Based on that practical experience, Văn Hóa magazine is conducting a series of articles titled "Human Resource Development in the New Era," contributing to identifying human resource needs in STEM fields, semiconductors, and the digital economy; while also analyzing bottlenecks in training, labor skills, and the requirements for innovation in higher education, in order to meet the goal of building Vietnam into a developing country with modern industry and high middle income.
Over the past two decades, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and semiconductor technology have profoundly changed how the economy creates value. Data, knowledge, and technology are increasingly becoming the foundation of growth, leading to new demands on the workforce: more specialized skills, faster adaptability, and the ability to participate in high value-added processes...
Opportunities and key decisions
In Southeast Asia, this trend is evident as the ASEAN Internet economy reached a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of US$263 billion in 2024, a 15% increase compared to 2023, amidst tightening global investment flows. In regional and international competition, leading nations like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia have integrated digital skills as a core civic competency from the primary school level. For Vietnam, the strategic question is no longer "whether or not to undergo digital transformation," but rather how quickly and effectively to achieve it without being relegated to the lower value segment of the global supply chain.
In this context, on December 22, 2024, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation. Following this, on August 22, 2025, Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in education and training development was issued, further affirming that education and training, along with science and technology, are top national priorities, playing a crucial role in the country's development.
National digital transformation policies have initially yielded tangible results. In 2024, the digital economy is estimated to contribute 18.3% to the country's GDP, with a growth rate of over 20% per year, three times higher than the overall GDP growth rate. Alongside this, e-commerce is developing rapidly, with online retail reaching approximately $25 billion in 2024, leading to a significant demand for highly skilled labor in areas such as smart logistics, cybersecurity, big data analytics, and digital platform operations.
To sustain growth in the coming period, Vietnam needs high-quality human resources, with a core group of scientific talents playing a key role in development.
Resolutions 57-NQ/TW and 71-NQ/TW have set specific goals for the coming period. By 2030, the digital economy must contribute at least 30% of GDP; total factor productivity must contribute over 55%; the proportion of the workforce with college degrees or higher must reach 24%; and the proportion of people studying basic sciences and STEM fields must reach at least 35%. Along with that, the higher education system must have at least 8 universities in the top 200 universities in Asia, and 1 university in the top 100 universities in the world; spending on research and development must reach 2% of GDP, with social funding accounting for over 60%; and the density of scientific research personnel must reach 12 people per 10,000 inhabitants.
These indicators place human resource development at the heart of the new growth model. Without a highly skilled workforce, research personnel, technology experts, and a sufficiently strong university system, the goals of the digital economy, productivity, science and technology, and modern industry will be difficult to translate into actual capabilities.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Thao, Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training), for rapid and sustainable development, Vietnam needs high-quality human resources, with a core group of scientific talents. This assessment shows that the human resource challenge has gone beyond mass training; the issue is not just about expanding the number of students, but about creating a workforce with sufficient capacity to participate in science and technology, innovation, and high-knowledge industries.
The challenge for STEM and semiconductor industries.
Looking back at the past period, the Vietnamese higher education system has shown clearer progress in response to labor market demands, particularly in the scale of STEM education. Data from the Ministry of Education and Training shows that in 2022, the entire system enrolled over 177,000 STEM students; by 2024, this number is expected to approach 200,000. This increase indicates that training institutions have begun to meet the new workforce needs, but expanding scale alone is not enough to guarantee the quality of graduates if there is a lack of standardized curricula, qualified faculty, laboratories, and strong links with businesses.
A key driving force comes from the global shift in high-tech supply chains, with semiconductors being a prominent field. A training network has begun to form, with over 30 universities nationwide offering specialized semiconductor programs. It is projected that by 2026, approximately 6,300 university students will be majoring in semiconductors, and over 68,000 will be pursuing related fields.
Market data shows that this shift stems from real demand. Over the past two decades, the global semiconductor industry has maintained a compound annual growth rate of 14%; the market size is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, while the demand for additional personnel exceeds 1 million. Therefore, preparing a workforce of semiconductor engineers is not only aimed at attracting high-tech FDI, but also opens up opportunities for Vietnam to participate more deeply in high value-added stages such as design, testing, and packaging of integrated circuits.
However, the growth in enrollment size does not fully reflect the underlying bottlenecks. Vietnam is among the 21 countries that are expected to achieve the United Nations' sustainable development goals for education by 2030, but the country's education system still faces fundamental limitations: uneven training quality, large regional disparities, and slow innovation in administrative management thinking.
The biggest gap lies in the actual quality of the workforce. By 2025, the percentage of trained workers with degrees and certifications in Vietnam will only reach 29.2%. In fact, many large technology companies recruiting in Vietnam share a common observation: Graduates take a considerable amount of time to adapt to the industrial environment due to a lack of advanced digital skills such as data analysis, cloud computing operations, cybersecurity, and AI; they also have limitations in teamwork, independent problem-solving, and foreign languages. Therefore, businesses still have to accept the cost and time of retraining, reducing the effectiveness of absorbing investment capital.
The skills gap is not limited to the unskilled workforce but has emerged even within university education. Many graduates still require significant time to adapt to the industrial environment, while businesses must continue to retrain them before employing them. For high-tech industries, this cost not only increases the recruitment burden but also impacts the ability to absorb investment, implement projects, and participate in high value-added processes.
This puts pressure on the higher education system to shift from mass-based training to standardized, selective training that is more closely aligned with employment needs. If this bottleneck is not addressed, the goals of the digital economy, science and technology, innovation, and modern industry will lack a sufficiently strong workforce to implement them in practice.
(To be continued)
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/doi-song/bai-1-kinh-te-so-va-con-khat-nhan-luc-stem-239683.html
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