Director of Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute: Low salary, making banh chung as Tet gift in hope of retaining staff

Despite working at the country's leading research institute and being full of passion, many aerospace engineers are sad when sharing about their income and benefits.

Retaining talent and motivating scientists is a big challenge for Vietnam in the development process. Dr. Tran Chi Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, frankly pointed out some limitations in salary levels, training mechanisms and financial management. These are invisible barriers that are hindering the development of science and technology, especially in fundamental fields.

Dr. Tran Chi Thanh, head of the leading research institute in the nuclear field, admitted that the salary at the Institute is slightly higher than the average for basic science fields, but it is still very difficult to maintain a stable life in big cities.

"Previously, a new employee had a salary coefficient of 2.34; which was only 5 million VND/month. Now it has increased to 7-8 million VND. This salary is too low if you live in Hanoi ," Mr. Thanh said.

The low basic income level forces scientists to seek additional sources of income. Although the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute has a development fund to provide additional support for staff, this source of funding is unstable, only "compensatory" when available, and cannot be a long-term solution.

Low salaries are the direct cause of the "brain drain" phenomenon when good staff leave research institutes. Well-trained and highly competent people often give priority to moving to the business sector or units with more attractive remuneration.

"We proactively contacted, sent invitations and created the best conditions to invite 400 students trained in nuclear power from abroad to work at the Institute. Even on the occasion of Lunar New Year, the Institute and the Vietnamese Embassy in the Russian Federation organized Chung cake wrapping as gifts for them.

However, when returning home, most of them went to work at Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN). Looking at the truth, at EVN, the starting salary is 15-17 million VND, double that of the Research Institute" , Dr. Thanh recounted the story of "inviting" nuclear power human resources trained abroad.

Nuclear Research Institute (under the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute - Ministry of Science and Technology ) in Da Lat. (Photo: Government Newspaper)

This huge income gap makes the Institute's efforts to train and attract talent really difficult. The unclear future direction and lack of competitive remuneration mechanism not only causes the loss of young human resources, but also reduces the quality and quantity of core scientific staff - those who are capable of becoming "leading birds" in the field of scientific research.

Dr. Thanh shared a personal story to clarify the difference in environment: After graduating from Yale University (USA), his daughter worked for Apple Corporation, with a salary of up to 150,000 - 200,000 USD/year, immediately equal to or more than the salary of a professor or associate professor.

Mr. Thanh said that although the salary of scientists abroad is not the highest, it ensures them a stable life, enough to focus on research.

Over the past 10 years, the biggest problem that has caused Dr. Thanh's unit and research institutes to struggle is the lack of state funding for training.

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Hire good people, give them free training and money, enough to keep them working and working with experienced teachers.

Dr. Tran Chi Thanh - Director of Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute

Previously, the Government issued Decision 1756 allowing the use of the budget to send talented cadres to work and study at leading atomic energy and nuclear power facilities in the world. The Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute also sent a few cadres to be trained under this program in 2015.

However, after the nuclear power program stopped, this training program was also "frozen". As a result, the improvement of the current staff's qualifications is almost based on the "voluntariness" and "self-sufficiency" of individuals.

Cadres who study for a master's degree in the country or abroad must pay for it themselves. Even those with a doctorate must apply for a scholarship to study abroad, or pay for their own studies in the country.

Mr. Thanh believes that this is the biggest unreasonable point in Vietnam's training system: PhD students have to pay for their own tuition. This is completely contrary to the world's advanced model.

"When I and some staff at the Institute received doctoral training abroad, we were all given money and given the opportunity to work and study at the same time. In fact, the salary I received as a PhD student in Sweden was enough for me to support my whole family.

While in our country we still require graduate students to pay money, how can they feel secure in dedicating themselves to science?", the institute director frankly admitted.

Mr. Thanh emphasized that this mindset needs to be completely changed. "Recruit good people, provide free training and give them enough money to work and work with experienced teachers.

It is a fact that most of the international publications and good research are done by PhD students. Because PhD students are at the most creative and enthusiastic age of their life. They are the main scientific force, we must know how to use them in the best way.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with representatives of experts, intellectuals, and overseas Vietnamese in France (June 2025), calling on them to contribute to the construction and implementation of major projects in the country, including nuclear power development.

To have a good working team, Dr. Thanh proposed applying the ladder-shaped training model. Specifically, it is necessary to conduct initial mass training to create a foundation of human resources capable of working in all stages of serving research and technology development. After this mass training step, we will select the best people with the capacity and desire to continue in-depth training, improving their qualifications to higher levels.

He gave an example of a foreign scientist's urine color imaging technology, showing that to achieve cutting-edge technology (the top part), a solid foundation in science such as chemistry, mechanics, automatic control, nuclear, steel materials... is needed. Without a solid foundation in science, technology cannot be developed. These fundamental fields must be invested in and developed systematically.

As a manager, Dr. Thanh wishes to have a mechanism to pay higher salaries to encourage young, dynamic staff. However, everything is bound by general financial regulations.

"I am the Director of a large Institute but I have no autonomy in allocating funds to the staff in the Institute. Everything must follow the regulations. I sign a lot of documents every day, but I only get a few million VND. Meanwhile, abroad, a professor only needs one signature for a PhD student to be free to do research, be creative, and attend international conferences..."

He believes that scientific productivity and efficiency come from collaboration, teamwork, and a clear goal-oriented management mechanism, accompanied by autonomy in spending money.

"I really like the way of management that sets a task and must achieve the goal, the budget must give people a degree of autonomy, so that units have the right to choose good people and pay them appropriately. That is the way a developed country like China is doing it."

Paying a single individual a high salary without a synchronous mechanism can easily lead to the situation of "if your salary is higher, you do the work, if my salary is lower, I will just do that" and create internal jealousy.

Dr. Thanh believes that policymakers need to carefully and systematically study the experiences of developed countries to create a synchronous mechanism that is both effective and suitable for Vietnamese culture.

"Up until now, we have been forced to follow the old 'track' of having to sign everything and asking for opinions on everything, which is very difficult. I say these things not to complain, but to increase the autonomy of unit leaders.

"If they really work for the country, let them decide with more freedom in allocating funds to officials, because they take responsibility before the Party and the State to do those things," Mr. Thanh frankly admitted.

The Director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute also pointed out a shortcoming in the working environment: the system of complaint laws. Many units have to hold meetings and set up councils to hold meetings every time there is a complaint, which distracts the focus on scientific research.

Dr. Tran Chi Thanh hopes that Vietnam's encouragement and promotion of science and technology must go hand in hand with salary increases, ensuring a decent income for scientists. Along with that, a flexible management mechanism must be built, with high autonomy and synchronization. These are prerequisites to create an environment for "leading" scientists to mature and contribute to the country to the maximum.

Minh Hoan - Minh Quang

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/vien-truong-nang-luong-nguyen-tu-vn-luong-thap-tet-goi-banh-chung-lam-qua-mong-giu-nhan-su-ar988625.html