Mr Nguyen Xuan Anh

The Central Inspection Commission (CIC) has found multiple serious violations committed by Da Nang Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh. 

The doctorate in business administration was granted by the California Southern University, formerly Southern California University for Professional Studies (SCUPS). However, the institution has not been recognized by Vietnam’s education ministry.

Under the current law, the degrees granted by foreign training establishments not recognized by the education ministry have no validity.

Anh, born in 1976, was elected to head the Da Nang Party Committee in 2015 and to the Party Central Committee at the 12th National Party Congress in January 2016.

Local newspapers have found that the school which awarded doctorate to Anh only provides online training.

Tuoi Tre quoted two experts on US tertiary education as reporting that the doctorate from SCUPS is not illegal, but has very low value under the US ranking criteria.

They said the doctorate has little value in the US because no organization or business would accept the degree, simply because the degrees awarded by unaccredited training establishments are null and void.

Tuoi Tre said that Anh studied for doctorate with ‘super speed’, just two years, as opposed to 4-7 years on average to obtain a doctorate in the US.

Meanwhile, Le Thanh Van, a National Assembly’s Deputy said on Nguoi Dua Tin that if Anh studied for a doctorate with ‘super speed’, other officials would study for degrees with ‘lightning speed’. Other officials even spent shorter time to study and obtain degrees from ‘degree mills’.

At the last session of the 13th National Assembly, he questioned Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan about a Master’s of Business Administration granted by an institute in Brussels.

He noted that the training mode provided by the institute is ‘very strange’ as learners don’t have to sit the entrance exam and don’t have to take exams or write theses to graduate. 

Meanwhile, the study time is 44 days, including the time for translation. If not counting  the time for translation, students only have to spend more than 20 days on study.

“I know that many high-ranking officials use that kind of degree to apply for important positions,” Van said, adding that the degree is similar to Anh’s, but the training quality is even worse.

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