Benefiting from global economic integration is not easy. It means more than trading or even getting FDI. It means creating conditions so that local knowledge is attractive to higher value added activities that draw in high quality capital, technology and management. This inflow sparks further activity, faster growth, and acts as an inducement for young people to acquire ever-greater skills. How does one get started on this virtuous circle? | Fulbright Economics Teaching Program Technology & Development Vietnam Education Foundation and the Digital Utility The Vietnam Education Foundation and the Digital Utility David Dapice Benefiting from global economic integration is not easy. It means more than trading or even getting FDI. It means creating conditions so that local knowledge is attractive to higher value added activities that draw in high quality capital, technology and management. This inflow sparks further activity, faster growth, and acts as an inducement for young people to acquire ever-greater skills. How does one get started on this virtuous circle? One sure way is to train large numbers of people in science and technology. In Vietnam, the Soviet Union provided quite good scientific training at the graduate level, but that meant that higher-level education within Vietnam did not develop so much. Also, the Soviet model of separating research in institutes from education in universities has proven somewhat less productive than mixing them. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a distinct decline in the level of scientific training for Vietnamese scientists and engineers. At the same time, budget cutbacks meant many institutes had to become self- supporting. This often meant doing applied services, or even leaving science altogether. A number of surveys in the 1990’s concluded that science education and research in Vietnam was slipping and badly needed to renovate Many initiatives are underway but one of special interest is the Vietnam Education Foundation. This is a US foundation established by the US Congress and announced by President Clinton on his visit to President Bush has appointed its Board of Directors and it is just starting its activities. It is charged with promoting science and technology (S&T) in Vietnam, primarily through providing scholarships for Vietnamese who have been accepted to graduate S&T programs in the US, but also by running special .
