Decision No. 698/QD-TTg approves the overall plan for the development of information technology human resources until 2015 and orientations until 2020.

Pursuant to …;

Approving the overall plan for the development of information technology human resources until 2015 and orientation until 2020

 until 2015 and orientation until 2020

 ___________________

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Law on Information Technology dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to Decision No. 246/2005/QD-TTg dated October 6, 2005 of the Government approving the Strategy for Information Technology and Telecommunications Development in Vietnam until 2010 and orientation until 2020;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Education and Training,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approving the overall plan for the development of information technology human resources until 2015 and orientation until 2020 with the following main contents:

I. DEVELOPMENT VIEWS

1. Developing information technology human resources (hereinafter referred to as IT human resources) is a key factor that decisively affects the development and application of IT. The development of IT human resources must ensure quality, synchronization, and focus on rapidly increasing the proportion of high-level human resources.

2. The development of IT human resources must be closely linked to the process of educational reform and training, particularly higher education reform. Significantly and comprehensively reforming IT human resource training towards integration and reaching regional and international standards, achieving fundamental improvements in training quality to meet the requirements of IT development in the country, industrialization, modernization, and international economic integration.

3. Vigorously promote socialization and international cooperation, fully utilize domestic resources, and attract foreign investment for the development of IT human resources.

4. Clearly define the scale, structure, training programs, textbook compilation and provision activities serving training at various levels and training qualifications, admissions to meet the needs of society and the domestic and international markets. Base the assessment of training results and quality on the productivity, quality, and effectiveness of graduates when working in agencies, organizations, and enterprises.

II. OBJECTIVES FOR DEVELOPMENT UNTIL 2015

1. General objectives

a) Strongly develop IT human resources (in this Decision, IT human resources refer to personnel engaged in IT, electronics, telecommunications training; professional IT, electronics, telecommunications personnel working in enterprises and industries; personnel applying IT in agencies, organizations, and enterprises; officials, civil servants, and all citizens using and applying IT) to ensure sufficient IT human resources to serve the development and application of IT, electronics, and telecommunications, building a knowledge-based economy and an information society, industrialization, modernization, and international economic integration.

b) Vigorously apply IT in education and training, modernize, enhance efficiency, and competitive capacity of the IT human resource training system, bringing the level of IT human resource training in the country up to par with international standards and capable of participating in the international IT human resource training market, gradually becoming one of the countries providing high-quality IT human resources to other countries in the region and worldwide.

2. Specific objectives

a) Achieve a breakthrough improvement in the quality of IT human resource training. IT, electronics, and telecommunications training at universities should reach advanced levels in Southeast Asian countries; approximately 30% of university graduates in IT, electronics, and telecommunications should have the necessary expertise and language skills to participate in the international labor market.

b) Ensure that 100% of vocational school students and apprentices receive IT application knowledge and skills training. By 2010, 100% of university and college students, secondary school students, 50% of junior high school students, and 20% of elementary school students will study computer science, and by 2015, 100% of junior high school students and 80% of elementary school students will study computer science.

c) Strengthen the training, upgrading, and construction of computer science teachers for general education institutions, vigorously apply IT in teaching and educational management at all levels. 65% of teachers should have the ability to apply IT to support teaching and upgrading.

d) Strengthen the construction of IT, electronics, and telecommunications lecturers and teachers at universities, colleges, vocational schools, and vocational training centers, improving quality and rapidly increasing quantity. At universities and colleges, ensure an average ratio of 15-20 students per lecturer in IT training; 70% of university IT lecturers and over 50% of college IT lecturers should have master's degrees or higher; rapidly increase the number of lecturers with doctoral degrees; by the end of 2015, 100% of university and college lecturers, secondary school teachers, vocational school teachers, and students should have their own computers.

e) Ensure sufficient human resources to meet the development needs of enterprises in the IT and telecommunications sectors. From now until 2015, provide 250,000 specialized IT, electronics, and telecommunications workers with qualifications from vocational school and basic vocational training (one-year training) and above, including 50% with college and university qualifications and 5% with master's degrees or higher.

f) Vigorously popularize IT knowledge and application skills. Ensure that most officials, civil servants, and employees receive training in applying IT to their work.

g) Train specialized IT staff with college or equivalent qualifications to meet the needs of state agencies, political-social organizations, research institutions, universities, colleges, and specialized staff with vocational school qualifications or higher at primary and secondary education institutions. Upgrade professional IT knowledge for leaders and managers in ministries, sectors, provinces, and centrally-administered cities according to the provisions of Government Decree No. 64/2007/ND-CP dated April 10, 2007.

III. ORIENTATION FOR DEVELOPMENT UNTIL 2020

1. To build a competent information technology workforce with sufficient quality and capacity to master modern technology and techniques, with a reasonable structure, promptly and continuously meeting the needs for building and developing an information society and a knowledge-based economy. Ensure adequate IT human resources to serve the domestic market and part of the international market. Continuously enhance awareness and普及信息技术知识和技能，满足全社会的需求。到2020年，70%的企业员工接受过信息技术培训。

2. Improve the quality and increase the number of information technology, electronics, and telecommunications lecturers and teachers at higher education institutions, colleges, vocational schools, and training centers. By 2020, over 90% of university lecturers and over 70% of college lecturers in information technology will have a master's degree or higher, and over 30% of university lecturers will have a doctoral degree.

3. Strengthen the training, development, and construction of computer science teaching staff for general education institutions. By 2020, all students in general education institutions and other educational facilities will be trained in information technology applications.

IV. SOLUTIONS

1. Reform programs, contents, methods, and processes of training to improve the quality of information technology human resource training.

a) Implement well the reform of information technology training at universities and colleges according to Resolution No. 14/2005/NQ-CP dated November 2, 2005, of the Government on comprehensively and fundamentally renewing higher education in Vietnam during the period of 2006-2020;

b) Develop and regularly update information technology training programs to ensure the continuity of training levels, increase the practicality of the program, and raise the proportion of practical courses in information technology subjects, eliminate outdated programs and subjects that do not meet or are not suitable for actual requirements. Establish an email forum to seek feedback from alumni and information technology labor users regarding the training program content. Encourage students to participate in specialized certification training courses offered by international organizations and multinational corporations in information technology and telecommunications;

c) Universities and colleges should select, absorb, and implement advanced world information technology training programs in a practical manner;

d) Vigorously reform the programs, contents, and methods of training information technology teachers at teacher training colleges; strengthen the teaching of information technology applications in teaching and learning, and apply advanced educational technologies;

đ) Develop modular knowledge-based teaching programs, update them with new technologies, and implement training to meet learners' needs. Apply this program to various educational levels and continuing education.

2. Expand the scale and forms of information technology training.

a) Facilitate the establishment of appropriate training institutions to meet the training needs of information technology personnel at various levels;

b) Expand the scale and types of information technology training at information technology training institutions;

c) Expand the scale of training while improving the quality of information technology training at continuing education institutions. Issue mechanisms and policies to promote the work of inter-level training in information technology;

d) Promote training based on orders from enterprises and social needs. Encourage and create favorable conditions for the collaboration between user institutions and information technology personnel training institutions. Develop models, forms of cooperation, and support training to meet the needs of enterprises and society;

đ) Continue to offer second bachelor's degrees in information technology;

e) Strengthen the teaching of computer skills and information technology applications to students in all majors;

g) Vigorously promote online distance training for all types of training. Specify the conditions for online training activities, recognize the legal value of certificates obtained through online training, and conduct quality assessments for online training at all educational levels.

3. Strengthen socialization in the popularization of computer science for the entire society.

a) Encourage domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to participate in information technology personnel training under various forms. Attract and create favorable conditions for foreign universities and scientists to cooperate and teach information technology in Vietnam;

b) Agencies and enterprises should plan regular training and popularizing information technology knowledge for cadres, civil servants, employees, and workers; implement programs to train managers and leaders about information technology applications; and programs to train specialists in building, implementing, managing, and supervising information technology application projects;

c) Develop solutions to strongly attract all social resources to serve the training of information technology personnel. Fully leverage and effectively play the role of political and social organizations in organizing implementation, motivating, and supervising all activities related to the training of information technology personnel.

4. Increase investment in developing information technology human resources.

a) The State prioritizes budget investment for information technology personnel training, electronics, and telecommunications through programs and projects in this overall plan and through other training plans and proposals;

b) Use the annual state budget for scientific and technological tasks to implement research and application of information technology;

c) Create conditions for domestic and foreign investors to establish information technology personnel training institutions in accordance with the law, invest in information technology personnel training towards information technology services. Policies should allow training institutions to enjoy incentives equivalent to software production enterprises in their training activities;

d) Strengthen investment in material infrastructure, programs, textbooks, learning materials, and networks serving information technology, electronics, telecommunications, and information technology application training at all educational institutions. Prioritize investment in material infrastructure for key information technology, electronics, and telecommunications training institutions reaching advanced levels in the region and internationally;

đ) Have reasonable policies for learners' training funding contributions.

e) Prioritize investment in educational facilities in remote, mountainous, island, and particularly difficult regions;

g) Encourage manufacturers to develop programs providing computers and Internet connections at discounted prices for teachers, students, and pupils. Strive to achieve 100% of university lecturers, 90% of high school teachers, and all students having their own computers by the end of 2015. Study and issue policies to support teachers and students in borrowing money to purchase computers;

h) Utilize ODA funds to invest in training human resources in information technology, building educational networks, and some high-quality IT training institutions;

5. Enhance the teaching of English and IT courses in English and other foreign languages;

a) Through the implementation of the foreign language teaching program from 2009 to 2020, encourage universities to teach IT, electronics, and telecommunications in English; invite foreign lecturers and overseas Vietnamese experts to directly participate in teaching IT courses in English or through online platforms; select and directly use English-language materials and textbooks on IT; implement policies to encourage and provide incentives for students to write and defend graduation projects and theses in English or other foreign languages; use bilingualism when compiling and publishing training programs;

b) Focus on improving English proficiency among IT, electronics, and telecommunications lecturers and teachers at schools so they can teach in English. Improve the quality of English teaching for foreign language lecturers at IT training institutions;

c) Encourage the use of other foreign languages in IT training;

6. Use open-source software in teaching and training Educational institutions should exploit and use open-source software in training activities; build training programs, contents, teaching materials, and research topics based on open standards; implement graduation projects and theses based on the exploitation of open-source software; use open-source software in office work and training activities. Starting from September 2011, 100% of educational institutions should primarily use open-source software in training, teaching, and applications;

7. Develop the education network (EduNet);

a) Implement broadband Internet and dedicated line connections via optical cables to all educational management units and educational institutions;

b) Build the data center for the education network;

c) Build an educational portal containing digital content and online educational resource libraries. Construct, select, and purchase digital libraries of books, textbooks, materials, learning resources, and lectures to serve teaching, learning, and scientific research;

d) Apply educational technology and electronic learning (e-Learning). Develop content, programs, lectures, and organize e-Learning courses. Initially study and implement mobile learning (M-Learning) and ubiquitous learning (U-Learning);

đ) Strengthen annual training and capacity building on IT application for teachers, educational institution managers, students, and pupils through online platforms to save time, costs, and improve teaching effectiveness;

8. Promote computer science education and IT application in secondary schools;

a) Continue to implement computer science courses and enhance IT skills for secondary school students at all levels;

b) Update course content towards modern, practical modular knowledge rather than using a fixed set of computer science textbooks;

c) Promote the application of IT in secondary schools to innovate teaching and learning methods by integrating IT into each subject instead of learning it solely in computer science classes. Subject teachers should actively prepare and choose materials and software (open-source) for IT application teaching;

d) Increase training and capacity building for computer science teachers to meet the requirements of IT teaching and application, primarily at the secondary school level;

đ) Establish and promulgate standards for IT knowledge and skills for teachers and educational institution managers;

9. Other solutions;

a) Build databases of domestic science and technology cadres and overseas Vietnamese experts in IT to serve policies attracting highly qualified IT scientists both domestically and internationally to participate in training and scientific research at Vietnamese universities;

b) Organize forums for exchanging ideas on training IT, electronics, and telecommunications human resources to meet the needs of introducing, providing feedback, trading, and linking between universities and IT, electronics, and telecommunications businesses and other economic organizations;

c) Implement preferential reward policies, including promotion, for excellent lecturers and teachers who apply IT, those skilled in creating e-Learning lectures, and those who meet IT knowledge and skill standards;

10. Estimated budget: The estimated budget from the state budget for implementing the overall plan from 2009 to 2015 is approximately 900 billion VND. The determination of the capital structure and specific budget estimates will be carried out by relevant ministries, sectors, and localities during the process of formulating specific projects and proposals to fulfill assigned tasks under the overall plan;

V. IMPLEMENTATION

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall take the lead in implementing the following tasks;

a) Detail this overall plan into specific programs, plans, and investment projects to guide and organize implementation at various levels according to the set goals and solutions. Guide educational institutions to develop implementation plans, submit for approval, and carry them out;

b) Direct and organize the reform of IT training programs and IT application training programs in various fields;

c) Standardize IT training levels for society: establish and promulgate a system of knowledge and skill standards for various IT training levels, specify conditions for IT training activities and certification issuance, and develop an IT proficiency examination system;

d) Develop and promulgate or submit to competent authorities for promulgation mechanisms and policies to promote the training of IT human resources.

d) Develop a comprehensive plan for the application of information technology in education and implement an educational network plan;

e) Develop specific plans and direct the implementation of tasks related to training IT teachers and educators. Popularize knowledge and skills in applying information technology among teachers, lecturers, and educational managers. Train and develop specialized staff on information technology within the education sector.

g) Direct the organization of computer courses for university students and high school students with the goal of ensuring practical computer instruction for university and college students, vocational secondary students, vocational students, and high school students, meeting societal needs;

h) The Human Resource Training and Supply Center under the Ministry of Education and Training shall be the focal point for receiving and supporting the implementation of training programs for enterprises and organizations according to contracts, especially for foreign investment projects and contracts for supplying high-level IT human resources;

i) Coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs to organize an annual national conference on training IT human resources to review the annual implementation results of this plan, commend high-quality training institutions that supply many IT human resources to society, and commend enterprises that have made outstanding contributions to training IT human resources, and support the signing of training contracts;

2. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs shall take the lead in implementing the task of vocational training in information technology, electronics, and telecommunications, aiming to train approximately 100,000 people with college, intermediate, and basic vocational qualifications in information technology, electronics, and telecommunications. Apply information technology in teaching and learning vocational subjects. Vigorously implement vocational training in information technology through contracts between training institutions and enterprises, agencies requiring human resources;

Article 2. Responsibilities of Ministries, Sectors, and Localities

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance to develop and implement five-year and annual plans for training IT human resources in universities, colleges, and vocational schools; plans for teaching computer science in secondary schools; mid-term reviews of the overall plan's implementation annually and final reviews at the end of the period;

2. Ministries assigned the main tasks mentioned in Part V, Article 1 of this Decision shall be responsible for developing investment plans, implementation plans, and immediately initiating some activities from 2009;

3. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, provincial People's Committees, and centrally governed city People's Committees shall base their development and implementation of training and capacity-building plans for civil servants and public officials under their management on this overall plan and long-term and annual plans for the application of information technology in state agency operations approved. Provincial People's Committees shall develop and implement activities to popularize IT knowledge among organizations and residents in their localities;

4. Political-social organizations, the Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Women's Union, social and occupational organizations shall cooperate with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and provincial and centrally governed city People's Committees in promoting the popularization of IT knowledge throughout society;

5. Enterprises shall proactively organize training and capacity-building in information technology for employees within their enterprises and participate in training to meet societal needs;

6. Educational and training institutions shall base their long-term and annual plans on this overall plan, proactively implement their own human resource training solutions, improve training quality, and meet societal needs;

Article 3. This Decision takes effect from the date of issuance.

This Decision replaces Decision No. 331/QĐ-TTg dated April 6, 2004, of the Government Chairman approving the Program for Developing Information Technology Human Resources until 2010. All previous regulations contrary to this Decision are abolished;.

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government agencies, Chairmen of provincial and centrally governed city People's Committees, and relevant agencies are responsible for enforcing this Decision./.