Young talents

Delegates attending the Global Young Vietnamese Intellectual Forum in 2019 in Hà Nội. — Photo nhandan.com.vn

Lương Thanh Nghị, deputy head of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs talks to B áo điện tử Chính phủ (Online newspaper of the Government) about the policies to attract young Vietnamese talents abroad.

How do you view the quality and prospects of Vietnamese people abroad?

About 5.3 million Vietnamese people are living and studying in more than 130 countries and territories all over the world with about 80 per cent of them in developed countries.

Among them, between 500,000 and 600,000 hold at least a bachelor degree.

There are thousands of skilled Vietnamese engineers and developers working for Silicon Valley’s leading corporations including Google, Facebook and Microsoft. They have made many contributions in fields such as science and technology, economy, politics and culture for their host countries.

This is a great source of high quality human resources for Việt Nam who can make significant contributions to the country’s development in the context that the country is accelerating the modernisation and industrialisation process.

Could you share more about talent attraction policies being implemented?

Việt Nam has had policies to tap the potential of Vietnamese people abroad for long.

In 2018, the Ministry of Planning and Investment cooperated with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Training, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs to establish a network of young Vietnamese experts and scientists all over the world so they can make further contributions.

In October 2019, the Government issued a decree to establish the national innovation and creativity centre with preferential mechanisms, aiming to create a favourable academic and working environment for intellectuals to contribute to the country’s science and technology sectors.

In March 2020, the Government issued a decree to attract Vietnamese citizens working in science technology field abroad and bring foreign people working in this field to Việt Nam. This decree specifies favourable policies to encourage them to return to the country.

Recently the Government ordered relevant agencies to work on a national strategy to attract talents in Việt Nam and overseas with better policies including wages, the benefit to access to different sources of information of ministries, departments and localities, support from the State to organise and participate in forums and conferences.

In recent years, about 500 experts return to the country annually or have regular collaboration with local research institutes, universities both in public and private sectors. They have made many contributions to the country. In the Economic Advisory Group to the Prime Minister, we have acknowledged experts including Associate Prof. Dr. Trần Ngọc Anh, lecturer at Havard University and Indiana University, Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Đức Khương, Deputy Director for Research at IPAG Business School, France, Associate Prof. Dr. Vũ Minh Khương, lecturer of the National University of Singapore, Prof. Dr. Trần Văn Thọ, lecturer of Waseda University, Japan. Other acknowledged experts who have returned include CEOs Vũ Xuân Sơn and Lê Diệp Kiều Trang, or former staff of Google Nguyễn Thành Nhân.

Since 2018, we have held three forums for young Vietnamese scientists abroad. Participants offered proposals and ideas that are essential for the development of Việt Nam.

In October 2020 we had a conference for Vietnamese overseas to contribute their ideas about digital transformation and ways to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic to develop the economy. We have compiled their proposals and initiatives and reported to the Prime Minister and relevant agencies so these can be studied and implemented.

In the future, the Committee will cooperate with relevant agencies to establish a network of Vietnamese talents all over the world.

What are advantages and difficulties when these policies are implemented? What are the proposals to make these policies effective in attracting Vietnamese talent to contribute to the development of the country?

We have gained certain results through these policies. Networks and associations of Vietnamese intellectuals and experts have been launched in many developed countries and they have closely collaborated with organisations in Việt Nam.

The Association of Vietnamese Scientists and Experts Global based in France has about 1,000 members working in many fields. The Việt Nam Initiative in the US is affiliated with about 40 research institutes and universities all over the world. They have many cooperation and collaboration activities with the country through policy consultancy, idea contribution.

HCM City has done a good job in attracting talent. Currently there is a network of young talents who are collaborating with the departments and agencies of the city. The experts have also invested in many projects including the 3D Printing technology by Arevo company of Vũ Xuân Sơn and Lê Diệp Kiều Trang.

However, there are some limitations in these policies. There is lack of consistency in policies among ministries and localities. Some localities have not paid enough attention to attracting talent to work. The access to information is still limited and while there is also lack of close cooperation among scientists, many ideas are not well received.

Secondly, although we have many policies they are not strong enough to encourage Vietnamese experts to return to the country. They include limited benefits for their families, and the fact that the academic environment still lacks professionalism. We hope that innovative policies can help to overcome these obstacles.

From another perspective, they don’t necessarily return to be able to contribute to the country. Many are living and working in host countries but still making significant contributions to Việt Nam. Developed countries offer better environment for scientific research, creativity and development especially in such fields as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, digital transformation and digital economy. — VNS

She has also won the third prize twice in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau contest for excellent students.

Nghiem Thao Tam

Having a father who is the leader of the chess team of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province in the 90s, Nghiem Thao Tam (12th grader at Le Quy Don High School, Ba Ria – Vung Tau) has had experience with this intellectual sport since her childhood.

At the age of 7, Tam won a gold medal in the National Young Chess Champs. Realizing their daughter’s capabilities, Tam’s family encouraged to her pursue the career of semi-professional chess.

“When I was 7 or 8 years old, I achieved success in national and international competitions and set the provincial record as the youngest athlete to win multiple international medals. However, in the following 4-5 years, I only got into provincial and regional tournaments. At that time, I was very disappointed because I did not achieve the goals I wanted. There was even a time when I felt like I lost my passion and wanted to take a break to focus on studying at school,” Tam recalled.

But then, Tam seriously thought about it and realized that she had to focus more of her time on chess instead of school in order to achieve great success. With the encouragement of her family, Tam decided to continue pursuing chess. As a result, in 2017, Tam won the gold medal for the National Chess Cup for Students. This was an important milestone to help her become more confident in herself and is a premise for many other great achievements later on in her career.

Nghiem Thao Tam has won multiple medals at international tournaments, and a perfect score on the SAT Maths II.

In 2018, Tam won the gold medal for the National Chess Cup for Students and two medals in the Asian Young Chess Championship.

In 2019, Tam won three medals in the teams’ competition at the Asian Young Chess Championship (1 gold medal in slow chess, 1 silver medal in blitz chess and 1 bronze medal in rapid chess) and an individual silver medal at the Southeast Asian Young Chess tournament.

And most recently, in 2020, she won another gold medal in the National Young Chess Cup.

Impressive study results

Taking part in tournaments and studying at school is not easy. Tam often brings her homework along with her at tournaments.

Luckily, Tam is a fast learner and is good at all subjects. Although she is a student specializing in Mathematics, Tam is regularly at the top of the class and the school in both Mathematics and Literature.

In middle school, Tam was chosen to participate in Vung Tau City’s exam for excellent students. While participating in chess tournaments, she had impressive results, always staying in the top 5 best students of her class. Her 10th grade GPA was 9.2; Grade 11th was 9.1 and semester 1 of grade 12th was 9.3.

In grades 10 and 11, Tam won the third prize in the city’s exam for excellent students in Mathematics.

She also achieved a score of 800/800 on SAT Math II and IELTS 7.0.

Tam said that the SAT math mainly requires basic knowledge and smart thinking, so it was not difficult for her to get the perfect score.

However, IELTS 7.0 is a score that she was not really satisfied with.

Tam usually spends three sessions a week to practice chess and about 30 minutes daily to study. During summer breaks, Tam spends most of her time practicing chess.

Valuable experience

“Chess has not only helped me improve my logical thinking and creativity, but also gave me a lot of valuable experiences that not all my peers have the privilege to experience. Each tournament has different happy and sad memories, but all of them have helped to create my independent, mature personality today,” said Tam.

Besides being able to compete in many countries, interacting with many different cultures and meeting many international friends, chess also became a way for Tam to make money to help her parents with her studying fee and living expenses.

Despite her talent for chess, from 11th grade, Tam determined that in the future she would pursue a major in computers and programming.

She said that having won many prizes in Mathematics and learned logical thinking skills from chess, she realized that majors in science and technology, specifically information technology, would be the best choice.

Tam has won a scholarship of about VND3.3 billion (nearly $170,000) to study computer science at a domestic university. Despite the advice from everyone that females should not follow a career in technology, she still was determined to pursue her passion.

Even so, Tam still wished to pursue chess. Although she would not be able to spend as much time on chess, Tam said she would arrange time and energy to practice and participate in about 2-3 tournaments each year.

“There are many teachers and friends willing to help me practice and compete. Although I do not know what the future holds, in order to pursue my passion, I want to be able to participate in all the national youth tournaments, the excellent youth national championships, and Asian and Southeast Asian tournaments up to the age of 20 and attend larger tournaments such as the Vietnam Chess Championship to expand my horizons,” said Tam.

Thanh Hung

Preliminary processing of cashew for export at Hoang Linh Linh Company Limited in Cam My District in Dong Nai Province. (Photo: SGGP)

By Hoang Bac, Tien Minh – Translated by Thanh Nha

Ornamental stones outside the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi that were removed for ‘feng shui’ reasons before Vietnam faced the Philippines in the second-leg semifinal match of the 2018 AFF Championship on Thursday will remain away from the venue until the tournament ends, stadium management has said.

Forty stone spheres linked by a chain were installed as decorations outside stand B of the 40,000-seat stadium when it was finished in 2003 as part of the namesake sporting complex that is the largest of its kind in Vietnam.

On Wednesday, organizers of the Vietnam-Philippines match requested that stadium management remove the sculptures, citing ‘feng shui’ reasons, according to Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

“Spiritually speaking, those balls don’t bode well for the Vietnamese [football] team,” a representative of My Dinh Sporting Complex told Thanh Nien on Thursday morning.

Feng shui, also known as Chinese geomancy, discusses architecture in terms of “invisible forces” that bind the universe, earth, and humanity together.

Historically, feng shui was widely used to orient buildings in an auspicious manner.

Though officials said the stone balls would be “put back where they were” after the match, public opinion in Vietnam seems to have shifted toward keeping them away for good after their home team’s ecstatic win over the Philippines.

The Golden Stars on Thursday pulled off a 2-1 victory over the Azkals to advance 4-2 on aggregate to their first AFF Championship final in ten years.

The result broke Vietnam’s “no-win curse” at My Dinh, with the country’s national team getting three draws and two defeats in five AFF Championship semifinal games it ever played at the stadium between 2004 and 2014.

According to management of My Dinh Sporting Complex, the 40 stone spheres will remain away from the stadium until the end of the 2018 AFF Championship.

Vietnam will play the first-leg final on the Malaysian soil on December 11, before their return game at My Dinh on December 15.

The fate of the stone decorations will be decided after the final match, an official from the management of My Dinh Sporting Complex told Thanh Nien .

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A scene in the thriller Thiên Thần Hộ Mệnh (The Guardian), a production by Vietnamese-American director Victor Vũ. The film will be distributed in 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and US, after its premiere in Việt Nam on April 30. — Photo courtesy of the producer

HCM CITY — Thiên Thần Hộ Mệnh (The Guardian), a production by Vietnamese-American director Victor Vũ, will be distributed in cinemas in 12 countries after its premiere in Việt Nam on April 30.

The film’s producer, Tfilm Entertainment, has announced it is working with its foreign partners to release Thiên Thần Hộ Mệnh in Australia, Canada, Hungary, France, Ireland, the UK and US.

The film will also be in cinemas in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Czech Republic.

Thiên Thần Hộ Mệnh features three young women who feed and dress life-sized baby dolls as if they are living things.

Its trailer, which features haunting scenes, has attracted more than 103,000 views on YouTube.

Director Vũ combined Vietnamese and Hollywood styles in his film.

“My film reflects the weak points in young people’s psychology,” said Vũ, a graduate of Loyola Marymount University in the US.

Vũ began his career in Việt Nam in 2008 after his first film in the country, Chuyện Tình Xa Xứ (Passport to Love), won the title Favourite Film at the Golden Kite Awards from the Việt Nam Cinematography Association. The romantic comedy was distributed in the US in 2009.

In 2012, his third film, Thiên Mệnh Anh Hùng (Blood Letter), a kung fu production, won the jury prize at the International Film Festival in Hà Nội.

One year later, his Bí Mật Thảm Đỏ (Scandal), a work about the dark side of show business, received the Golden Kite Prize for Best Director.

His two thriller films, Quả Tim Máu (Vengeful Heart) and Người Bất Tử (The Immortal), were blockbusters in 2014 and 2018.

Vũ loves capturing landscapes across Việt Nam in his films.

“I love working in Việt Nam. I have learned a lot about the country’s history, and its traditional culture and lifestyle,” said Vũ.

Vũ’s Mắt Biếc (Dreamy Eyes), released in 2019, was chosen by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscar awards ceremony this year.

The film was listed among the industry’s top 10 hits with more than VNĐ127 billion (US$5.5 million) at the Vietnamese box office.

Thiên Thần Hộ Mệnh will be distributed in Việt Nam by Thiên Ngân Galaxy Studio. — VNS

Members of Recycling Knight group using instant noodle bags to make some recycled products. Photo baovanhoa.vn

HÀ NỘI – Recycling has grown ever more popular in Vietnamese society in recent years.

In Hà Nội, many environmental protection models have brought practical results, contributing to spreading green lifestyles.

With a passion for inventing toys from discarded plastic cans and bottles, Lưu Chung Nghĩa, a 30-year-old man in Võng La Commune of Đông Anh District, has a beautiful collection of animals and robots.

His outstanding products include a crocodile made from cardboard and fitted with an engine that can crawl on a flat floor and pigs made from beer cans and shampoo bottle caps.

“I have created about 1,000 products from discarded objects. Most of the things I made were small, funny, and suitable for children,” Ngĩa said.

“Before being assembled into finished products, I had to neatly trim to avoid hurting users,” Nghĩa said.

Nghĩa usually gives the products to relatives, friends and children’s centres.

In addition, he regularly lends his recyclables for displays at environmental exhibitions in Hà Nội.

According to Nghĩa, making a product takes a lot of time and effort, from forming ideas to selecting materials.

“The brainstorming process usually takes the longest time. I have to calculate so that the idea is close to reality, easy to implement and especially beautiful and attractive,” Nghĩa said.

Every day, after working at a private company, he spends time researching, tinkering, and cutting and grafting products in his small room full of waste.

In Hoang Mai District, a group named the ‘Recycling Knights’ was launched in 2018.

The group aims to train environmental “ambassadors” to spread the green lifestyle.

In addition, the group collects and recycles waste and connects with other organisations to find ways to treat waste with the highest efficiency.

Cao Thị Sao Mai, the group’s leader, said: “The group members often collect instant noodle packages, cardboard, beer cans and old clothes for recycling.”

“With the waste, they unleash their creativity to make useful and eye-catching products,” Sao Mai said.

“From discarded objects, through skilled hands and creativity, the young people here turn instant noodle packages to bags, vases, plates, and pillows while the old fabrics and clothes are sewn into pillow bags, purses, and towels,” Sao Mai said.

Sao Mai said after each waste collection drive, the group’s office was like a landfill.

Thanks to the work and creativity of the members, these scraps are usefully “revived”, reducing the burden on the environment.

“We proudly called our office the ‘happy landfill’,” said the group leader.

Having been in waste recycling for nearly 10 years, Nguyễn Diệu Thuý in Ba Đình District said: “Initially, my husband and I found many glass bottles with beautiful colours, then we collected them and cut them into flower vases and then we decorated them more beautifully.”

“Initially, the products were made for use only and presented to friends,” Thuý said.

“But we were surprised that many people were interested in these recycled products so we decided to do more, gradually becoming our main profession,” Thuý said.

They found cutting glass so difficult. To make different kinds of glass products, Thuý had to make her own cutters, but this was not highly effective.

In addition, painting on glass was very difficult and the paint was expensive, meaning their income from recycling was low, she said.

However, the recycling profession has given her a new, green and meaningful life.

“I want to use the recycling work as a message to people, especially youngsters, to pay more attention to environmental issues,” Thuý said.

Representatives of some waste recycling models in Hà Nội said the goal of the models was to spread green lifestyles and protect the living environment for the community.

Therefore, the products were made with minimum profits.

“The revenue from selling our products is invested in environmental protection, helping and creating jobs for children with disabilities and people in difficult circumstances,” Sao Mai said.

The Recycling Knights group has worked with cafes and tourism sites to sell their products.

“All the money is used to raise funds to open a free book library called Việt Nam Reading Spots. The spots are present in all 63 provinces and cities, with the number of participants up to nearly 4,000 people,” said Sao Mai.

Sharing the idea of ​​spreading a green lifestyle,  Nghĩa expressed his wish that in the future, waste collection and recycling will no longer be a single action but replicated throughout the community.– VNS