VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Duy Tam hopes the State will pave the way for the development of projects in the fields of transformation and renewable energy storage.

VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City National University’s plan to run a professional doctorate training program, the first of its kind in Vietnam, has raised controversy about its feasibility and necessity.

The project on producing 23,000 PhDs for universities and junior colleges in 2010-2020, or Project 911, capitalized at VND14 trillion, failed at the end of 2016 as many targets were unattainable. 

Vietnam needs more university lecturers with doctorates, but the Ministry of Education and Training says that training will not come at any cost and that quality should be the most important factor.

Widespread and inconclusive discussions occurred after the HCM City Economics University (UEH) announced big rewards to researchers who have articles published in ISI/Scopus publications.

The public says the plan on 9,000 PhDs with a budget of VND12 trillion is unnecessary and costly, while experts say the VND12 trillion is so low that it cannot ensure the success of the program.

VietNamNet Bridge - While the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) persists in the VND12 trillion plan to produce 9,000 more PhDs, the public thinks the plan will squander people’s money.

VietNamNet Bridge - PhDs are now welcomed with open arms at universities, which are willing to pay hundreds of millions of dong to attract talented lecturers.

VietNamNet Bridge - Project 911 on producing 20,000 PhDs in the 2010-2020 period has not succeeded because of unreasonable financial policies.

The Ministry of Education & Training (MOET) plans to produce 9,000 PhDs more for universities and junior colleges by 2025 in a VND12 trillion program, though Vietnam now has over 24,300 PhDs.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Industry has decided that Vietnam needs to have an additional 20,000 PhDs by 2020. 

As demand is high, ghostwriting has become a source of income for many people. In the past, it was a part-time job which helped them earn extra money, but it is now a “racket” which can bring a stable income.

Experts believe that the low quality of master’s and PhD theses is the consequence of the training system in which both students and teachers do not strive for genuine academic achievement.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has set stricter requirements for doctorates, hoping that changes in the new regulations will shift the quality of PhDs to the regional level.

A Phd programme in Vietnam requires VND15 million in tuition costs a year, while the average cost is $15,000 (VND200 million) in developed countries. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The ‘PhD inflation’ is the hottest topic on education forums these days. MOET is now compiling new regulations on PhD training with an aim to improve training quality.

If Vietnam does not change the philosophy of education, science and technology will hardly have a chance to develop, according to Professor Nguyen Dang Hung from the University of Liege in Belgium. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The training method for doctoral students "does not resemble any other country in the world’, which has produced low-quality theses and ‘tien si giay’ (paper PhDs), as called by Vietnamese. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Many PhD dissertations are seen as ‘useless’ and ‘nonsensical’. Why does Vietnam have too many PhDs?