Thammasat University students interested in Vietnam, ASEAN studies, political science, sociology, ethnology, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 26 June Zoom webinar on Migration from Post-Đổi mới Vietnam: Transnational Brokers, Digital Technologies and New Mobility Pathways.
The event, on Wednesday, 26 June 2024 at 9am Bangkok time, is organized by the Vietnam Studies Programme of ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.
Đổi Mới is the name given to the economic reforms initiated in Vietnam in 1986 with the goal of creating a socialist-oriented market economy.
The term đổi mới itself in the Vietnamese language means to innovate or renovate.
The Đổi Mới Policy refers specifically to reforms that seek to transition Vietnam from a command economy to a socialist-oriented market economy.
The TU Library collection includes several books on different aspects of the Đổi Mới Policy in Vietnam.
The event announcement explains:
About the Webinar
As border regimes are increasingly hardened in Europe and North America, intra-regional migration has become a key feature in Asia, Africa and South America. However, existing migration theories are primarily based on empirical research on South-North migration, resulting in a significant knowledge gap about the implications of new migration pathways and regimes for individuals, economies and societies. Drawing from her empirical research conducted over the past 20 years in Vietnam, Taiwan, Russia and Australia, Lan Anh Hoang will discuss how transnational migration is imagined, mediated, and experienced by Vietnamese individuals in the Digital Age. By focusing on migrant networks and the migration industry at the intersection of social-digital spheres, the webinar will highlight the transformational impact of the digital boom on Vietnamese migrants’ aspirations and practices. It will also bring attention to the digital divides that create uneven mobility pathways, reproducing and exacerbating social inequalities among people on the move.
About the Speaker
Lan Anh Hoang is Professor in Development Studies, School of Social and Political Sciences, the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is author of ‘Vietnamese Migrants in Russia: Mobility in Times of Uncertainty’ (Amsterdam University Press 2020), winner of The Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars Book Prize in 2022, and co-editor of ‘Transnational Labour Migration, Remittances, and the Changing Family in Asia’ (2015) and ‘Money and Moralities in Contemporary Asia’ (2019).
Books by Professor Lan Anh Hoang are available to TU students through the TU Library Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service.
Students are invited to register at this link for the event:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JvzP_X-4QeyzEH8-mfaZ1A#/registration
The Viet Nam Migration Profile 2016 prepared by the United Nations (UN) Migration Agency began:
Reflecting global trends, greater numbers of Vietnamese citizens are migrating with millions of departures each year to a broad variety of countries and territories. However, the opportunities and benefits for Vietnamese citizens’ safe and legal migration have not been properly evaluated.
For migration to be an appropriate choice for citizens, coherent government policy and close State management and coordination are needed, together with cooperation from all stakeholders. To build a comprehensive people-centred policy to address migration from Viet Nam, the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the lead in the development of the Viet Nam Migration Profile 2016, with financial and technical support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Dr Vu Manh Loi, from the Institute of Sociology, Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), compiled this report with support from an advisory panel, comprised of migration experts from relevant ministries and branches.
The Viet Nam Migration Profile 2016 was based on the successful Review of Vietnamese Migration Abroad* report released in 2011. This earlier report sought to provide a general overview on international migration from Viet Nam and also sought to contribute to the development of a comprehensive migration policy suitable to the context and specific features of Viet Nam.
The relationship between migration and development, as well as the reasons for migration and the challenges faced during the process of migration, are presented in detail throughout this report based on an analysis of information and data provided by relevant agencies and branches of government.
The analysis, comments and assessments of data focus on the period 2012–2016, and readers can gain a valuable overview of Viet Nam’s role in the international migration process. […]
During 2012–2016, the number of Vietnamese citizens exiting and entering Viet Nam rose during 2012–2015 and decreased in 2015–2016. In 2016, approximately 6 million people exited and nearly 6 million people entered the country. If the number of estimated unofficial entries and exits through land borders is considered, the overall figure of Vietnamese people exiting (and entering) the country annually could reach more than 9 million people – approximately 10 per cent of the national population.
Those who exited the country were often in the most active working age group of 20–40 years, with women having a slightly lower percentage of outmigration than men.
International departures for livelihood purposes is the most popular form of migration for Vietnamese, including those who work abroad under fixed term contracts and self-funded migration of workers to neighbouring countries through land borders.
These two types of migration were found to have climbed during 2012–2016, with the number of migrants under fixed-term contracts abroad having reached 126,296 during 2016, with 28 countries/territories as destinations.
Just one third of migrants who moved overseas under fixed-term contracts during 2012–2016 were women, while residents from north-central Nghe An and northern provinces constituted the majority of migrant workers under fixed-term contracts.
The top destinations for fixed-term contracted Vietnamese workers were Taiwan Province of the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Generally, migrants working abroad under fixed-term contracts enjoy higher salaries than for similar types of work domestically.
Many self-funded migrants, who pass through borders to neighbouring countries for work, travel with legal documents. However, a considerable percentage unofficially crossed borders via overland trails. These irregular migrants are more vulnerable and are shown to experience threats, lack of legal protection and exploitation. Such migrants might easily fall victim to human traffickers or be subject to administrative fines by authorities on both sides of the border.
Migration for study is common among school and college-age students. Most migrant students are self-funded and not included in statistics gathered by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) for policymaking. The number of students studying abroad under scholarships from the State budget or agreements between the Government of Viet Nam and foreign governments managed by the MoET only accounted for a small proportion of education migrants.
In 2016, some 1,464 MoET-managed students went abroad to study in 41 countries/territories, and 737 students returned after completion of studies.
The main receiving countries of Government of Viet Nam-supported students in 2016 were the Russian Federation (722 students), Australia (107), France (93), Hungary (67), Germany (52), China (51), Japan (51), United Kingdom (44), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (41), the United States (32), New Zealand (27), Cambodia (25), Ukraine (22) and Belgium (20). Other countries had less than 20 Vietnamese students each.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)