Vietnam Setting up Quality Criteria for IT Workforce

Vietnam targets to train 30 % of students of IT, electronics and telecom with good foreign language and professional knowledge to work in an international labour environment through 2015. By 2020, the country will ensure that 70 % of corporate personnel undergo IT training and all pupils and students are trained in IT application.

 

The increasing demand for professional human resource for software outsourcing services and for operations of foreign multi-national companies in Vietnam has led to more and more pressures for IT labour force in the country.

 

Mr Nguyen Tu Quang, Director of the BKIS Net Security Centre, who is also a lecturer at the Informatics Department of the Hanoi University of Technology, said development of high-level IT human resource is facing some difficulties. In fact, the IT sector is in a dire need of well-trained personnel while aspects of training at universities have not yet come up with the sector’s operations. The backwardness in the training systems has also worsened the situation.

 

A recent survey by the Vietnam Informatics Association showed that the software sector of Vietnam now has only 30,000 staffs; thus, it may be infeasible for Vietnam to train an additional 65,000 IT workers annually.

The quality of IT human resource training is not good. Mr Chu Tien Dung, Chairman of the Vietnam Informatics Association said Vietnamese IT workers can make an average US$13,000/person/year, which accounts for only 45 % of that in India and 65 % in China. The situation is attributed to the fact that Vietnam can win contracts with simple technical requirements and low costs, he added.

 

Mr Cu Huy Duc, General Director of DTT Globeteam Inc said many Vietnamese students cannot work right after graduating but have to undergo an additional six-month further training course to meet requirements by employers.

 

In consent to Mr Duc, Mr Tran Manh Huy, Director of FPT IS said the labour market is incurring an IT human resource scarcity. The BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), a new business activity, needs 10,000 staffs. This industry has a great demand for human resource but it is very hard to find perfect employees who are good at IT, accounting and foreign language skills. Meanwhile, trading companies need 60 % of personnel acquiring good IT knowledge.

The IT human resource training market in Vietnam is dominated by training institutions that have association with universities nationwide with a market share of up to 80 %. The Hanoi University of Technology and the Vietnam National University train only 10,000 people annually.

 

IT human resource has become the most pressing concern by enterprises, investors and the whole IT sector of Vietnam. It is difficult to carry out investment projects despite available capital and clear direction due to labour force shortfall. Statistics said that in the near term, Intel will need 4,000 IT workers, IBM 2,000, FPT 3,000, Vinasa 5,000, etc; thus, if Vietnam misses those special opportunities, the national IT sector may hardly realize its IT development targets, Mr Quang added.

 

The Vietnam Informatics Association said it would cost Vietnam US$10,000 to train an IT worker meeting international standards; thus, if the country invests US$10 billion in IT human resource training through 2025, it will have an additional one million IT workers by the year. If half of them can make US$30,000/person/year, the country will earn US$15 billion per year in the 2025-2026 period, which is equal to that in India at present.

 

Vietnam is striving to form general criteria for training and recruitment of IT work force, which is expected to help Vietnam better integrate into the world economy.