Japan today [January 11] launched the application of the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship by Japanese Grant Aid (JDS) for Vietnamese public employees.

A batch of JDS fellows at a send-off ceremony. Photo: JICA

The launch of the 2023-2025 course, announced by the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam (EOJ) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), is open for 45 young highly capable candidates who are expected to contribute to the socio-economic development of Vietnam.

JDS program is a full scholarship including tuition fees, flight tickets, monthly scholarship, and other allowances funded by the Government of Japan through official development assistance (ODA).

The program started in Vietnam in 2000 and has dispatched 771 JDS fellows from Vietnam to Japan up to now. Within the new framework from 2021 to 2024, JDS Program provides two-year master’s course in various study fields including Economics, Urban Development/Transport, Energy, Agriculture, Environment, Human Resource Development for Industrial Development, Health Care/Social Security, Legal System, and Public Administration at Japanese universities.

The courses at graduate schools will be instructed in English and JDS fellows are supposed to write thesis papers in English.

In another move, JICA Vietnam’s Chief Representative Shimizu Akira said human resources play essential roles in economic development in Vietnam. Manpower and infrastructure are indispensable for the development of each country, he told The Hanoi Times.

For that reason, JICA has been cooperating with Vietnam on the issue through technical support and providing loans for the Vietnam Japan University (VJU). The assistance will enable the academy to expand its tertiary education and establish new facilities in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park in Hanoi from 2023 to make it a public university of 6,000 students.

Cooperation for strengthening manpower development has also been made between JICA and Vietnam – Japan Institute for Human Resources Development (VJCC). The facility was established in 2010, specializing in training high-quality human resources, Japanese language, and cultural exchange.

To improve human resources, JICA is working with the Government of Vietnam to provide ODA to 13 vocational training schools, which at first marks the support by Japanese experts, he stated.

Akira stressed the importance of manpower in that Vietnam is facing population ageing, which will pose problems for the labor-intensive sectors. Vietnam’s skillful workers remain limited. In addition, workforce productivity in Vietnam is relatively low, equaling 40% of the Philippines and 60% of Thailand.