Deputy PM Dam urges for renovation from IT students

After many years of fluctuation, Vietnam’s economy is now standing at 120th in the world, however, it must grow by at least 8-9% a year to catch up with the newly industrialised countries in the next 20 years. Furthermore, sustainable development is essential to ensuring social equity, which requires students to be innovative and possess a strong ambition, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 03:41

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam talks with students from FPT University during his visit to the university on February 13. (Credit: VGP)

The deputy PM relayed the message to FPT University students during his visit to the university campus located at Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, Thach That District, Hanoi, on February 13.

Speaking to thousands of FPT students, Deputy PM Dam affirmed that IT will have an increasingly important role for the country’s development, especially in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and start-up movement. Students must learn about opportunities and challenges that the revolution will bring about, he said.

Recalling the previous efforts of Vietnam to develop towards digital technology - the Third Industrial Revolution - amidst many countries reluctance, the government official said that Vietnam's IT sector and related industries have grown strongly since this revolution, but there are still many unutilised opportunities.

Despite numerous plans and schemes to develop the IT sector, with a young population and great potentials, Vietnam has not achieved the set objectives as its e-government only places at 80-90^th on the global list, as well as it’s IT service market only reaching US$3 billion compared with US$943 billion of the global market.

Prior to thinking about taking advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is necessary to make use of the immediate advantages brought about by the Third Industrial Revolution, he suggested, urging relevant sides to raise the quantity and quality of human resources for the IT sector to meet the strict requirements of business development through revolutions in education, administration and IT policies.

The deputy PM also emphasised the need for the activeness and creativity of each student, each training facility and each business to utilise opportunities from the abovementioned industrial revolutions.

On the occasion, FPT University was honoured with a Certificate of Merit from the PM for its achievements in innovating training for high-quality human resources.

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam presents a Certificate of Merit from the PM for FPT University. (Credit: VGP)

* The same day, Deputy PM Dam attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick start the second phase of the F-Ville software village (F-Ville 2) run by FPT Software JSC at Hoa Lac High-tech Park.

Along with F-Ville 1, Vietnam’s first software village launched in 2013, the complex has become the largest software export centre in Vietnam with about 5,000 personnel.

Speaking at the event, Deputy PM Dam shared that the PM has recently set a target to have 1 million IT specialised workers in the near future from the current number of only about 300,000.

In the future, the software industry should have strong growth in sales and develop new technologies that will change the lives of people, posing the need to build a quality workforce to meet the growth of the IT sector, he said.

In order to participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Vietnam needs more “IT Villages” like F-Ville, the senior official added.