Students sent abroad to become… farmers Hundreds of students are sent abroad every year under the scholarship programs signed between the governments of Vietnam and other countries. Many of them, after the hard learning period, have returned to Vietnam to work as farmers.  The scholarships most hunted by Vietnamese students are the ones granted by the Japanese government, Russia and Ukraine, or sometimes Canada. A lot of scholarships are offered by East European countries, such as Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary. The scholarships are granted to fund the study in linguistics, natural sciences, culture, arts and sports, medical and pharmacy. Before leaving Vietnam for overseas training courses, students have made written commitments that they will return to Vietnam and work for the agencies which send them abroad, or take the positions as appointed by the State. The students, who spontaneously give up training or do not return to Vietnam after the graduation, will have to reimburse the expenses to the state budget. A report of the Ministry of Education and Training showed the number of overseas students increasing rapidly. In the 2010-2011 academic year, 98,536 students went abroad, while the figure was 106,104 students in the 2011-2012 academic year. The figures include the numbers of self-funding students, the ones, who go abroad under the government’s cooperation programs and those, who go studying under the local authorities’ programs on developing talents. There has been no official survey about the employment of the students after they return to Vietnam. The education ministry can count in the number of students going abroad and returning under the Program 322. However, analysts have noted that the majority of officers at state agencies, who go studying for master degree or doctorate, will return after finishing the training courses. In general, they come back to the state agencies and continue their work. Meanwhile, for the students going studying at universities, the commitments to return to serve in Vietnam just exist on paper. A lot of them do not return after finishing school. In other cases, they return to Vietnam, but cannot fulfill the commitments, because state agencies do not need them. A lot of foreign university graduates complain that they “have not been mobilized by the State” and that they remain redundant despite the high qualifications. Le Van Hau, 24, in Dien Ban district of Quang Nam province, has returned to Vietnam after the training course in petrochemistry in Romania and worked as farmer in the rice field. More and more Vietnamese bachelors and masters return Vietnam to work as farmers as they cannot find suitable jobs. Analysts have commented that since the State does not have to pay money to fund the students who go studying under the government cooperation programs, it does not care if the students return and if they can work. They said that of the government scholarships, only the program on developing the human resources in the atomic energy sector offered by the Russian government mentions the job opportunities for graduates. Under the program, the graduates will come back to Vietnam to work for the project on the nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan province, put under the management of the Electricity of Vietnam, or work as researchers and lecturers at universities, institutes and state management agencies. Chi Mai, VietNamNet Bridge