According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the country is expected to need around 50,000 information technology (IT) engineers by 2020.  Therefore, Japan has implemented numerous bilateral IT cooperation agreements with Da Nang, and with Viet Nam as a whole, over recent years.

Representatives from 200 Japanese and 16 Vietnamese IT businesses attended the 2016 Viet Nam IT Day in Japan last February.  At the event, Japanese businesses said they need to recruit 30,000 foreign IT engineers over the next 4 years to work in the country, especially from India and Viet Nam. 

Mr Yohei Shibasaki, President and CEO of the Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation, said that his country is in need of such a large number of IT engineers because of the rapid growth of its IT services and products, especially entertainment products and public services for the education, healthcare and tax sectors.

He added that the increasing demand for IT employees in Japan was partly attributed to the country’s ageing population.  Between 1992 and 2014, the number of Japanese people aged 18 declined from around 2 million to 1.2 million.  Meanwhile, Viet Nam will still experience a ‘golden population structure’ until 2020.

Mr Yohei Shibasaki introducing DUT students to the working environment in Japan

During its meeting in early May with the Da Nang People’s Committee, the Japan Association of New Businesses (JNB) highlighted the significance of bilateral cooperation in training IT human resources with Da Nang. 

According to the JNB, Japanese businesses highly appreciate Vietnamese IT engineers for their discipline and great team spirit.  They, therefore, match the recruitment requirements of Japanese businesses although they are not too good at foreign languages, especially Japanese and English.

In an attempt to sort out the problem, the Da Nang University of Science and Technology (DUT) is offering Japanese-standard curricula for local IT students.  It is also cooperating with the Japanese Framgia company to teach the Japanese language to its students.

Since 2015, FPT Software has been providing training courses on Japanese communication skills for 10,000 of its IT engineers nationwide.  Under the programme, they study the level N5 and N4 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in Viet Nam.  They will then have the opportunity to study level N3 and N2 in Japan, as well as work for FPT Software or its partners based in Japan and Viet Nam.

According to Ms Tran Song Binh Duong, the Vice Chairwoman of the Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam-Japan Friendship Association, the Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation will establish a Japan Centre in Da Nang in August.  Once operational, the centre will train Japanese language and professional skills to local IT engineers.