Throughout human history, knowledge has always been the foundation of social progress. Intellectual personnel are a key force that creates and disseminates knowledge. From ancient times in Vietnam, “talent has been thought to be a nation’s vital resource. It can make a country stronger or weaker and has an impact on a country’s position in international arena. As such, visionary kings in the past always tended to nurture and foster talents to cultivate this vital resource.” Being aware of this in his revolutionary life, President Ho Chi Minh spent a lot of time and effort building a contingent of intellectuals. He always regarded it as a pivotal task in the cause of national liberation as well as national construction and defense. He affirmed that “Knowledge is the precious capital of our nation. It’s true in other countries and it’s ever so true in Vietnam. This is proven in this resistance war. Vietnamese intellectuals have made an important contribution. Some people are directly involved in the resistance work, and stand side by side with the people’s army. Some are enthusiastic about providing support.”(1) With the thought of respecting intellectuals, Ho Chi Minh gathered around him many famous experts who wholeheartedly served the country and the people.

1. Ho Chi Minh’s thought on building a contingent of intellectuals

Ho Chi Minh was born into an intellectual family. The father of President Ho Chi Minh, Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac achieved the second rank of doctoral laureate in the examination in 1901 the year of Tan Suu, the 13th year under Thanh Thai’s reign. Ho Chi Minh himself was also an intellectual. From the time he worked abroad until he returned home to lead the Vietnam’s revolution, Ho Chi Minh always expressed his interest in intellectuals and appointed them to influential positions.

Immediately after the success of the August Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh wrote an article entitled “Talent and National Construction” which was published in the National Salvation Newspaper, Vol. 91, on November 14, 1945. He penned, “National construction requires talent. Although our country’s talents are not many, if we are smart in choosing, allocating, and mobilizing them, talent will grow and thrive.”(2) By placing the interests of the nation first, with an open and tolerant heart, President Ho Chi Minh continued to unite the entire nation and gather a contingent of scholars into the Research Committee for National Construction Planning to help the Government make a plan to build the country. In his speech at the first meeting of the Research Committee on 10th January 1946, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed, “... as for you, you have brought your intellectual talents to foster economic and social development. You are real volunteers. I hope that you will also bring all your talents and knowledge to help the Government with national construction. You will be experienced and talented advisors to the Government.”(3)

A wide array of mechanisms and policies prioritizing the development of intellectuals have been implemented by the Party and State, showing positive results in recent years. They have established policies on the training and fostering of intellectuals; policies on facilitating a favorable environment to promote the role of intellectuals; policies on using, promoting, and honoring intellectuals; and policies on attracting overseas Vietnamese intellectuals, etc. Various national and professional awards, as well as noble scientific titles have been conferred to productive intellectuals, scientists, writers, and artists. This has proven to be a good source of encouragement for intellectuals emotionally and spiritually. Associated with those guidelines and policies, great efforts have been made to renew the management models, increase investment in education and training, science and technology, culture, and the arts. All of these endeavors have contributed to promoting the potential and internal resources of the intellectuals in practical activities.

In recent years, hundreds of students, graduate students, and PhD candidates have traveled abroad to study with scholarships by foreign governments or organizations. In 2000, the government approved project 322 “Training scientific and technical cadres at foreign establishments with the State budget.” In the period 2000 - 2013, 5,833 people were recruited and sent to study abroad. 2,951 were PhD candidates, 1,603 Masters students, 260 were trainees, and 1,019 were undergraduates. With Project 165 on “Training and fostering leaders and managers abroad with the State budget” authorized by the Central Organization Committee, hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong per year were spent on sending graduate and undergraduate students to study abroad. In the period of 2009-2013, the project organized a program to improve foreign language skills for 11,690 officials. Among the 941 persons studied postgraduate programs, 158 PhD candidates and 444 Masters students were trained abroad, and 339 Masters students took part in joint Master programs.

Currently, Vietnamese intellectuals have been trained in many foreign countries such as Russia, France, Japan, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Netherlands.(9) In recent years, the Party and State have paid special attention to attracting overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to participate in national construction. Currently, in addition to domestic intellectuals, there are more than 400,000 overseas Vietnamese intellectuals including more than 6,000 doctors and hundreds of highly disciplined intellectuals out of a total of more than four million Vietnamese living in nearly 100 countries and territories. It is estimated that there are 15,000 overseas Vietnamese scholars in the United States, 40,000 in France, 20,000 in Canada, 4,000 in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, and 7,000 in Australia.(10) These scholars are an important human resource of the country, and should be promoted and endowed with favorable employment, and thus contribute to building a rich and strong homeland.

However, the construction and development of intellectuals in Vietnam in recent years has not met the country’s goals for renewal and international integration. Many guidelines and policies on intellectuals are not synchronized and are translated slowly into practice. The organization and construction of a contingent of intellectuals is still weak. There is a need for a basic long-term strategy in training and fostering intellectual activity. Our Party has assessed, “There is a serious shortage in the pool of creative intellectuals and leading experts, including the incoming generation. The part of Vietnamese intellectuals abroad has not been given proper attention and promotion. The bureaucratic administration and a state of stagnation, formality, and low operational efficiency in public non- business units, scientific research, and intellectual associations have been slowly overcome.”(11) In order to strengthen the building of a contingent of intellectuals in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on the following content and measures.

Vietnam needs to learn the ways and means from countries and territories that have achieved success such as Korea, Singapore, China, and Taipei (China), to build for our own benefit a suitable and efficient process that quickly brings the education of the country to the next level, keeping up with advanced education systems in the world.

Third, the policies to attract, mobilize, treat and honor intellectuals to serve the current national development process should be reviewed and renewed. Sets of standards, criteria, and conditions for recruitment must be built to attract intellectuals with professional qualifications in the fields and industries that are in need of talents; policies and methods for recruiting and attracting intellectuals should be renewed: Direct offers to work in science and technology organizations should be given preference to valedictorian graduates at domestic training institutes and to top tier graduates from prestigious universities abroad who have met the requirements of the relevant job position.

A favorable work environment should be created for the intellectuals to work and live, including transportation, sophisticated work equipment, comfortable living accommodations, and pay appropriate to leading scientists in their industry. At the same time, special attention needs to be paid to intellectuals working in specific industries, in mountainous areas, and areas with difficult living conditions. Salary scale should be renovated, based on work assignment while autonomy should be given to organizations and agencies in terms of remuneration, with bonuses and salaries for intellectuals they have attracted to work. At the same time brain drain or loss of talent in State organizations needs to be minimized.

Up until now, there have been policies extending the retirement age for highly qualified intellectuals in some universities for professors, associate professors, and PhD holders. In fact, many scholars, who have a limited academic degree or professional title but are capable of producing at a high professional capacity, can still devote their talent and wisdom to the country. Examples of this might include doctors and engineers. They retire when they reach the age mandated by law. Some of them work for private business. With the right legal and financial backing, this contingent can continue making meaningful contributions to the people and the country. Regulations honoring intellectuals should be instituted. Competence should be evaluated based on work output with appropriate forms of honor and reward which show and honor these talented individuals while avoiding undue formality.

Fourth, initiative and a positive contribution from the intellectuals themselves should be supported to meet the requirements of national development. The rapid development of human progress requires intellectuals to have a sense of lifelong learning, to constantly search and adopt new scientific findings, while updating and upgrading their own skill sets. If intellectuals are passive and dependent, they certainly cannot be a pioneering force in national construction. If intellectuals do not use their knowledge and intelligence to benefit the community, they become ineffective individuals. A true intellectual must be one who knows how to use his knowledge and position to contribute to helping the community better distinguish right from wrong, right from left, truth from fiction, good from evil, and ultimately good from bad. A valuable contributor should use his knowledge to spread the spirit, ideas, and views that he believes necessary to contribute to the progress of society. In order for the creations and contributions of each individual to have a positive impact on the country and the people, their contributions need to be organized and led by agencies and organizations such as the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, the Alliance of Arts and Literature Associations of Vietnam, the Journalists’ Association, the Association of Architects and so on. These are major professional and socio-political organizations that gather the highest expertise in each scientific field. When associations are tightly organized and have an effective mode of operation, the voice of outstanding intellectuals will quickly reach the Party and the State.