Plan to Have Vietnam Governed by PhDs - Thanh Nien Daily

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A recent plan to have doctorate degree holders fill all top positions in the Hanoi government is “not quite viable”, local newswire VietnamNet quoted a senior official as saying Friday.

Le Quoc Cuong, deputy head of Hanoi Department of Internal Affairs, said the plan to increase the city’s talent pool announced earlier this month would be reconsidered as “some targets need to be adjusted.”

All managers from Hanoi’s Communist Party Unit, the highest local government body, must hold PhDs by 2020, Le Anh Sac, an expert with the Department of Internal Affairs, said in an interview with VietnamNet on September 17.

The plan has sparked a torrent of criticism among experts and residents, who said the target of 100 percent was too high and impractical.

Cuong said “a target of 50 percent is practical” as right now more than 30 percent of 500 officials in the Party Unit hold master’s and doctorate degrees.

According to Sac, among the city’s 7,500 civil servants, only 56 currently have doctorates. He said he would like Hanoi’s civil service to follow the lead of neighboring countries that have more advanced bureaucracies.