A senior HCM City lecturer has complained about on-the-job qualifications, claiming that people merely seem them as something to cross-off on the list when seeking promotion, rather than genuine chances to learn new vocational skills.

This is the comment of Dr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Head of Ho Chi Minh Ideology Falculty under the municipal Staff Training Institute at a recent meeting in the city which saw the participation of HCM City Party Secretary Dinh La Thang.

In-service or on-the-job training is mainly for people who have are currently working and wish to complete their degree or specialise in another area of expertise. These courses are often held in the evenings and the qualification is ranked below an academic degree.

Hung, who has been working at the institute for more than 30 years, remarked that the quality of in-service training is very low as students consider it more as just a stepping-stone towards a degree. They expect that with the degree, they may have a higher salary or the chance of promotion.

For the three decades working in the institute, Hung has given only one student maximum scores for her test.

HCM City's Party Secretary Dinh La Thang also shared the same opinion with Hung, noting that many people follow this kind of training not to improve their work skills but merely to secure their position.

The issue is related to the current methods used to appoint officials at state agencies, which leans towards degrees, not the real quality of human resources. This has led to a fact that many people are willing to spend large amounts of money to buy fake degrees to legalise their position.

The chairman of Dang Lam Ward in Haiphong City's Hai An District was recently dismissed because of a fake degree.

According to Thang, the HCM City Staff Training Institute wanted to invite famous entrepreneurs with real workplace experiences to work as their lectures, not only those with academic qualifications.