At the recent working session of the National Assembly’s Culture and Education Committee and the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema on the policies and laws on doctoral degrees, the school asked for a specific policy for lecturers with the titles of meritorious and people’s artists. The artists with the titles would be considered as master’s and doctoral degree holders.

The information has caught the attention of the public.

Pham Nhu Nghe, deputy director of the University Education Department, told VietNamNet that the criteria for training at master’s and doctoral levels and the criteria for assessing meritorious and people’s artists are different, and equivalent conversion is impossible.

The current Law on Higher Education doesn’t include any regulation on the equivalent conversion between doctoral and master’s degrees and people’s and meritorious artist titles.

To obtain a doctorate, learners have to attend and pass the exam to enter a higher education establishment. After that, they have to follow a training program organized under a strict manner. They have to write theses or dissertations and defend these before scientific councils to become master’s and doctoral degree holders.

Meanwhile, people’s and meritorious artists are titles granted by the state to artists with important accomplishments in the arts. There are professors and PhDs who work hard all their lives, but are not awarded the titles of people’s artists. 

These are two different categories and they are irreplaceable. 

According to Nghe, the Law on University Education clearly stipulates the qualifications that lecturers must have. Lecturers who teach university students must have at least a master's degree. Those who  teach doctoral students must have a doctorate.

In general, art schools have few lecturers with doctorate degrees. This could be why the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema wants to convert people’s and meritorious artists to master’s and doctoral degree holders so that it can open up more majors and organize education.

Nghe said that art is a special profession. There are many good artists, but there are not many artists who study for a doctorate.

Circular 02/2022 includes the conditions and procedures for opening majors for university, master’s and doctoral degrees. MOET stipulates that for the university majors in the field of arts, schools need to have at least three doctorate holders who are permanent lecturers instead of five as required in other majors.

Prof Nguyen Van Tuan from Sydney University of Technology said that people’s artist is a title sourced from the former Soviet Union. Under current regulations, the title is awarded to artists who make important contributions to the arts and society.

Meanwhile, a doctorate is an education degree granted by a university after the degree holder meets certain standards in research and academic knowledge. In general, doctorate holders have to undergo at least three years of study and research.

There are also many other differences between people’s artist title and doctorate holders. The former does not have to study in an examination environment, while the latter does. The former also doesn’t have to write and defend dissertations, while the latter does. 

The former makes great contributions to society, while the latter contributes to their smaller community. The former has accomplishments, while the latter only has attainments. And people’s artists have more influence in society than the majority of doctorate holders.

Nguyen Dinh Thi, rector of the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema, said the school’s proposal has caused misunderstandings.

What the school wants is parity of status, which doesn’t mean that people’s artists and meritorious artists would have a doctoral or master’s degrees.

He said that the school is not proposing that all people’s artists be considered as doctoral degree holders, but only people’s artists lecturing at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema. 

This will allow the school to satisfy the requirements on opening new majors.

“We understand the differences between the academic title and artistic title and we don’t intend to ask for academic titles for people’s and meritorious artists,” he said.

Thanh Hung