Pièrre Darriulat
Some time ago, the editorial staff of Vat Ly ngày nay, the journal of the Physical Society of Vietnam, had
called for contributions from foreign scientists commenting on what they
may know of Vietnamese research and university education. I had taken this
opportunity to write a paper from which excerpts and arrangements have since appeared
in various publications[1].
Recently, Professor Hoang Tuy has written an
excellent article in Tia Sáng[2],
which perfectly summarizes the Vietnamese situation and clearly identifies the
problems requiring an urgent solution: there is nothing to add to what he has
written. Yet, as several friends have asked me to summarize again, in an
updated version, my views on the subject, I do it briefly below.
For brevity, I shall take it as granted that Vietnam does
not have the universities and laboratories that it deserves and that its
current rapid development calls for a significant improvement of the quality of
university training and of research in order to catch the delay due to the loss
of two generations of scientists caused by thirty years of wars. This is amply
documented elsewhere and should not be controversial. Hence, I shall
concentrate on actions that, in my personal and possibly wrong opinion, might
be undertaken in order to progress.
I hate criticizing what I may witness in Vietnam. I know
well how much the country has suffered from recent history and that many of its wounds have
not yet healed. I know that, to any of the criticisms I may formulate, one can
easily find causes and excuses in the hardship of the recent wars and of their
sequels. I am shocked when I see United States institutions pretending to give
here lessons of human rights and I am a priori allergic to any interference of
that kind. How could I dare to criticize the Vietnamese University system when
I have enjoyed in Europe, all along my scientific career, particularly
favorable working conditions? and when in
1. The need for general
guidelines
Some very basic questions need an answer in order to
define the frame within which universities and research might develop. Such
questions are Why does
Reference is too often made, in Vietnam, to international
standards, as if there were no solution to the Vietnamese problems other than
copying what is being done abroad or asking foreign so-called experts to save
the Vietnamese situation. Most problems can be solved internally; they mostly
require honesty, common sense, courage and determination. The old refrain that Vietnam is a poor country is a bad
excuse: much too much money is spent by Vietnamese families in sending their
children abroad to study; this money would be much better spent at home to
improve the higher education system and to fight against the catastrophic brain
drain which shows no sign of decrease. I remember a movie[3]
showing the case of a young
A few examples will illustrate my point.
Fifty years ago, western countries decided to democratize
their universities, namely to open them widely to a much larger number of
students than before[4]. It was in principle a generous idea, and I
believe that globally it has been a success. In detail, however, many failures
have been experienced which have made it necessary to revise the original idea.
Many students have been entering university, who were either unable or
unwilling to make the effort implied by such studies. One had to invent short
cycles, one or two years, to redirect them to professional schools when it was
still time (this shows, by the way, that one cannot think university in
isolation but only within the broader context of higher education). Lower level
students, who could not obtain a degree, had to face major problems of finding
a job after having “lost” a few years at university. The questions that are
asked here are very basic choices of society, such as democracy versus justice (everybody
should have the right to study but the better students should have the right to
progress at their faster pace and not be slowed down by their less gifted
colleagues).
From my Vietnamese experience, it seems to me that there
is much to do in this domain. Many too many students who are not really at the
level of completing university studies do pursue them until the end of their
fourth year; not only do they strongly depreciate the value of the final
degree, but they also prevent the better students to enjoy the higher level
education that they deserve. So-called honour classes do not help, the
selection being made much too early. It seems to me that one should seriously consider
abolishing the current system of classes, which is excessively rigid and makes
any change and evolution difficult, when not impossible. One should consider
replacing it by the system in current use in nearly all universities around the
world, where the students may choose, within some general rules and depending
on their skills and ambition, which courses they wish to follow, which kind of
degree they are after and how long they want to study. This more flexible
system would ease the job of introducing short cycles for students who are not
at the level of completing university studies and of rerouting them toward
better suited channels, such as professional schools, when it is still time. It
would also ease the introduction of new topics in the cursus, such as astrophysics which is currently not being taught in
Vietnamese universities. One should have the possibility to stop one’s studies at
different levels with a variety of different degrees matching the needs of the
country. And, most importantly, controlling each student’s progress and delivering
diplomas should be made with much more rigour than it is today.
A second example: one hears today in Vietnam many debates
about the desirability to create private universities. This is of course a major
question, as is that of defining which part of the cost of university studies
should be at the charge of the student and which part should be at the charge
of the State. Such essential questions correspond again to a choice of society;
their answers must come from high up. But one should refrain from thinking that
Harvard is a good university because it is a private university and that all
private universities are good and all public universities are bad (I have sometimes
heard this kind of reasoning, even if in a slightly less caricatured form).
A third example: the role of research in universities. It
is generally recognized in most developed countries that universities hosting
insufficient research are of a low level. Vietnam should have a clear policy in
this domain. There exist other institutions that are doing research and their
relations with universities need to be clearly defined (and, in my opinion, strengthened
and encouraged). It is not always easy or simple. In France, for example, the
normalization of the relations between universities and CNRS has been a major
problem for many years (and still is to some extent). In Vietnam also the
various partners need to collaborate closely to clarify the situation and
clearly define their respective roles[5].
A last example: fundamental research versus applied
research. While Vietnam clearly needs to give a high priority to applied
research in its current phase of rapid development, nearly everybody would
agree, at least I hope so, that it must also free some room for fundamental
research to blossom. Experience has shown that there is no good applied
research in the absence of a high quality fundamental research. It is usually
accepted that the essential criterion in selecting topics of fundamental research
is simply excellence. But other scientific policy guidelines are necessary in
order to define the directions in which the country wishes to support
fundamental research. These are again decisions that can only be taken at
governmental level.
I have no doubt that the answers to such major questions
exist in governmental circles, but they seem not to be known lower down, at the
level where I have a chance to exchange views with my colleagues and students. It
is essential, for the coherence of the progress and for preventing each
individual from pulling the reins in whatever direction suits him best, that
they be clearly spelled out and publicized in such a way that everyone is well
informed of their content.
2. What should be improved in
priority?
If I were asked to name a single action to be taken in
order to improve the quality of university training and of research in
I am not that naive to think that such an action is easy
to take. I am well aware that it implies a very painful and time-taking
restructuring of human resources, with a much more severe selection of
lecturers, researchers and research projects than presently in practice and a
rigorous assessment of their merits. It also implies difficult and costly transitory
measures such as the implementation of an early retirement scheme aimed at
rejuvenating the staff and improving its scientific level. Here again, general
guidelines from very high up are mandatory. A clear policy and a well prepared
plan are necessary prerequisites to the undertaking of such an action, allowing
for precise and coherent guidelines to be spelled out and enforced. Many
questions need to be answered, at least in broad terms, very high up. Increasing
the salaries does not mean increasing all salaries in the same way but including
this particular measure into a much broader restructuring plan: selection is
necessary if one wishes to have justice and, as a corollary, some motivation
and determination to give the country the high quality education and research
that it deserves.
3. More confidence in Vietnam,
more opening to the world
A major difficulty which
This apparent lack of confidence in the abilities and
skills of the Vietnamese youth contrasts with an apparent excessive pride when
it comes to take the advice of foreign countries or foreign experts in defining
options of scientific policy or in selecting research projects or even research
and academic staff. It is common practice in most foreign countries to include
outsiders in their selection boards, a practice that helps the impartiality of
the assessments being made and that opens a window on the outside world,
establishing very welcome links with foreign universities and research
institutions. It seems to me that such practice should be encouraged in Vietnam,
as should be encouraged any initiative that favours relations with the outside
world. An example is the developing practice of training PhD students under
joint supervision of two professors, one from a foreign university and one from
a Vietnamese university. The thesis is written and orally presented in one of
the two languages, or in English, abstracts being produced in each of the two
languages. The student gets a PhD degree from each university. Such an
opportunity is a chance for Vietnam to open a window on prestigious foreign
universities at the same time as it is a guarantee of the seriousness and of
the scientific quality of the work: it should be highly welcome and encouraged.
Collaborating with foreign research teams should not only be seen as a way to
get money, it should also, and even more, be seen as a way to open Vietnamese
research to the outside world and to improve its quality.
It
is time to conclude. I have selected three topics which seem to me particularly
important and I have expressed very frankly the reactions which they trigger in
my mind. I am well aware of my ignorance of many subtleties that make these
problems less simple than I seem to think: I apologize for my excessive naivety
in addressing them. I hope however that I cannot be blamed, in saying what I
say, for having any interest other than helping education and research in
general and Vietnamese science in particular.
There is little doubt in my mind that improving the level
of higher education and of scientific research must be one of the top
priorities of the country. It is also clear that this cannot be done
adiabatically, step by step as I often hear, with a few reformations here and
there. It requires a real revolution. For this to happen, a strong desire and
determination of changing things in depth and of improving radically the
quality of higher education and research should manifest itself in the
population. Such a revolution implies a rigorous analysis of the current
situation and a clear and honest identification of the main dysfunctions and
bad practices. The younger generation must be given the opportunity of building
up a new University which the country can be proud of.
European scientists of my age are deeply grateful to the
older generation who dedicated their career, in the wake of World War II, to
the revival of science, giving us important responsibilities while we were
still very young. Some time ago, I had the opportunity to discuss this issue
with the Japanese chemist and Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori who was visiting our laboratory. He described his
own experience in the very same terms. May the new generation of Vietnamese
students say the same of their professors twenty years from now! May Vietnam be
proud, by then, to have been able to stop the brain drain by having offered its
youth a future that can give them motivation and enthusiasm! Much remains to be
done for the country to have the universities and laboratories that it needs
and deserves.
[1] Vât Ly Ngày Nay, XVII 4-75 (August 2006) 14 ; Tia Sáng, 13 (
[2] Hoang Tuy, New year, old story, Tia Sáng,
[3] "Mai's
[4] In France, the number of
students grew from 29 901 in 1901 to 1 309 100 in 2005, a factor of 44 in one
century. The number of PhD in sciences grew from 42 in 1901 to 5283 in 1999, a
factor of 126. During the same period of time, in the United States, the number
of students grew from 238 000 to 17 272 000, a factor of 73, and the total
number of PhD, all fields together, from 382 to 48 000, again a factor of 126.
Most of this growth occurred after World War II.
[5] I am mostly thinking to research institutes
under the Ministry of Sciences and Technologies, in particular through the
Academy of sciences and technologies.
[6] I learned recently that
of the hundred or so brilliant Vietnamese students who have been selected to
study at the French École Polytechnique in the past ten years, not a single one
has returned to Vietnam.