According to its information technology (IT) human resource development plan, Da Nang aims to have 75,000 digital technology workers by 2025, an average of 7,500 people per year. To meet this number target, it is required that educational institutions across the city should enhance training quality to meet the requirements of enterprises.

Students learn about business information at the Devday Da Nang 2023 IT event at the University of Science and Technology. Photo: NGOC HA

Only 50% of the target is met

According to statistics released by the Da Nang Department of Information and Communications, the number of digital technology enterprises in the city is quite high.

Specifically, the city currently has 2.3 digital technology enterprises per 1,000 people, being ranked second after Ho Chi Minh City, 3 times the national average rate; and the number of digital technology employees is about 46,500.

Also for the time being, the city houses concentrated IT parks in operation, namely Da Nang Software Park with 2,200 employees, with fully occupied; Da Nang's concentrated IT Park with 20,000 employees and the FPT Complex with more than 6,000 employees at present and eyeing 10,000 by 2025.

The construction of the Da Nang Software Park No. 2 is underway with expected employee numbers of 6,000 employees, whilst Viettel's software and high-tech building is expected to attract 2,500 IT employees.

According to the IT human resource development plan, the city aims to have 75,000 digital technology workers by 2025, an average of 7,500 people per year.

However, as assessed by many IT businesses, IT human resources in Da Nang only meet 50% of the total business needs. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, the CEO of TAG Ventures said, “The number of IT professionals only meets 50% of the human resource needs of companies. Many businesses today, in addition to recruiting students at IT training schools, also recruit those from economic schools where there are IT-related industries. Competent students are sought after by businesses before graduation".

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Nguyen, Deputy General Director of MGM Technology Partners Viet Nam Co., Ltd. also admitted that there is a shortage of IT human resources in Da Nang while some graduates have yet to meet businesses-set recruitment needs.

For example, at the company, English is the main language of communication, therefore, if students is not good at foreign languages, they would face difficulties  at work; Moreover, as for new graduates, lacking work experience, businesses need training time when recruiting.

Students listen to experts’ sharing about IT trends at the Devday Da Nang 2023 at University of Science and Technology. Photo: N.H

In urgent need of high-quality human resources

The University of Science and Technology, a member school of the University of Da Nang has been training IT engineers since 1994. Up to now, its IT department has trained about 350 graduates each year with bachelor's/IT engineers.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tan Khoi, the Dean of the IT Faculty, said that in order to catch up with the trend of science and technology and meet the requirements of the industrial revolution 4.0, from 2018, the Faculty has opened a major information security, and in 2020, the school started to enroll students into Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

IT-related training programes are developed and updated every 2 years. In addition to the basic and specialised subjects, the faculty has introduced subjects that are updated with new technologies and knowledge such as AI, data science, deep learning neural networks, blockchain and cloud computing.

Over the past time, member schools have implemented specific training programmes for industries in the IT field according to the regulations of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, which is also an important solution to improve the quality of human resources. With a special programme, students spend time practicing at the enterprise. The schools also usually invite many officials and experts in the field of IT to participate in teaching here.

At present, the IT industry needs a large number of human resources but only qualified candidates can meet business needs. “It is a fact that the city now witness both abundance and storage of IT human resources. In reality, good candidates easily find jobs with high salaries, while some IT graduates still struggle to find jobs. Therefore, the most important thing is to train high-quality human resources”, said a human resource manager of a French software company located in Da Nang who wished to remain anonymous.

Reporting by NGOC HA - Translating by A.THU