What should Ho Chi Minh City do to attract talented people?

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Binh – a leading expert in gene transfer research on plants at Laval University, Québec City, sold all his assets in Canada and returned with his family to his hometown in 2004. He decided to give up. living stably in a developed country to return to Vietnam according to the promise made to the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City at that time “to establish a biotechnology center that 20 years later will not be obsolete”.

In that year, Dr. Binh was one of the first people to contribute to the creation of the first Biotechnology Center in Ho Chi Minh City, the most modern in the country, with a total investment of 100 million USD. A series of projects serving the agriculture, fisheries and drug manufacturing industries have been researched and registered for copyright such as: vaccines against pus-filled liver disease for pangasius, orchid breeding, diabetes medicine manufacturing, etc. Viral hepatitis… The center also builds a team of hundreds of experts and good engineers in many fields.

However, in 2014 when he turned 60 years old, the agency decided to let Mr. Binh retire according to the Labor Code. “When I returned, I said I would work until the city no longer needed it, not when I was 60, I would quit. I regret not being able to use it at a ripe age,” said Mr. Binh. .

From the position of deputy director of the Center for Biotechnology, he was invited to work as a scientific advisor under the pilot program to attract talents of Ho Chi Minh City and continued to work until the end of 2017. In 2019, the city “experiences” again. red carpet inviting talents” in the form of receiving applications and recruiting, but this time he did not participate.

“If expert input is needed, the city should be invited and treated with respect, not ‘apply here for me to consider’,” he said.

Regarding the attraction policy of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Binh said that the employing units have not escaped the administrative mechanism, causing talent to not be able to develop to its full capacity. This makes it difficult for experts, especially those who have been abroad, to work in state agencies.

Therefore, the invited experts need space, financial control and relatively independent decision making to help them turn an idea into a product. “Invite good people to come back, but when people suggest ideas, they say they can’t do it because it will be difficult to get stuck in something and that,” Binh said.

Do Thien Anh Tuan, a senior lecturer at the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management (Fulbright University Vietnam), said that in order to accommodate talented people into the system, it is necessary to create an open environment and institutions. to develop their talents.

According to him, the operation of the governance system currently relies too much on the consulting unit, and there is a lack of space for leaders to make decisions based on independent consultations. This is the reason many initiatives of scientists and experts are not tolerated by leaders at all levels and in the public system. “Speaking right away will be difficult to hear, experts with a somewhat frank critical style are difficult to cooperate in this environment,” said Mr. Tuan.

Regarding the recruitment mechanism, Dr. Hoang The Ban – who participated in both talent attraction programs from 2014 to 2021, suggested that instead of the current attraction, the city should actively seek out Vietnamese experts. has a lot of knowledge and experience, holds a lot of technological know-how, is working in developed countries to persuade and invite them to work.

“This is a fast, economical and efficient way of transferring technology through people that China, Korea and Japan have all applied, targeting overseas Vietnamese,” said Mr. It also helps professionals feel valued.

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Binh also suggested that the retirement age should not be applied to overseas Vietnamese working long-term in accordance with the Labor Code. Because good people often choose to return to contribute to their homeland when they are old, even retired, and the city should take advantage of a group of experts who are good at this specialty.

Meanwhile, Director of the HCM City Biotechnology Center Nguyen Dang Quan assessed that the talent attraction program currently does not have a mechanism for part-time experts to be inappropriate. Most of the experts abroad have had stable lives and jobs, so it is difficult to leave completely to return to Vietnam. Therefore, the city needs to have a policy for them to work part-time, receive that month’s salary and enjoy other benefits.

Income is also an important factor when recruiting and inviting talented people. According to Dr. Ban, the salary is 13-15 million VND per month policy of the city is very low compared to the common ground of experts. He introduced the city’s talent program to many friends abroad and their first reaction was that it’s hard to live in HCMC with that income.

“The city should not stipulate a hard income level, but set a ceiling like the pilot program (150 million dong per month). To reduce budget pressure, any unit that uses it can pay income with the city. for professionals,” he said.

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Binh said that an income of 150 million VND per month is very large compared to the salaries of officials and civil servants, but it is only over 6,000 USD – not attractive enough for people with qualifications and experience to work abroad. . “The price of a talent is not in the salary paid by the state, but in the value of technology, what knowledge they hold can bring about change for the city, the country,” he said.

Assessing that Ho Chi Minh City’s talent attraction program has “failed”, Mr. Do Thien Anh Tuan (Fulbright University Vietnam), said that it would not be possible to create a breakthrough if it was still assigned to departments to advise them. It’s hard to get out of the rut of thinking. The policy making process will always be constrained by many factors and prone to thinking in the “box” of what is done.

Instead, the city should “use experts to create a policy to attract experts”. Specifically, assigning an independent research unit to develop the project and then let the department give comments to ensure feasibility, but still keep certain breakthroughs, then the city approves. In addition to the attraction mechanism, the project should have a mechanism to evaluate work performance associated with income or other incentive mechanisms.

“The city wants to make a breakthrough, it needs a new approach,” he said, and said that after the recent unsuccessful period in attracting talented people, it is time for the city to change its approach to truly embrace talent. Into the system.

Thu Hang