In 2018, strong investment in education helps lift Vietnam's innovation index to 45/126, the highest ever, according to a report by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
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An important factor behind Vietnam's high rankings is heavy investment in education in recent years. Specifically, Vietnam has topped the list for the two consecutive years (2017 and 2018) for education expenditure among ASEAN countries.
The investment in education is not only reflected in the promotion of general spending, but especially in the promotion of human resources training linked to scientific research in higher education.
From 2012 to 2017, the percentage of lecturers with doctoral degrees increased from 14.4% to 21.8%, and that of master's degrees increased from 47% to 59.4% over the years.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc from Vietnam National University, Hanoi said that from 2017 to June 2018, the international publications of 30 leading universities in Vietnam reached 10,515 posts, which was equal to all national releases for the 2011-2015 period.
Duc added that in the period of 2011-2016, the Ministry of Education and Training invested nearly VND292 billion (US$12.56 million) for 46 research projects, with an average investment of approximately VND6.4 billion (US$275,200) for each project.
According to statistics from 142 universities in the system investigated, the number of science and technology facilities (laboratories, research centers, research institutes, science and technology companies, workshops, etc.) is 1,413.
The statistics show that laboratories, especially high-tech laboratories of technical universities, have been more invested with domestic and foreign capital sources.
