Vietnam Human Resource: Quality Not Proportional to Quantity

This assessment was made by Prof. Dr. Dieter Reineke, Co-director of Master of Science in Business Administration Programme (MBA), Business School, Northwestern University (Switzerland) on actual business management resources in Vietnam. He said, to meet market demand, MBA programmes in Vietnam should be delivered in English combined with practical experience in teaching.

Vietnam has millions of people at working age every year. Students and graduate students are added to the workforce of the country. However, labour quality is not proportional to the number, especially in the field of business administration. Just flip through the recruitment website in Vietnam, it is easy to see that businesses are missing a lot of high quality executives. Businesses are getting a lot of applications, but it is difficult to find an appropriate candidate.

MBA programmes are developing fast in Vietnam, but currently fail to meet the demand of the market. What are the causes and solutions to this?

In general terms, the education product MBA has reached the stage of maturity. However, despite various critics, no real replacement for top management education is in sight. In the Vietnamese market, there is a shortage of internationally oriented programmes which are delivered in Vietnamese. Most programmes are delivered only in English. Most Vietnamese managers understand that English language skills are a must in today’s business world, so that the language problem may be solved soon. Case studies with a focus on Vietnam are in short supply, therefore an appropriate blend of Vietnamese and international lecturers is important.

That is why FPT University cooperated with Northwestern University to organise training courses on business administration. What has the program done to overcome the deficiencies of the market?

The UNW General Management EMBA is delivered in cooperation with HSB / FPT University. The current mode of delivery is partly in Vietnamese, partly in English with translation into Vietnamese. An EMBA that is purely delivered in English may help ambitious Vietnamese managers to acquaint themselves more quickly with the relevant skills – in terms of language, contents and core skills (e.g. intercultural skills). Additional language courses may help to get started.

 

The UNW General Management EMBA anticipated the worldwide trend towards sustainability in management. Sustainable management is featured as a frame for all modules. It is shown in the program that sustainability and short term gains is not necessarily a contradiction. In line with world-class programmes, a strong emphasis is put on leadership issues. Students can also benefit from the long experience of UNW in the Vietnamese education market. UNW is by far the most active Swiss university in the Vietnamese market. Together with HSB / FPT University, which we perceive as the most dynamic business school in Vietnam, we have a strong team with many contacts in industry and government, both in Vietnam and Switzerland. Switzerland has been ranked frequently as the most competitive country in the world, and students may learn from that experience and modify concepts in view of the Vietnamese context.

Vietnamese students can get firsthand experience in Switzerland in various modes. This may be a short term visit, participation in some EMBA lectures in Switzerland, or an optional full semester in the phase of the master thesis. They may benefit from the various areas of specialization which are introduced as new features of the EMBA programme in Switzerland.