“The first thing that talented Vietnamese students think nowadays is how to go studying abroad,” said Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Principal of the Gifted School under the HCM City National University.

Students seeking information about overseas study

Dr Hung said that ‘early overseas study’ (go studying abroad at high school level instead of university) proves to be a growing trend. There are now more opportunities for students than five or six years ago.

Hung said that “brain drain” is now occurring not only in his school, but also in other schools, including Gifted Tran Dai Nghia and Le Hong Phong, where a lot of excellent students gather.

According to Nguyen Bac Dung, Headmaster of Tran Dai Nghia High School, the school sees some 50 students leave to study abroad a year. Dung said that 42 students have left for overseas study so far this school year, 12 on scholarship.

Turning backs on domestic education

The growing trend of leaving for overseas study right at the general education level has been attributed to the lack of confidence of people in the domestic education and training system.

Dr Hung said that he feels sad that a lot of parents send their children to local international schools or abroad because they think domestic education is too overloaded and inefficient.

Meanwhile, Dr Tran Triet from the HCM City University of Natural Sciences says that students are better leaving for studying when they enter the 10^th class; they have more time to get adapted to the educational system of the destination country, which will bring them better results at higher education levels.

Is there “brain drain”?

The question has been asked repeatedly since experts found out that there are more students leaving and less students returning. Overseas study always requires huge financial investments, which forces students to get good jobs after graduation to pay for their tuition fees. Meanwhile, graduates can usually only find good jobs in the labour markets of the countries where they learn.

Not only Singapore and Australia, which need a lot of high-ranking manpower, countries which are well known for tight policies on immigration like the UK also have policies to attract talented people.

VietNamNet/SGTT