương, Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Việt Nam
2Bộ Khoa học và Công nghệ, 113 Trần Duy Hưng, Cầu Giấy
, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tóm tắt: Trong xã hꢎi hiꢈn ꢏꢂi, nguꢆn nhân lꢇc là nguꢆn lꢇc thiꢐt yꢐu nhꢑt cho sꢇ phát triꢅn cꢄa
mꢒi quꢓc gia bꢍi ꢏây chính là yꢐu tꢓ quyꢐt ꢏꢀnh ꢏꢅ quꢔn lý tꢓt các nguꢆn lꢇc khác. Do ꢏó, nhiꢕu quꢓc
gia trên thꢐ giꢖi ꢏã thꢇc hiꢈn các chính sách ꢏꢅ tꢗng cưꢘng nguꢆn nhân lꢇc trong nưꢖc và thu hút
T.N. Thạch, Đ.T.T. Thủy / VNU Journal of Science: Policy and Management Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1 (2016) 95-103
103
nguꢆn lao ꢏꢎng chꢑt lưꢙng cao tꢉ nưꢖc ngoài. ꢃꢅ giúp cho nꢕn kinh tꢐ cꢄa mꢎt ꢏꢑt nưꢖc hꢎi nhꢚp vꢖi
các tꢛ chꢜc quꢓc tꢐ thì viꢈc chú trꢁng phát triꢅn lꢇc lưꢙng lao ꢏꢎng khoa hꢁc và công nghꢈ ꢏóng mꢎt
vai trò vô cùng to lꢖn. Viꢈc ꢏào tꢂo và phát triꢅn nguꢆn nhân lꢇc chꢑt lưꢙng cao ꢏã trꢍ thành mꢎt
nhiꢈm vꢌ hàng ꢏꢝu ꢍ nhiꢕu quꢓc gia và Hoa Kꢞ (Mꢊ) là mꢎt quꢓc gia ꢏi ꢏꢝu trong lꢟnh vꢇc này.
Từ khóa: Nguꢆn nhân lꢇc, lꢇc lưꢙng lao ꢏꢎng khoa hꢁc và công nghꢈ, kinh nghiꢈm, Mꢊ.
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