Development of human resources for sustainable development strategy of Vietnam's sea economy

Nội dung text: Development of human resources for sustainable development strategy of Vietnam's sea economy

1. DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF VIETNAM'S SEA ECONOMY Master. Ph.D Ma Duc Han1 – Doctor. Phung Manh Cuong2 Abstract: Vietnam has numerous favorable conditions for marine economic development. Marine economic development, in association with economic growth of industrialization and modernization, is the top priority strategy in our country. To successfully implement the plan for the mentioned goals, human resources play a decisive role. In this article, the author group conducted a situational analysis of the human resources for the sustainable development strategy for Vietnam’s marine economy in the current period. And based on that, proposing several solutions to develop human resources for the sustainable development of the maritime economy shortly. Keywords: Human resources, development, marine economy, Vietnam. 1. INTRODUCTION Vietnam's sea and islands hold a significant geopolitical and geo-economic position with more than 3260km of coastline, over 3000 islands, and more than 1 million square kilometers of the exclusive economic zone. With many beautiful beaches, bays and deep-water ports while located in the position of a vital international maritime route on the South China Sea, Vietnam's sea and islands have great potentials for the growth of many key industries such as maritime, aviation, shipping, marine tourism and exploitation, farming and processing seafood. 28 provinces and central cities in Vietnam are adjacent to the sea (10 of which possess islands), with a total area of 208.560km2 or 41% of the nation area and 41.2 million people, nearly half of Vietnam's population. There have been many studies discussing the development of human resources for the marine economy sustainable growth strategy, such as Tran Van Anh, Solution to workforce training for the maritime economy in Vietnam’s current integration process on the Economic Forecast magazine April 2017 issue. Using statistical analysis, the article focuses on analyzing the impact of human resources on the development of Vietnam's marine economy. The results show that the recognition and promotion of this factor over the past in our country is still limited, and has not fully exploited its potential, especially when it has reached the golden stage. As a result, the article proposes some essential solutions to overcome this situation in the future. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan, Developing human resources in the new economic landscape on the 02/2020 issue of the Communist Magazine; Nguyen Anh Quan, Managing Human Resource Development in Vietnam Marine Strategy, Asia–Pacific Economic Review, November 2017 issue; Prof. Dr. Vu Van Phuc, Human resource development for Vietnam's marine economy in the age of industrialization and modernization, Northeast Asia research journal, issue February 2016; MSc Le Thi Hieu Thao, Solutions to promote the role of human resources in current Vietnam's marine economic development, Industry and Trade Magazine, No.4 + 5/2017. All of the above articles mention the role of human resources in the strategy for marine economic 1 Political – Academy. Email: Maduchanpt1985@gmail.com. 2 Political – Academy. Email: Phungtuanminh2001@gmail.com. 425
2. development in Vietnam, along with analyzing and evaluating the current situation of the human resources of Vietnam's marine economic development strategy and conclude with many recommendations. These solutions have proved their theoretical and practical significance in developing the human resources for Vietnam's maritime economic growth strategy. It is fair to say that although there have been many types of research discussing human resource development for Vietnam's marine economic development. However, the previous works above have not put social resource growth in the context of sustainable marine economic development in Vietnam. This is a critical and heated issue that has received significant attention from the Party and the State recently. Therefore, in this article, the author focuses on researching and analyzing human resource growth in the context of sustainable marine economic development in Vietnam in the coming time. 2. METHOD In this article, the author group mainly uses two methods: Methods of descriptive statistics and general analysis to assess the state of human resources development for the sustainable development of marine economy strategy in Vietnam. Using data from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, The Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning & Investment, the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment, this group of authors analyzes, assesses, and addresses the achievements and limitations in improving human resource for the current strategy of sustainable marine economic development in Vietnam. From the results of the analysis, the group of authors will resort to experts for several solutions for human resource development strategy for the sustainable development of the marine economy in Vietnam in the coming time. 3. RESULTS 3.1. Status of the development of human resources for Vietnam’s marine economy In the recent ten years, the product of human resources for the marine economy in our country has received significant concerns and a valuable investment. The government has assigned the Ministry of Education and Training to assume the prime responsibility to command and coordinate with ministries, branches, and localities in reviewing human resource development projects, focusing on developing marine human resources through higher education (university and postgraduate), vocational training, building training facilities and training programs on management and exploitation for the workforce. Besides, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs has to review, adjust and supplement the planning of the vocational training institutions network to meet the requirements of marine economic development and monitor the implementation of human resource development strategies and planning for workers involved in the Marine Strategy. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Education and Training has amended and supplemented the enrollment regulations for undergraduates, masters, and doctors with priority policies for students and students with permanent residence in communities with special conditions in coastal areas and islands. The Ministry has reviewed training programs for marine economic development while instructing and supporting training institutions to open appropriate training courses to serve marine economic development. Currently, there are 20 marine-related training majors, 92 training institutions with 20 disciplines at graduates, masters and doctoral levels. 426
3. The Ministry of Labor – Invalids & Social Affairs has added 15 professions to critical human resources vocational training programs (9 international level, three regional level, and eight national level profession). Pilot models are also built to train captains and chief engineers for Class 4 fishing boats to implement the vocational training for rural workers projects, which will last until 2020. In addition to it, the Ministry of Labor – Invalids & Social Affair, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, has developed and implemented two vocational training programs and one induction program for captains and chief engineers of Class 4 fishing boats. By 2016, more than 20,000 off-shore fishermen have received vocational training. Coastal localities have also strengthened vocational training activities for workers in various marine economic professions while integrating human resource development for the marine economy to the development and implementation of the workforce improvement master plan until 2020. The system of vocational and vocational training schools in coastal localities has also been upgraded and newly established, with currently 90 vocational colleges and 133 secondary vocational institutions, and 454 vocational training centers. In particular, many colleges and vocational secondary schools have vocational training in marine economics. Over the years, the network of vocational colleges, vocational secondary schools, and vocational training centers continues to be reviewed and completed, in particular 40 high-quality vocational colleges, 20 vocational colleges, 75 secondary schools, and 150 vocational training centers for vocational training in the fisheries sector. Among 28 coastal provinces, the total number of trained workers directly engaging in aspects of fisheries and seafood processing is around 30,000 people. At the same time, local governments have also deployed and replicated vocational training models in the fisheries sector through pilot training for captains and chief engineers of Class 4 fishing boats in 16 out of 28 coastal localities with a total 25,000 fishermen (accounting for 30% of the fishermen in need of training). The human resources training associated with scientific research for marine economic development in recent years focuses mainly on seafood, maritime, and the oil industry. To meet the demand for marine human resources in the new situation, many training institutions have now included new marine–related disciplines as well as different studies in marine and ocean fields. In addition to many significant universities where new training programs in marine economics and marine management have been added such as University of Economics – Hanoi National University, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment, and Ho Chi Minh City School of Natural Resources & Environment, Nha Trang University, and Maritime University as well as training institutions such as the Institute of Maritime Medicine, and Hai Phong Medical University have built and completed the framework for training programs for students, masters of marine medicine and organize level 1 specialist training, orientation training program for studies in aquatic medicine and first aid, which leads to successful treatment of patients with complications caused by diving, participating in directing providing advice on aquatic medicine to many units in the health sector. In general, many universities and science institutes and technology have majors, faculties, teaching subjects, training dedicated to marine-related science and technology. The maritime industry has cooperated with universities and training institutions in the country to increase specialized human resources. As of now, there have been over 44,000 seafarers, while the ship registry sector has also grown in number and strived to meet the standards of the 427
4. International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Association of Organizations and International Register (IACS). According to the General Statistics Office on the labor force structure of the three economic sectors (Table 1), it can be seen that from 2000 to 2018, the Vietnamese labor force still concentrated mainly in the industry group: agriculture, forestry, and fishery Table 1: Structure of employees working by 3 economic groups, period 2000–2018 Unit: Percentage Year Agriculture, forestry and fishery Industry & construction Service 2000 62.2 13.0 24.8 2001 60.3 14.5 25.1 2002 58.6 15.4 26.0 2003 57.2 16.8 26.0 2004 56.1 17.4 26.5 2005 55.1 17.6 27.3 2006 54.3 18.2 27.6 2007 52.9 18.9 28.1 2008 52.3 19.3 28.4 2009 51.5 20.0 28.4 2010 49.5 21.0 29.5 2011 48.4 21.3 30.3 2012 47.4 21.2 31.4 2013 46.8 21.2 32.0 2014 46.3 21.5 32.2 2015 44.0 22.8 33.2 2016 41.9 24.7 33.4 2017 40.2 25.8 34.0 2018 37.7 26.7 35.6 Source: 2000–2017: Statistical Yearbook; 2018: Survey of labor & work done in 2018. In 2018, employees in the "Agriculture, forestry and fishery" sector accounted for 37.7%, 24.5 percentage down compared to 2000. In contrast, the "Industry and construction" sector increased from 13% 26.7% over the same period while "Services" grew from 24.8% to 35.6%. Compared to 2017, there has been a shift of labor from the agricultural, forestry, and fishery sectors to the industrial and construction industries and the service sector, raising the proportion of labor in industry and 428
5. construction to 26.7%, service to 35.6%, which is the highest since 2000. This shows that human resources for marine economy are increasingly being attracted to coastal economic zones, specifically the industry and services sector of the marine economy, which is a positive sign for the labor structure of Vietnam's maritime economy. Figure 1: Labor structure by region and economic sector, 2018 Source: GSO Figure 1 also shows the proportion of the employed population divided by the economic sector of each region. In the mountainous and coastal areas, the balance of employees working in the "Agriculture, forestry and fishery" area is still relatively high: 72.0% in the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen), 59.2% in the Northern Midlands and Mountains (Miền núi và Trung du Bắc Bộ) and 42.8% in the North and South Central Coast. Furthermore, the data shows that Ho Chi Minh City has a more developed economic structure than Hanoi, with 98.7% of its human resource working in industry, construction, and service sectors. This reflects the abundance of our human resources for the sustainable marine economic development strategy in our country if we have rational policies to optimize the workforce mentioned above. However, besides the positive aspects, the overall evaluation shows many hindrances to the development of human resources, such as insufficiency in both quantity and quality, imbalance in the industry structure that has not become an essential resource in marine economic development. Regarding the training facilities and marine research institutes, there has yet to be any significant investment made, along with a lack of attention. Lecturers, researchers, equipment, and facilities have not met the requirements for training high-quality marine human resources. Cooperation in training human resources with regional countries on high-quality marine human resources has not been focused, while vocational training to support job change for coastal residents has not been organized or mainly in the form of passed-down experience. The issues above have a significant impact on the development of the human resources for the sustainable development strategy of Vietnam's marine economy in both the present and the future. According to the assessment of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam's marine human resources are insufficient in 429
6. quantity and low in quality, imbalanced workforce structure, and weak human resources management in terms of expertise and profession. The number of crew members can only meet the limited domestic demand, while in the Philippines, Indonesia, Korea, China, it can contribute to export. Insufficiency in quantity and quality is also observed in the research department, hence the inability for the results of marine science and technology to meet the requirements. The main reason is due to inadequate investment in marine human development; it lacks both quantity and quality of the teaching staff, training institutions, research institutes, facilities, equipment as well as the qualifications of staff serving the training and development of human resources; international cooperation in training human resources for Vietnam's marine economy is underdeveloped; joint training projects still stop several training cooperation agreements at the national level; teaching programs for aquatic economics disciplines at universities lacks linkage with countries having firm maritime economies such as the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, and China. 3.2. Contradictions From the current status of human resources in marine economic development, there are some fundamental contradictions: First, the conflict on the increasing quantity and quality requirements of human resources and the actual training capacity in domestic education and training institutions. Second, the contradiction between the urgent requirement of modernization of marine economic industries with the current traditional and outdated methods of exploiting and using marine resources. Third, the contradiction among the high requirements for marine economic development, the limitations of mechanisms and policies to develop human resources in coastal localities, and human resource training institutions for marine economic development in Vietnam today. Four, the contradiction between high demands on human resources towards marine economy and the reality of quality on human resources. 3.3. The solutions to develop human resources for sustainable development of marine economy in Vietnam Vietnam sets out a strategy for sustainable development of the maritime economy to 2030, with a vision to 2045 in the context of increasingly fierce cooperation and competition in the marine economy. Therefore, developing human resources for Vietnam maritime economy needs a system solution synchronously and efficiently. It is necessary to focus on the following principal contents: First, perfecting mechanisms and policies on marine human resource training; well- performing the state management of human resource training, especially statistics and forecasting about human resource needs. The government should direct relevant ministries, departments, and localities to provide orientations for human resource development for the marine economy, including consideration for promulgating mechanisms and policies to prioritize and focus on developing and training high-quality human resources, especially the contingent of leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers. At the same time, the government should encourage enterprises to organize training and retraining of technical workers, prioritize vocational training such as electricity, electronics, informatics, mechanics, and automation. The authority should support funding for address-based training or training for 430
7. subjects with high qualifications and expertise in marine economic fields. Developing models of cooperation in training and attracting investment capital is to develop human resource training. It is necessary to establish policies to encourage collaboration with domestic science-technology research units with a qualified staff force. At the same time, it can help attract Vietnamese expatriates to work through marine economic cooperation projects with Vietnam and localities. Second, renew the content and objectives of training human resources in the marine economy to suit the needs of international integration. It is necessary to develop training based on international standards. It is essential to unify the content of the program, the training process and the way of training quality assessment. It is vital to standardize, modernize and improve the quality of marine human resources in the direction of closely following the labor market, associating training with job creation, and meeting the practical requirements of marine human resources. Central Resolution of eight Session XII emphasizes: “Developing high-quality marine human resources in line with market needs; adopt special mechanisms and policies to attract talents, step by step form a contingent of international-qualified managers, scientists, and experts in the field”3. It is crucial to improve the quality of marine vocational training at colleges and universities in the locality in the direction of achieving a high level of access to global citizen criteria such as foreign language ability; the ability to use technology (the internet is for learning and research); awareness of the environment, the surrounding community and grasp the world situation; ability to work actively, independent in life, ability to think independently; have skills: debate, rhetoric, work collectively under the guidelines of the Communist Party of Vietnam: “Have a support mechanism, improve the quality of training, develop the network of human resource who works on the maritime economy field to reach higher in regional level. Effectively carrying out vocational training is to meet the labor requirements of marine economic sectors and the changing of the people”4. Besides, training human resources is associated with scientific research serving marine economic development. In recent years, it has been focusing primarily on the fields of aquamarine, maritime, oil, and gas. To meet the needs of human resources on the sea field in the new situation, the training institutions and universities should expand the study of the sea and train more objects to study in seas and oceans. In particular, researching to promote international cooperation mechanisms in training human resources for Vietnam's marine economic development with many countries has substantial maritime economic advantages such as the United Kingdom, China, Korea, India, Japan, Russia and Indonesia. It should be focused on cooperating in a number of fields such as marine tourism, maritime, oil, gas mining, marine economic logistics, and fisheries to train high human resources for marine economy in the coming time to meet the needs of international integration. Third, diversify the modes of training human resources in the marine economy. In the open trend of integration, it is necessary to build mechanisms to encourage domestic and foreign cooperation and joint training; associating with international organizations to build centers for international practice certificate and recognize qualifications between countries. It is vital to 3 The Communist Party of Vietnam, Resolution No. 36/NQTW on the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam's Marine Economy to 2030, with a Vision to 2045, Session XII, National CTN Publishing House, H, 2018 , p. 77-109. 4 ibid, p. 103. 431
8. strengthen applied science research and technology transfer in universities. It is necessary to diversify forms of cooperation training (box 1). It is essential to review and re-plan vocational training institutions to meet the city's marine economic sectors, maritime industries, and marine labor export. It is vital to focus on upgrading existing vocational training institutions, invest in, and build new training institutions, encourage the formation of disciplines serving the exploitation and protection of marine environmental resources in schools. In particular, it is necessary to promote leading universities with strengths in training human resources for the marine economy in our country today. Regarding specific measures, first of all, the government assigns the Ministry of Education and Training to coordinate with ministries, branches, and localities in reviewing human resource development projects, in which focus on human resource development through training (undergraduate and postgraduate), vocational training. It is vital to build training facilities and human resource training programs for marine management and exploitation. On the other hand, it needs to amend and incorporate the regulations on the admission of universities, masters, and doctoral students with priority policies for students and students with permanent residence in extremely difficult communes in coastal areas. The authority should check public review of training programs to serve the development of the marine economy, guide and support the training to open suitable majors to improve marine economy better. Also, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs has reviewed, adjusted, and supplemented the plan for the network of vocational training institutions to meet the requirements of marine economic development and monitor the implementation of the strategy for human resource development planning for workers serving the Marine Strategy. For localities of 28 provinces and coastal cities should take the initiative and propose to the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs to support the open sector coding training to develop the marine economy at universities, colleges, and vocational secondary schools in the locality to provide high-quality human resources for maritime economy actively. This is an essential condition that contributes to the training of high-quality human resources for the maritime economy. Besides, it must be combined with useful kinds of training in-service, on- site needs associated with each agency, and business units in the locality. Fourthly, diversify the mobilization of funding for training and well solve social security issues. Currently, the training fund is mainly from the state, so the authorities at all levels must be determined to develop human resources for the marine economy through prioritizing capital from the budget for this activity. But it is necessary to do well in mobilizing capital from the people through the socialization of education and training. Local authorities and levels also need to pay attention to solving 432
9. social security issues well (box 2). It is crucial to have robust solutions to quickly solve socio-economic development problems such as reorganizing production, re-planning residential areas, rebuilding infrastructure and improving people's lives in the city areas, especially in the island districts and coastal communes. Solving well social security issues will contribute to nurture, educate, and create high- quality human resources to meet practical needs. Besides, it is necessary to do well with the statistics, and forecasting of human resources to help formulate and plan an accurate, effective human resource development strategy with a long–term vision. 4. CONCLUSION The 21st century is the century of the ocean, and the economic development of the sea is a current strategic issue. Human resources play a decisive role in developing the maritime economy in particular and the economy of Vietnam in general in the process of promoting industrialization and modernization of the country. Although human resources for marine economic development are still limited, failing to fully meet the current potential of Vietnam's marine economic growth, but with changes in perceptions and correct thinking about strategy for sustainable development of Vietnam's maritime economy, as well as the synchronous implementation of many measures to create high-quality human resources for the maritime economy, soon the marine economy will reap worthy achievements. REFERENCES 1. Pham Tat Dong (Editor – 2005), Practical and promising Vietnamese intellectuals, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi. 2. Le Thi Hong Diep (2010), Doctoral thesis in Political Economy Developing high quality human resources to form a knowledge economy in Vietnam. 3. The project Planning for the development of coastal economic zones of Vietnam up to 2020 according to Decision No. 1353/QD–TTg dated September 23, 2008, of the Prime Minister. 4. Pham Minh Hac (2011), Researching people and resources into industrialization and modernization, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi. 5. Nguyen Duy Hung, Vu Van Phuc (2012), Developing human resources to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi. 6. Proceedings of National Workshop (2020), Scientific justification for sustainable development policy solutions in the North Central Coast, Labor and Social Publishing House, H, 2020. 7. Bui Ngoc Lan (2002), Intellectual resources in innovation in Vietnam, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi. 433
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