Scientists not only need high salaries, but also land support to build houses.

(Dan Tri) - According to Mr. Nguyen Quan, former Minister of Science and Technology, for those working in science, the most important thing is work policy, not necessarily high salary or land support for house construction.

Mr. Nguyen Quan, former Minister of Science and Technology (Photo: Duy Thanh).

At the Seminar on Attracting Talents in Higher Education - Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr. Nguyen Quan, former Minister of Science and Technology, said that to attract talents in education, the first thing is to have a realistic incentive policy.

"Giving a salary that is twice as high and a piece of land to build a house is not too important to scientists . Many places invite scientists to come back, but after a whole year they are not given any work, so they leave," said Mr. Nguyen Quan.

According to the former Minister of Science and Technology, when inviting scientists to the unit, it is necessary to give them a high degree of autonomy. For example, they can lead research groups, can autonomously invite colleagues from other schools/institutes to work together; can order topics, create responsibility for monitoring, urging organization, receiving results and being responsible for the topics...

Sharing the same opinion, Associate Professor Dr. Huynh Quyet Thang, Director of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that if only using high salaries to attract talent is not right because if they want a lot of money, scientists will choose to do other jobs.

Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Duyen, National Project Coordinator, ILO Office in Vietnam (Photo: Duy Thanh).

From another perspective, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Duyen, National Project Coordinator, ILO Office in Vietnam, said that salary, living conditions, educational incentives, health care, recognition of skills, degrees, etc. are important factors to attract talent.

Lack of suitable employment opportunities can lead to the migration of skilled and talented workers abroad. Therefore, high-quality and suitable jobs will help retain skilled workers and reduce dependence on foreign workers.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quan, the brain drain is happening from the public sector to the private sector, from domestic to foreign countries and will not stop without timely and breakthrough solutions.

Sharing about this issue, Associate Professor Dr. Huynh Quyet Thang said that many talented young Vietnamese people working abroad did not return.

However, he said, this cannot be called a brain drain. For now, they find suitable opportunities abroad, and they may return home when they have become good technologists.

“I think we are losing people in the short term, but in the future we can gain good experts. We do not consider it a brain drain, but rather “brain nurturing,” he said.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nha-khoa-hoc-khong-chi-can-luong-cao-ho-tro-dat-xay-nha-20251105004539047.htm