Public Policy Training in Vietnam

By Nguyen Dinh Tai

1. Public Policy in the Reform Process

1.1. Overview of the positive contributions of public policy to the reform process

Over the past 20 years of the reform process in Vietnam, public policy research, formulation and implementation have changed in the course of the transition from central planning to the market economy and the country’s regional and international integration. The socio-economic development brought about by the reform process has been marked by higher growth rates, political stability and rising living standards.

In the economic sphere, Vietnam has seen strong GDP growth, a sound monetary and fiscal system, active and open international economic relations and improved overall economic structures. Vietnam has also made important achievements in other sectors. Education and training have been noticeably developed in terms of scale, quality, methodologies and physical facilities. Modern science and technology research has been introduced, especially the application of biotechnology in agriculture and modern science and technology in industries and services. All these achievements have remarkably strengthened Vietnam’s economic performance, competitiveness, and export efficiency.

However, these results have not yet fully met the requirements of socio-economic development. One of the reasons for this shortcoming is that the reform of the public policy formulation process is still limited; it has not yet reached a critical turning point and does not appropriately take into account the new opportunities of economic globalization, especially the factors for creating a knowledge-based economy. Therefore, the influence of public policy as an internal resource is not as strong as it should be.

1.2. Existing constraints of public policy training

The existing problems in public policy formulation and implementation in Vietnam stem from limitations in the existing level of skills as well as from the political ideology of civil servants. Both limitations are a result of the inadequate public policy training these civil servants have received.

Vietnam’s public policy training programs do not pay attention to policy evaluation and, to date Vietnam does not have a standard public policy training program or a sufficient number of competent trainers. There is no unified public policy training system in order to ensure the quality of policy research and formulation. Furthermore, the linkage between public policy research and training is very loose.

An appropriate policy evaluation system for Vietnam should include the following basic features: (1) policy evaluation should be considered as an indispensable step of in the policy formulation process; (2) it must directly serve the clients; (3) it must maintain a very strict policy evaluation rule; (4) the evaluation must be planned; and (5) it must select an appropriate evaluation agency.

Based on the study of public policy research, formulation and training, an urgent need has been identified to improve the public policy training program, in terms of both content and teaching methods, in order to adapt it to the requirements of a market economy.

2. Public Policy Training in Vietnam: The Supply Side

2.1. The public policy training system and its institutions

Vietnam currently has two systems governing and training its civil servants. These are:

• the system of agencies governing training of civil servants, which nominate civil servants to participate in training courses under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA). The personnel departments of individual ministries and of provincial people’s committees, as well as the personnel divisions of district people’s committees are all part of this system.
• the system of training institutions, which organize training courses, including the National Academy of Public Administration, the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy, training schools for civil servants under ministries, political training schools under provincial Communist Party offices, and political training centers under district Communist Party offices.

According to the data of MOHA, by December 2002, there were 1,529,825 civil servants paid from the state budget (excluding armed forces), of which 209,171 were government officials proper; 1,218,171 were other kinds of government officials such as researchers, teachers, doctors and nurses; and the remainder were personnel of legislative, the judiciary and of the Communist Party structure. Additionally, if one includes more than 200,000 personnel of district level authorities, the total number of civil servants nationwide increases to 1.7 million. The number of civil servants of provincial authorities of the 64 provinces at the end of 2003 was 109,461.

The same MOHA survey lists that during the period 1997- 2000, 1,092,181 civil servants participated in training courses, including 147,249 participants in courses on political theory; 283,932 participants in courses on state management; 33,846 participants in economics management courses; 515,697 participants in courses for professional knowledge; 36,551 participants in English language courses; 68,617 participants in informatics courses; and 6,019 participants were sent abroad to study. Thus, on average 270,000 civil servants attended training courses annually, accounting for 18% of the total of civil servants - a ratio which we consider to be low.

State training courses for civil servants can be classified into two categories: (1) Training courses organized annually by ministries. Normally, these are short-term training courses, which focus on professional skills (engaged in day to day work), enforcement of regulations and policies, and provision of information concerning new policies. (2) Training courses organized by NAPA. These courses focus on administration management. After completing these courses, trainees obtain a certificate of administration management. This certificate is a necessary condition if he/she wants to take an examination to upgrade his/her position in terms of professional skills.

Since 1996, the Ministry of Education and Training and NAPA have conferred degrees and certificates to thousands of trainees who participated in full-time, part-time and in-service training courses. Since 1997, the Ministry of Home Affairs and NAPA have introduced training courses and organized examinations for upgrading the professional positions of civil servants. Currently, most civil servants at central and local level have been provided knowledge of state management and public administration skills. Therefore, perception and basic knowledge of state management, working styles and interpersonal skills have all been improved.

After more than 20 years since the launch of the reform policy, 144 training institutions have been established with the mandate to provide training on master and PhD levels. In the period 1990-1996, seven international cooperation programs were launched, which concentrated on business administration, economics and finance. In recent years, some 30 master courses in various professional fields have been introduced via such international cooperation programs. Additionally, since 2000, some 1,000 students have been sent abroad annually to study, pursue internships, master and PhD programs. Funding for these students has been provided by the state budget as well as through bilateral and multilateral agreements.

To understand the public policy training activities in Vietnam more clearly, we have selected 20 training institutions for analysis through the questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The targeted training institutions were those which have directly or indirectly offered public policy courses. The survey revealed the following findings:

See Figure 1: Percentage of short-term training courses and long-term training institutions [ PDF 49.6KB | 1 page ]

• The institutions mainly open short-term courses (less than three-months) to provide knowledge for officials of their own line ministry (exclusive of master and PhD programs). The participants are central government officials, provincial government officials and entrepreneurs. Such courses do not require a minimum number of years working experience and accept participants with different levels of qualifications. Generally, the design of these training courses is based on the requirements of the ministries in charge. The participants of the courses must attend fulltime and 100% of their study fee is paid from the state budget. Contents of the courses relate to professional skills, policy analysis, implementation of laws regulations, and information on new policies.

  See Table 1: Main training contents of short-term courses [ PDF 17.7KB | 1 page ]

• Depending on the course, the training topic is selected by the leadership of the training institution or the ministry in charge. In some ministries, the staff of the training departments is also responsible for selecting training topics.
• Overall, existing training programs can be considered to be suitable or partly suitable. Thanks to such training courses, trainees have benefited through improved knowledge and better working relationships.

Regarding the feedback received from the surveyed institutions, four urgent problems exist: the lack of standard public policy programs; inadequate funding; lack of qualified trainers; inadequate training material and poor training facilities.

See Table 2: Most serious problems of existing training programs [ PDF 17.8KB | 1 page ]

• To resolve the main problems, all surveyed institutions saw the necessity to establish a proper and standard public policy training program. All agreed that this standard program would help to strengthen policy research, formulation and analysis.

See Table 3: Importance of setting up a standard public policy training program [ PDF 15.3KB | 1 page ]

Based on the above-mentioned data, we can see that, currently in Vietnam, training in economic management in general and training in public policy in particular receive limited attention in the state’s training system.

The curriculum of Vietnamese training institutions is largely self-established. Basic knowledge of theory and policy analysis tools like microeconomics, macroeconomics, public finance, and statistics are not yet provided to trainees. Moreover, quality and skills of trainers are problematic, as most of them were educated under the centrally planned system and were equipped with inadequate economic knowledge. Their teaching methods generally rely more on their own practical experience than on marketbased research.

Alongside this training system with ‘traditional’ training methods and low training quality, training programs with international partners have been run in Vietnam for the past ten years and have steadily increased in importance. Such training courses (degree or non-degree programs) are offered by partnerships of domestic and foreign universities and attract participants from the public sector at the central and local level. Examples of such training courses include the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program; the Master Course in Public Management and Economics offered by the National Economics University, Free University of Brussels (ULB) and Solvay Business School; the Master Course in Economics of Banking and Finance offered by the National Economics University and University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City in cooperation with the European School of Management and University of Paris Dauphine; as well as the Vietnam-Netherlands Master Program in Development Economics, which is offered at the National Economics University in Hanoi.

The above-mentioned public policy training courses are highly appreciated and considered to be the most systematic and standardized programs in Vietnam today (see appendix 2 for details). The modern contents of the training courses provide participants with economic knowledge, analytical skills and methodology relevant for public policy as well as case studies.

In parallel, Vietnam has signed bilateral agreements on public policy training with the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Korea and Singapore. Annually, these governments grant scholarships to students working in the public sector in Vietnam. The screening is serious and students are required to pass many tests before being accepted. Most students are quite young but already possess a number of years of working experience.

Although the government has made efforts to strengthen its international relations in public policy training to meet the increasing domestic demand, only a few thousand students have been trained in relevant fields to date. The number of trained students certainly does not meet the huge and constantly increasing demand in Vietnam. In other words, Vietnam is suffering from a serious shortage of public policy training institutions with international standard. Significant changes in training policy will be necessary in the near future, so that Vietnam will have the professional policymakers it requires to continue leading the reform process.

2.2. Differences between training on national and on provincial level

The state training system foresees two training forms for local officials: First, local officials are nominated to participate in training courses offered by training institutions of the ministry in charge. Trainees are civil servants of local authorities that are controlled directly by the relevant ministry in terms of professional issues. The timing, curriculum and trainers of the courses are selected by the ministry. This form of training focuses on enhancing professional skills through short-term training courses. Second, in accordance with the demands of the local government, the provincial people’s committee or departments select training contents, set the date and invite trainers by themselves. The training content often concentrates on urgent and specific issues of local importance or ‘hot issues’ in the society.

Generally speaking, long-term training is offered to civil servants who are part of a promotion plan, while short term training aims at improving a specific professional skill and is offered to junior or mid-level civil servants. With the exceptions of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the provinces do not have their own training institutions for local civil servants. However, provinces do have political training schools with the function of training Communist Party cadres.

In comparison with the central training system, we can see that the local training system has not yet been organized methodically, and instead is run rather spontaneously. Training courses are mostly offered upon the initiative of some local authorities or individuals from local state agencies. This illustrates the lack of planning for training programs and a lack of attention of the leadership from the central to the local level. A specific example is the shortage of basic facilities for public policy training activities such as the budget, basic training material and professional trainers. All of these factors limit the qualifications of local civil servants compared to their counterparts on central level and, more importantly, compared to the requirements of modern governance.

2.3. Differences between degree courses and non-degree courses

A degree course is used as a tool to standardize the qualification of personnel in accordance with professional requirements. A non-degree course aims to improve knowledge and professional skills of personnel for day-to-day work.

Generally speaking, degree courses are quite popular in Vietnam. In many cases, the degree is obtained as a requirement for promotion rather than for the upgrading of knowledge. Therefore, degree courses attract a large number of candidates while non-degree courses are much less popular. Degree courses almost always last longer (from one to two years on average) than non-degree courses (some days or months).

Degree courses have a longer training time and more systematic programs than non-degree courses. A degree course requires students to deeply understand issues and pass final examinations at the end of terms. Non-degree courses, due to the absence of any ‘examination pressure’, often have to accept students and in many cases also teachers with lower qualifications.

2.4. Difference between contents of training in public administration, public policy and political ideology

Internationally, public policy, public administration and political ideology have quite similar training content. It is useful to consider how the three issues are taught in Vietnam (for details see appendix 3).

Concerning public administration, the National Academy of Public Administration provides an official public administration training program for civil servants. However, if we examine the list of the subjects taught, it seems that this program does not provide students with the necessary analytical tools and skills.

The Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy provides leadership training in political ideology, which is a requirement for promotion.

As mentioned above, most ministries have their own research and training institutions. However, in comparison with the modern public policy program which is offered in many countries, the state-run public policy programs in Vietnam does not meet international standard. Most of these training programs only concentrate on the introduction of current policies and their implementation, but do not pay attention to policy research analytical skills and policy formulation.

At present, the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program and other international training programs in Vietnam mentioned above, remain the only modern programs in the country.

2.5. Efficiency of public policy training

The public policy training methods in large-scale state-run programs directly influence the qualifications of civil servants. We believe that it is necessary, therefore, to assess the efficiency of this form of public policy training. The following aspects are analyzed: (i) the goal of public policy training; (ii) the curriculum of the training program; (iii) the teaching method; and (iv) factors that have an impact on the training program.

Government ministries provide training courses to their own civil servants on immediate skills. They do not provide a modern public policy program with basic knowledge about the functioning of government and market, public finance, policy analysis tools such as economics, statistics, econometrics, or knowledge concerning practices (case studies, evaluation of policy impact on society, exchange of policy research working papers, etc.).

Because the goal of public policy training in Vietnam is not clear and specific, no concrete criteria are given for the selection of training topics or curricula by the ministry in charge. Moreover, the teaching method consists of full time lecturing with trainees passively listening, and no assessment is made at the end of the course.

From our survey we have found that the main factors determining training quality are the background and experience of the individual who selects the training topic and defines the curriculum; the background and experience of the trainer; and the background of the trainee. As the background and experience of these individuals does not include thorough theoretical knowledge, the design of the public policy training courses of the state system also does not provide theoretical contents.

To summarize, policymakers - provincial civil servants in particular - as well as trainers of training institutions have themselves been trained with traditional methods under the centrally planned economy. Their own training still deeply influences their perception and qualifications.

2.6. Linkage between public policy research and training

Social phenomena are diverse and dynamic. Many phenomena are outside the reach of society’s institutions. Linkages among institutions could better cope with social phenomena that individual institutions are unable to grasp. This observation also holds true when we observe activities related to public policy research and training. The following points show the importance of linkages.

• Research would support training activities through updated knowledge and experience, supplementing training methodologies and strengthening training quality;
• training activities would help research by upgrading knowledge, particularly by facilitating the inclusion of practical experience into research;
• the vertical and horizontal linkage between research institutes, universities, and training centers would positively influence public policy research and training.

The question for public policy is how to set up an efficient linkage between research and training - a question which has already been posed some years ago. However, it has been difficult to overcome obstacles within concerned institutions as well as barriers between institutions, as the institutions are concerned solely with their own agendas.

2.6.1. Linkages between public policy research and training within ministerial research institutes

Currently, such a linkage exists within most research institutes directly controlled by ministries. Trainees are the officials of a ministry and the training content aims to update information and knowledge in their particular field of expertise. These training courses are typically short-term. Some research institutes also offer master or PhD programs on subjects closely related to their own field of research. These courses are offered in association with universities, where required additional credits are obtained, while the degree is conferred by the Ministry of Education and Training.

As such a ministerial institution is involved in the process of policy formulation, its training content contains practical experience and can provide trainees with relevant public policy knowledge. For example, the Academy of Banking is often assigned to cooperate with the Monetary Policy Department of the State Bank of Vietnam in conducting public policy research, thus helping the Academy of Banking set up the linkage between research and training activities. This type of linkage can also be found at the Central Institute of Economic Management and the Development Strategy Institute under the Ministry of Planning and Investment as well as at the Institute of Trade of the Ministry of Trade, at the Institute of Industrial Strategy and Policy Research of the Ministry of Industry, and at the National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

See Figure 2: Output of Cooperation [ PDF 93.9KB | 1 page ]

At the same time, linkages between these ministerial research institutes are not well developed. Cooperation in training activities is only found in form of personal invitations to participate.

2.6.2. Linkages between public policy research and training within non-ministerial research institutes

Research institutes of this type, such as the Institute of Economics and the Institute of World Economics and Politics in VASS, do not directly take part in policy research and formulation. Their research is concentrated on issues relating to basic theories of public policy and policy analysis. Training activities of these institutes therefore focus on theoretical aspect of public policy rather than on practical policy analysis and advice.

2.6.3. Linkage of public policy research and training in universities

Universities providing public policy training usually study only subjects that directly support their regular training activities. A linkage of public policy research and training among universities is very loose at best.

2.6.4. Linkage of public policy research and training between ministerial research institutes, non-ministerial institutes and universities

Because they actively take part in public policy formulation, ministerial research institutes possess significant practical knowledge and experience. Non-ministerial institutes and universities, on the other hand, favor more theoretical studies. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of linkages between the two groups, which results in low quality public policy research and training.

See Table 4: Linkage between research and training [ PDF 11.2KB | 1 page ]

3. Public Policy Training in Vietnam: The Demand Side

The public policy training system in Vietnam has a number of limitations: specialized subjects are often not suitable for many trainees, often subjects are too theoretical, and often the qualification of the trained personnel still does not meet the requirements of Vietnam’s public management in this period of rapid industrialization and modernization.

The strongest demand from civil servants in state management agencies is to participate in training courses on political theory because, as a rule, a civil servant must attend such courses at the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy in order to be promoted.

Of the 1.5 million civil servants throughout the country, a remarkable number has been trained in state management issues. However, this training is often of low quality and lacks public administration skills as well as knowledge of public policies and their implementation. Many civil servants not only lack expertise, but also work inefficiently. They have limited skills in dealing with assignments, drafting documents, detecting problems and embracing the whole assignment. In addition, civil servants are often weak in information technology skills and command of foreign languages. Thus, while civil servants are excessive in quantity they still lack sufficient knowledge, applications skills and the capacity to properly complete assignments.

At the same time, a shortage of well-trained and specialized civil servants is becoming apparent among the generation which is to succeed the current staff. This shortage concerns those civil servants in particular who are charged with formulating policies and development strategies in many state agencies and at many levels of seniority. While the overall number of civil servants has gradually increased with the development of Vietnam’s economy, the improvement of their training remains an urgent issue.

It is noteworthy that no severe disparities in quality and methodology can be found in the training of different civil servants, as one would expect different groups of civil servants to be trained on different levels. The cause of this uniformity lays in the fact that recruitment and placement of civil servants does not accurately reflect their abilities and specialization.

4. Support Conditions for Training Activities

4.1. The Vietnamese government ’s position on education and training

The general target of the State’s Master Program for Public Administration Reform during the period 2001-2010 is:

“to establish a group of civil servants which has a good qualification and competence to meet requirements of the country’s development. The specific target is set as follows: by the year 2010, personnel management has the appropriate quantity, structure and is modern and professionally organized. Civil servants have the work ethics and capacity to execute their duties in service to the people and country. The mission for training civil servants until the year 2010 is to ensure that they have good knowledge of political ideology, administration skills, command of foreign languages and IT skills suitable to their positions. They have the capacity to develop policies and to organize as well as execute their duties to meet the increasing day-to-day requirements of the industrialization and modernization process.”

Driven by this goal, the Prime Minister approved the Decision No 201/2001/QD-TTg on Implementing the Strategy of Education Development 2001-2010, dated 18/12/2001. This decision is a key part of the legal basis for implementation of the strategy by every agency and person. Under article 2 of the decision, the Prime Minister has assigned specific missions to ministries and agencies, namely the Ministry of Training and Education, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, etc. Each ministry is to implement the Education Development Strategy in its area of jurisdiction and with its civil servants.

4.2. The legal framework and mechanisms for training civil servants

In order to create a legal framework for training activities, the Vietnamese government issued many policies and mechanisms. Of these policies, we mention Government Decree No 87/1996/ND-CP dated 19/12/1996 and Decree No 51/1998/NDCP dated 18/7/1998 on decentralization, management, establishment, implementation and balance of the state budget; and Decision No 874/QD-TTg dated 20/11/1996 on training activities for civil servants. These form an important part of the legal framework for training activities for civil servants in Vietnam.

On July 5th, 2001, the Prime Minister issued Decision No 74/2001/QD-TTg on the plan for civil servants’ training in the period 2001-2005. Subsequently, on July 11th, 2003, the Prime Minister issued Decision 37/2003/ QD-TTg approving the training plan in the international integration stage from 2003 to 2010. In addition, the state master plan for public administrative reform for the period 2001-2010 also contains programs to upgrade qualifications of civil servants through training activities.

To further improve the training quality, the Prime Minister issued Decision No 16/2003/QD-TTg dated 4/8/2003 stipulating the statute of training for civil servants (see appendix 4 for a comprehensive list of relevant legal documents).

4.3. Policies promoting human resources development

The Prime Minister promulgated Decision No 874/QD-TTg dated 20/11/1996 stipulating training activities for civil servants with clear targets, participants, training contents and training form. The Law on Education also recognizes that “to promptly establish an intellectual force to meet the requirements of the industrialization and modernization process, the state should pay great attention to expanding training quantity and enhance training quality for civil servants and to sending students to study abroad”.

4.4. Investment in material facilities

To ensure higher quality in human resources, Resolution 2 of the VII. Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam confirms that “the state will reserve a proper budget to send virtuous and talented persons to study in countries which have advanced science and technology foundations”.

The state budget is a key source of finance for education and the government gives investment in education priority over sectors. The percentage of the state budget allocated for education was 15% in 2000 and is planned to reach 18% in 2005 and an estimated 20% by 2010. To achieve this goal, the government will make use of funds with preferential interest rates from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, international organizations and other countries. In addition, the government has mobilized further funds from internal and external sources for education development.

4.5. Support for education from international organizations

International organizations support education via financial aid. Their support is a significant financial contribution to education development in Vietnam. This source includes financial aid and loans from international and bilateral donors. In total, these fund make up some 20% of total expenditure for education.

4.6. Assessment of public policy training

Training of civil servants in Vietnam shows some advantageous features. Firstly, training forms have been diversified to improve the knowledge of civil servants through ‘learning by doing’. Secondly, training institutions have began to network in some areas. Since Decision No 874/QD-TTg dated 20/11/1996 stipulating training activities for civil servants came into effect, training activities have been improved. The system of training institutions at central and local level has been consolidated; the legal framework has been established and completed; and the number of trained civil servants has increased. In general, training activities contribute to strengthening the efficiency of public management mechanisms and staff policy in state agencies and training institutions. Efforts are made to motivate civil servants to continue to learn and improve.

On the other hand, public policy training in Vietnam still has many shortcomings in relation to the demands created by the necessity to build a modern administration. These shortcomings exist in many aspects and include the following:

• governance of training activities from central to local level is not unified;
• policies related to training of civil servants are issued in an inconsistent manner;
• planning of training is not demand-driven, does not relate properly to general personnel policy, and training plans are changed too rapidly;
• decentralized management of training is not working consistently, creating dispersion and overlap among agencies;
• inspection is not sufficient.

The two main reasons for these shortcomings are: (1) not enough attention is being paid to training by responsible authorities at all levels of government and, as a result, the management and organization of training lack proper coordination, and (2) the finances for training of civil servants are limited and, moreover, they are not used properly and efficiently.

5. Recommendations

As detailed in the public administration reform program, by 2010 Vietnam’s civil servants should be trained in political theory, professional qualification, administrative skills and information technology, in order to strengthen their ability of policy formulation and implementation. Thus, the following measures should be carried out soon:

5.1. Establishing new training programs in public policy in Vietnam

Identifying beneficiaries: Beneficiaries are mainly policymakers, policy researchers, civil servants at central and local levels (who are responsible for approving policies and implementing policies), cadres belonging to political and other organizations. Additionally, the number of entrepreneurs among trainees should be increased to further diversify discussion opinions and better link the public and private sectors. All trainees should be selected by the training institution to ensure their proper qualification.

Duration of the training: Training courses should run for one full year with full-time courses, divided into four semesters, while the duration of each semester would depend on the detailed contents.

Training contents: The content of training courses is organized in four semesters, for each of which a special training manual will be developed. Subjects should include: Philosophy (Eastern philosophy, Marxist philosophy and Western philosophy), Economics (macroeconomics, microeconomics and economic theories), Political Science (concentrating on Vietnamese political institutions), Law, Public Economic Management, and Policy Analysis.

Such training programs will have to be offered in a diversified and decentralized manner as follows: (1) framework programs as a common foundation for all training programs for civil servants; (2) training programs for leaders, managers, policymakers; training programs corresponding to different levels of seniority; (3) training programs for civil servants at levels of specialists, main specialists, superior specialists, top specialists; (4) pre-civil service training programs; and (5) training programs for civil servants who are trainers in public administration themselves.

Training methodology: Training courses should provide theories along with practical studies to equip participants with knowledge both of Vietnam and the world. After each subject, participants will prepare reports. The goal of a training course should be clearly defined and course requirements should be accurately detailed and transparent.

Curricula: Curricula must meet agreed academic, political and practical standards in terms of content, methodology and required skills. Curricula must distinguish between compulsory parts for all trainees and specialized lectures for specific groups of civil servants. Curricula of long-term courses should provide basic and comprehensive training, while short-term course curricula should concentrate on refreshing and updating relevant issues.

Trainers: The Vietnamese and foreign trainers should be highly qualified, have training expertise and practical experience in their field. Vietnamese trainers should be recruited from research institutes, universities and related institutions. Foreign trainers should come from public policy training projects. Remuneration of trainers should follow market rates, in order to attract high-quality experts.

State management of training: Currently, the Ministry of Home Affairs is the state management agency for civil servants. It should be assigned to take charge of training management on central and local level. Decentralization of power and responsibility for training activities between central and local levels should be considered, just as proper division of responsibility between the agency in charge of training and the agency participating in training.

5.2. Combining public policy research and training through a network of organizations concerned

As we have seen, it is necessary to set up a stable linkage among concerned institutions as soon as possible. Within this linkage, public policy training must be a backbone for public policy research. However, first and foremost, the five following questions must be answered, namely: (1) Whom does the training aim at? (2) What is the content of training? (3) How is the training implemented? (4) When is the training conducted? (5) Where is the training organized? Questions 1, 4 and 5 must be answered by the respective personnel departments, while questions 2 and 3 should be answered by the training units responsible for curricula and teaching methodologies of public policy training. Additionally, it would be important that research institutes and universities exchange trainers, in order to benefit the contents of the training on the one hand and institutional development on the other hand.

The Vietnamese state must have a consistent standpoint on public policy training and give it high priority in the near future, as it will have profound impacts on the development of the country. Attention must be paid to set up qualified teams of lecturers in training institutions, apply modern and attractive training methods, recruit international experts for training of trainers, invest in building infrastructure and modern equipment for public policy training facilities, and establish a legal framework within which the state acknowledges training programs, grants certificates and supports training expenses.

See the Appendixes [ PDF 14.6KB | 4 page ]

Comment(s)

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1. Rathindranath Pal
   (posted 23 April 2008 / 08:10:32 PM)
   
   It’s a good initiative and relevance to Viet Nam at this moment as its economy is quickly growing like China and India. Without strengthening the capacity of public policy and research it is difficult for a country to be on right track of development.