Vietnam is expected to become a new technology hub in ASEAN
According to AsiaCorrespondent, while most countries in the ASEAN economic community are ambitious in their technology development, Vietnam is the most likely nation to become the new technology hub of the region, thanks to its education system, the support of the government and its friendly business environment.
In 2012, Vietnamese students participated for the first time in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). The assessment results put Vietnam on the 8th place in social sciences, and 17th in mathematics. After the results were out in 2015, Vietnam continued to be ranked number 8 in social sciences, while dropping to the 22nd place in mathematics. However, regardless of the drop in rating, Vietnam’s students still scored higher than their peers from the US, UK and Australia- significantly richer and more developed countries. Andreas Schleicher- the PISA exam coordinator, explained that the success of the Vietnamese students in mathematics and social science exams comes from the supporting policies of the government, good education investments and the well-structured curriculum.
The academic results of Vietnamese pupils are now often higher than in other developed countries. These achievements are verified by different independent evaluations which confirmed that Vietnam's ranking in the PISA do not simply reflect the students’ skills in handling the test. The Young Lives project concluded that 95% of Vietnamese students aged 10 are capable of doing basic calculations with 4-digit numbers and 85% of students have the ability to subtract fractions. The achievements of Vietnamese students in science, technology and mathematics attracted great attention not only from the researchers and education policy developers, but also the global technology groups who are seeking for up-and-coming talent.
Last year, Google’s CEO - Sundar Pinchai met Vietnamese former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to discuss development issues in the future. After the meeting, Pichai said that Vietnam will soon become one of the most important markets for Google. He explained: "Vietnam will easily be in the top 10 destinations for companies who are building their technological products." With the commitment to the development of future technologies in Vietnam, Google will soon be training 1,400 IT engineers locally.
Vietnam also benefited from grants and positive government policies to support the country in becoming the center of innovative technologies in the region. One of the most empirical evidences is the development of Saigon Silicon City Project which is sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and is expected to help Vietnam to become a major player in the digital economy.
Sources: 1, 2