Hong Duc University in Thanh Hoa province is one of the successful cases in talent retention for its lecturers. (Photo: hdu.edu.vn) While many schools have come up with effective mechanisms that notonly keep their lecturers but also attract others, limited resources remain anobstacle for numerous universities.
Hong Duc University in Thanh Hoa province is one of the successfulcases, with more than 42% of its lecturers holding a doctoral degree, higherthan the national average of about 30%.
The university’s dean Dr Bui Van Dung told Giao duc Viet Nam (Vietnam Education)e-magazine: “Retaining and attracting excellent lecturers is a focus of ouruniversity, as well as our council and Party Committee’s Standing Board.
“They provide specific direction for departments to build policiesand create favourable conditions for lecturers to express their capabilities.
Dr Dung added that to retain excellent teachers, the universityhas put in place multiple policies, such as encouraging them to improve theirprofessional qualifications (master, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees),sending them on field trips, assigning tasks related to scientific research orteaching materials, among others.
The institution also developed a career path with clear benefits,and recommends their personnel to participate in advisory councils at differentlevels in the sector.
Dr Dung said that increasing benefits is only one of manymeasures.
It will be very difficult to retain talent if they don’t have theright working environment to enrich their own values and improve theircapacity, he added.
The Hong Duc University also has a yearly plan for doctoraltraining for its lecturers, including training aboard, in the country or at theuniversity itself. An evaluation report is conducted every year for recognitionand rewards.
Teachers participating in doctoral training can receive support interms of tuition fees, transportation fees, bonuses for early completion, and priorityfor promotion, among other benefits.
They must also commit to return to work at the universityfollowing their training, or make a full refund of the expenses they arecovered during the studying period.
Dr Dung said: “We still continue studying to constantly improverecognition and reward policies to not only retain excellent lecturers, butalso to attract more talent to work here.”
In Quang Ngai province, Dr Nguyen Duc Hoang from Pham Van DongUniversity said that one of the challenges is that the salary range forlecturers, particularly those who are younger, remains very modest.
At the same time, the university is highly financiallyindependent, and therefore has a limited budget for employee bonuses.
“Retaining excellent lecturers through salary policy is animportant measure for local universities, which still have limitations in termsof academic and scientific research environment compared to those in largecities,” said Dr Hoang.
Despite these obstacles, the Pham Van Dong University has beensetting out specific plans for talent retention.
Dr Hoang said: “The university’s internal spending regulationshave been adjusted to include support for employee capacity training,especially for lecturers who become doctoral students or receive academic ranks,and for international scientific publication on ISI or Scopus Q1-Q4.
“We also facilitate the cooperation between our lecturers andexperts, institutes and universities in the country and abroad to conductscientific research and projects with practical application.
“In addition to policies based on each university’s resources, thegovernment should also have priority policies that invest in developing a teamof excellent lecturers for local universities, especially those with doctoraldegrees and the titles of professors and associate professors.”/.
VNA
