On April 10 in Ho Chi Minh City, the Central Economic Committee in coordination with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National University of Ho Chi Minh City held a workshop on “Developing human resources for materials industry to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization until 2030,  vision to 2045.”

Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, Head of Central Economic Department; Assoc.Prof. Dr. Huynh Thanh Dat, Minister of Science and Technology; Assoc.Prof. Dr. Vu Hai Quan, President of the National University of Ho Chi Minh City; Mr. Duong Anh Duc, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee chaired the workshop, with the participation of more than 400 delegates from departments, sectors, ministries, localities, international organizations, universities, research institutes, and businesses.

Speaking at the workshop, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Huynh Thanh Dat said that, in human resource development in the material industry, the Ministry of Science and Technology always advocates promoting training and retraining of human resources through S&T tasks, especially national level mission. Since 2001, there has always been a national key S&T program on research, development and application of new materials. In addition, the research and application of materials have been prioritized for integration in other national science and technology programs.

In the period 2011 - 2020, hundreds of high-quality human resources in the material industry were trained, through the implementation of national science and technology programs. Typically, the Program KC 02 has trained 29 doctors, 70 masters; The program develops physics to train 3 graduate students, 16 masters; and etc. International cooperation activities in scientific research and technology development have also supported and created favorable conditions for domestic scientists to improve their qualifications. In 2019, more than 100 scientists were allocated funding to participate in study programs and improve their qualifications in the foreign countries through the implementation of S&T tasks under the protocol and through funding of the National Science and Technology Development Fund.

The Minister also said that, with the increasing demand for human resources in the material industry at present, Vietnam not only focuses on training and retraining but also needs mechanisms and policies to attract scientists. It is good that overseas Vietnamese, even foreign scientists participate in research tasks on domestic material technology. "This is a large and high-quality human resource that we need to pay attention to promote attracting in the coming time", the Minister emphasized.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Vu Hai Quan said, in the period of 2021-2025, vision to 2030, along with artificial intelligence, biotechnology, biomedical, materials science - especially advanced materials science - is one of the three breakthroughs of the National University of Ho Chi Minh City. In this area, the National University of Ho Chi Minh City has pioneered the pilot implementation of training and research. The scale of training in material science is about 400 students each year and more than 100 graduate and doctoral students, not to mention subjects close to material science such as physics, chemistry, biomedical and etc. Regarding scientific research, the National University of Ho Chi Minh City has cooperated with other organizations, research institutes, and international universities to pioneer in establishing the Research Center for Nanostructured Materials and Molecular Materials, Institute of Nanotechnology, and achieved many results.

The workshop also listened to the speeches and exchanges of domestic and international experts focusing on analyzing and clarifying the role of the materials industry in the process of industrialization and modernization of the country; the current status of the materials industry in our country in recent years; the current status of S&T research to serve the development of the material industry; international experiences in materials industry human resource development; proposing major policies for the development of human resources in the material industry.

At the workshop, Ho Chi Minh City National University and the Ministry of Science and Technology signed a program to coordinate S&T activities for the period of 2021-2025.