Information about the thesis "Vietnamese Former Overseas Students: Reintegration and Re-adaptation to Society" by graduate student Pham Ngoc Yen, majoring in Sociology.1. Student's Full Name: Pham Ngoc Yen 2. Gender: Female 3. Date of Birth: December 5, 1984 4. Place of Birth: Hanoi 5. Decision No. 2463/2006/QD/XHNV-KH&SDH dated November 3, 2006, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 6. Changes during the training process: From September 2008 to August 2010: academic results preserved, one-year suspension 7. Thesis Title: Vietnamese Former Overseas Students: Social Reintegration and Adaptation 8. Major: Sociology Code: 60.31.30 9. Scientific Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh - Deputy Director of the Institute for Educational Quality Assurance, Head of the Department of Theory and Research Methods of Sociology - Vietnam National University, Hanoi 10. Summary of thesis results: This study explores the advantages and disadvantages of overseas students upon returning home, the influencing factors, and the orientation for their social reintegration. The results show that overseas students have many significant advantages, such as good career development opportunities, chances to improve their status, and being respected in society. However, they also face many problems in adapting back to social life, including reverse culture shock leading to problems in family, friendship, and social relationships. Disappointment with the work environment and social life due to a lack of preparation in terms of knowledge and psychology causes overseas students to experience psychological problems for a period after returning home. The challenges faced by international students returning to Vietnam are influenced by factors such as age, gender, marital status, the length of time they spent abroad, and the level of contact they maintain with family and friends back home. The study also points out the approaches to social reintegration and adaptation for these students. Most international students successfully reintegrate into society by partially changing themselves to fit the social environment, alongside relocating and changing jobs. Becoming withdrawn or rebelling against social values is virtually absent in the adaptation strategies of returning international students. 11. Practical Application: The study provides international students living and working abroad with a comprehensive view of life upon returning home, helping them prepare psychologically and providing motivation for their return to work in their home country. The research also helps policymakers better understand the difficulties faced by former overseas students in order to propose solutions to maximize the utilization of this human resource in the country's development process. 12. Further research directions: (if any) This research is still quite new in Vietnam. The researcher suggests that further research is needed to understand the complexity and diversity of different groups of former overseas students, their specific orientations, with the goal of developing policies to combat brain drain and utilize human resources in the best way. At the same time, the research can also contribute to discovering new aspects of social reintegration and adaptation of similar social groups. 13. Published works related to the thesis: None
INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS
1. Full name: Pham Ngoc Yen 2. Sex: Female 3. Date of birth: December 5, 1984 4. Place of birth: Ha Noi 5. Admission decision number: 2463/2006/QD/XHNV-KH&SDH. Dated November 3, 2006 6. Changes in academic process: September 2008 – August 2010: reserve academic record, defer for 1 year 7. Official thesis title: Graduates returned to Vietnam: re-integration and re-adaptation 8. Major: Sociology 9. Code: 60.31.30 10. Supervisors: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh - Deputy Director of Institute for Education Quality Assurance, and Head of Department of Theory and Methodology of Sociology - Vietnam National University, Hanoi 11. Summary of the findings of the thesis: The study examines the advantages and disadvantages of returned graduates, factors to impact the process of re-adaptation and reintegration, and coping strategies that returners chose. Findings point out that returned graduates have big advantages, such as opportunities to develop their careers and high status in the society. However, they also had to face with many problems in re-adapting with the social life, including reverse cultural shock which led to problems in relationships with family, friends and community. The disappointment about working environment and daily life due to the lack of preparation caused returned graduated psychological problems when they came back. Problems of returners are affected by age, gender, marital status as well as the length of time they spent in foreign countries and frequency of contacts they maintain with family and friends in Vietnam. The study also pointed out that most returners were successful in re-adaptation through changing to fit in the society, along with creating a more suitable environment through changing job or accommodation. Alienation and rebelious way of acting is rarely the choice of returners during re-adaptation process. 12. Practical applicability: The study helps students who are studying in foreign countries have a better understanding of the life when they come back to Vietnam, so that they can be prepared and have more motivation to come home. The study also helps policy makers to understand the difficulties that returned graduates had to face with, so that they can advocate for solutions to make best use of these target group as human resource for development. 13. Further research directions, if any: This topic is still new in Vietnam. I recommend that further studies to look into the various characteristics of different groups of returned graduates, their orientation. More understandings about this group is aimed to issue more policies to prevent brain drain to make best use of our human resources. Also, studies on re-adaptation and reintegration will enrich the theoretical perspectives for further analysis of this phenomenon with other groups. 14. Thesis-related publications: None
