After the provincial merger from July 1, 2025, and officially becoming the country’s seventh city from April 30, 2026, Dong Nai City is standing before new opportunities to develop into a modern urban area and become an important growth pole of the nation.

However, to realize the Politburo’s strategic vision for the development of Dong Nai City, the issue of high-quality human resources requires more synchronized solutions, decisive actions and breakthroughs than ever before.

High-quality human resources are indispensable

The merger of Binh Phuoc into Dong Nai and its upgrade into a city have created a broad development space for Dong Nai. This is not only a change in administrative boundaries, but also a turning point for the locality to transform itself into an economic center and an international integration gateway of the Southeast region. The guiding principle for this journey has been identified by the Politburo as building a dynamic, civilized and happy development model.

Strategic infrastructure systems such as Long Thanh International Airport, Phuoc An Port and the emerging expressway network have created strong appeal for global investors. Le Nu Thuy Duong, Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and General Director of KN Holdings Group, said the group is urgently developing two new-generation industrial parks to welcome the world’s core technology corporations. To attract technology corporations, in addition to modern infrastructure and sound policy mechanisms, the locality must have available highly qualified human resources with professional working skills.

In Phuoc An Commune, which is planned as a key logistics and industrial service center linked with Long Thanh Airport, pressure for specialized labor is becoming increasingly urgent. Do Huy Khanh, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Council of Phuoc An Commune, said the commune is actively inviting major universities from Ho Chi Minh City to open training facilities in the locality. Khanh said that without high-quality local human resources, Phuoc An would miss the opportunity to break through, despite having “golden” advantages from the airport, seaport and expressways.

Although Dong Nai’s development opportunity is entering a mature stage, reality shows that the quality of local human resources remains a gap compared with the scale and requirements of national key projects. For example, Long Thanh Airport is about to come into operation, yet qualified local workers have still not fully seized employment opportunities right on their “home ground.” This requires a well-structured training strategy so that local youth will not be left on the sidelines amid the city’s strong development momentum.

Associate Professor Dr. Su Dinh Thanh, former President of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, said that Dong Nai City’s goal of maintaining double-digit growth in the coming years reflects the very high political determination of the City Party Committee. Therefore, the city needs a contingent of officials and a workforce with high qualifications, creative thinking and outstanding execution capacity. The city can no longer rely on labor-intensive industries forever, but must shift strongly toward the digital economy, green economy and high technology. This is the greatest challenge that requires Dong Nai City to act decisively to prepare a human resource foundation capable of carrying its new mission.

 

Building breakthrough policies

To develop high-quality human resources for governance under the urban model and for socio-economic development, the Resolution of the Dong Nai City Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term identifies human resource training as one of the breakthrough tasks. In particular, the city has set the goal of developing Dong Nai University into a high-quality human resource training center for the city and the Southeast region.

Dr. Dang Tuan Anh, Rector of Dong Nai University in Tam Hiep Ward, said the university is focusing on modernizing facilities, accelerating digital transformation and developing its second campus in the northern part of the city. Attracting highly qualified lecturers and expanding international cooperation will serve as leverage for the university to become a cradle for training talent for the region.

Dong Nai has long had strengths and experience in the socialization of education. As a result, the city now has a complete education system covering all levels from preschool to university. Private educational institutions currently account for about 18% of the city’s education system, among the higher levels nationwide. Notably, private educational institutions are quickly approaching international training programs and quality accreditation to participate in training human resources for the city.

Dr. Do Thi Lan Dai, Chairwoman of the University Council of Lac Hong University in Tran Bien Ward, shared that this is an unprecedented “golden” moment in nearly 30 years of operation. The university will prioritize key training disciplines to meet the demanding requirements of high-tech foreign-invested enterprises.

Vocational training must closely follow the practical needs of the labor market, especially key technical sectors such as aviation, semiconductor microchips, electronic chips, automation and robotics. Nguyen Khanh Cuong, Rector of Lilama 2 International Technology College in Long Phuoc Commune, said the college is concretizing its aspiration to become a leading aviation human resource training center serving Long Thanh Airport. Building strengths in electronics and precision engineering will help students confidently take on important positions in the city’s green and new-generation industrial parks.

Dong Nai’s education sector is focusing on implementing a comprehensive education and training development strategy. Its core orientation is to place quality at the center, strongly shifting from mainly equipping learners with knowledge to comprehensively developing their competencies and qualities. In particular, to best prepare the younger generation for integration, the sector is focusing on training and fostering digital competencies and strengthening foreign language skills according to international standards for teachers, pupils and students. This is considered the foundation for the city’s pupils and students to confidently adapt to the digital economy, master technology and be ready to seize employment opportunities at major global-scale projects in the locality.

Truong Thi Kim Hue
Member of the City Party Committee, Director of the Department of Education and Training

According to experts and scientists, Dong Nai City is located next to Ho Chi Minh City, one of the country’s major training centers and also a hub for attracting and using high-quality human resources. Therefore, Dong Nai needs to issue talent attraction policies strong enough to compete. Administrative procedure reform and the establishment of a high-quality human resource development investment fund are important prerequisites for private educational institutions to grow, helping Dong Nai become a higher education center and innovation hub serving breakthrough development.

Establishing close ties among the “three parties” — the State, investors and schools — is a core factor in ensuring the effectiveness and sustainability of the human resource development strategy. Enterprises should be encouraged to open training centers directly at factories or participate in the city’s human resource training chain through incentives on land and tax support from the government. On the other hand, the appointment of officials must be based on professional capacity, with regular standardization of qualifications and mechanisms to replace individuals who are weak in capacity or lack a professional spirit of dedication. Fairness and transparency in evaluating officials will be a strong driving force for civil servants and public employees to maximize their creativity and efficiency.

Công Nghĩa

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/