An opportunity to study abroad is a dream for most Vietnamese students. Those able to enjoy this privilege can look forward to excellent career prospects and top salaries. But a rising number of graduates and postgraduates returning from overseas claim they are being barred from taking key positions in the government and state sector.

In one case, a 28-year-old information technology professional, who studied for his masters in Australia, was offered a scholarship to proceed to doctorate level at the University of New England, Armidale. He asked for Ministry of Education and Training approval to extend his visa. He was told: "Your course is finished, you have to come home."

He cannot understand why he was refused. The answer might have something to do with the education authorities feeling threatened. Given that 95 per cent of Vietnamese students return from overseas education, it seems unlikely that the ministry feared he would abscond.

This case is not unique, although others prefer not to speak out. One of Vietnam's few holders of a PhD in education administration recalls how his enthusiasm to help reform the tertiary education system was met with frosty silence. His promised post in the ministry has yet to materialise. This is puzzling considering the government's aim of ensuring that 50 per cent of higher education staff are postgraduates. It has even set aside $7 million (?4.8 million) a year for overseas education.

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The government continues to make all the right noises regarding its vision for economic and social reform. Nguyen Van Nhung, vice-minister of education and training, recently told a seminar in Hanoi that: "Japan's success is largely attributed to its policy of sending talented people to study abroad."

Understanding is one thing, implementation another. Vietnam is a country in dire need of an educated workforce. The government has noble plans for modernising the former command economy and promoting inward investment. But old habits die hard. The elite running the country is the generation of Russian-trained bureaucrats and politicians who came to the fore in the 1980s.

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Members of the new generation with a western education are not as welcome as their Russian-trained elders. This threatens to open a generation gap in government at a time when Vietnam is seeking further economic liberalisation and even entry to the World Trade Organisation.

Since Vietnam started its shift to a market-based system 15 years ago, there has been no government-led overseas study movement to compare with the magnitude of the former Soviet-oriented one in the 1970s. Foreign companies take the cream, offering high wages in return for English skills and a solid degree from an overseas university. But such positions are limited, and frustrated postgraduates have to seek jobs elsewhere.

The IT graduate who was ordered home runs a software company that has been chosen by IBM as a global outsourcing partner. "I can unleash my energy and help others to do so," he said.