Seoul national university

According to the comprehensive plan to develop the IT human resources, Vietnam needed 1 million workers in the IT field in 2020. Yet the reality shows that there are only 600,000 IT students being trained in 400 higher educational institutes and 8 key IT training centers nationwide. Statistics from the Institute of Information Technology Strategy (under the Ministry of Information & Communications) show that 72 percent of IT students lack practical experience, while 42 percent are weak at team work. Only 15 percent of IT graduates satisfy the demands of employers. Vietnam now has over 700 IT companies working in key fields of the IT industry, including 220 foreign ones. They mostly locate in major cities or software parks. Notably, despite a high job potential, the AI field still attracts little attention from both learners and trainers. There is no formal university department or school to specifically provide tertiary education in this field. Most curriculum focus on software developing, which is a rather old trend of the previous decade. This calls for a serious curriculum redesign to answer the current needs of IT companies, both domestic and international. There should be an establishment of AI departments in universities or the development of such majors as computer vision, natural language processing, Big Data, robotics. Tertiary educational institutes should cooperate with IT businesses for internship programs, career guiding fairs, academic challenges, and training equipment provision (like server clusters, computing clusters, GPU, robots, IoT devices). Experts voiced that in order for HCMC to own sufficient core AI human resources, the municipal authorities must first identify the market needs and the ability to apply research result in reality. They then have to actively link the development of smart city, innovative urban areas with the growth of talented AI employees. These actions will gradually form a complete AI ecosystem so that HCMC …

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Clip expresses gratitude toward doctors in COVID-19 fight A video clip comprising a series of paintings by children on doctors, who are called intimately as white blouse warriors during the COVID-19 fight, has been published recently by the Ministry of Health. The paintings by child artists are part of a campaign initiated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). They depict doctors as white-blouse soldiers who have relentlessly fought against the pandemic, through which children’s gratitude toward health workers is expressed. The video also conveys a message of solidarity in the fight against COVID-19./. 110 foreign experts to be isolated for COVID-19 combat The administration of Quang Ngai province, central Vietnam, has outlined plans to put a total of 110 foreign experts into isolation in concentrated places in an effort to prevent the potential spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The foreign experts are scheduled to pass though Huu Nghi international border gate in the northern province of Lang Son and then travel to Quang Ngai to work for Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Integrated Complex. The provincial administration requested relevant agencies to create favourable condition for the experts during their travel and quarantine back in Quang Ngai. At present, Quang Ngai is yet to record any positive COVID-19 cases this year, although local authorities have advised relevant agencies to closely control people entering from COVID-19 hotspots in the fight against the virus. Cases that violate the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 prevention and control measures will be punished, whilst local medical workers will take samples for testing of relevant cases, especially foreigners currently working in Quang Ngai. Daily Mail hails Vietnamese driver as hero after saving life of local girl The Daily Mail newspaper of the UK has posted an article hailing the bravery of a local delivery …

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According to the Happy Planet Index (HPI) as announced by UK-headquartered New Economics Foundation (NEF), the country, which is home to an array of mountains and tropical forests, has a strikingly low Ecological Footprint and economic output per head, almost 24 times smaller than that of Hong Kong (China). Indeed, it is one of just three countries to mark the top 10 of the Happy Planet Index rankings with an Ecological Footprint that is small enough to be considered environmentally sustainable. The report also notes that, “While wellbeing in Vietnam is more modest than in other countries in the top 10 HPI rankings, its average wellbeing score is still higher than Hong Kong’s – despite the Vietnamese economy being significantly smaller and Vietnam’s Ecological Footprint being less than a fifth of the size of Hong Kong’s.” “Vietnam has an impressive average life expectancy. Both Vietnam and the Gambia have similar sized economies with similar levels of GDP per capita, yet on average, people from Vietnam live more than 17 years longer.” Vietnam’s inequality of outcomes rating, which measures inequality in wellbeing and life expectancy scores within the country, is better than that of HPI’s first-placed country Costa Rica - a likely testament to Vietnam’s robust public service provision. School enrolment is among the highest in the world at 98% in 2012, and the number of colleges and universities continues to grow rapidly. Vietnam is on a steep development trajectory. The country has been hailed as a global poster child for poverty reduction - the number of people living in poverty fell from 58% in 1993 to 10.7% in 2010,” the report outlines. Costa Rica tops the overall list with 44.7 points. Making up the rest of the top five are Mexico with 40.7 points, Colombia with 40.7 points, Vanuatu with 40.6 points, followed with the nation fifth on 40.3 points. Other Southeast Asian countries also have high places in the rankings, including the Philippines at 14th, …

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