MOH's Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien is among 85 candidates to be awarded the professor title

According to SPC’s secretary general Tran Van Nhung, 1,141 candidates met the requirements to become associate professors and 85 to become professors.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien is among the 85 candidates to be awarded the professor title. Tien is fluent in both English and French and has had 13 scientific research articles published internationally in the last years.

Regarding the quality of candidates, Nhung said it was far higher than previous years with a higher number of ISI/Scopus articles, a lower average age of candidates (53 in 2017 instead of 55 in 2016), and considerably improved English skills.

Nhung also pointed out special characteristics of this year’s candidates, including the increase in the number of lecturers, the high proportion of 28-29 percent of female professors/associate professors (the figure was 25 percent in the past). 

A Nung ethnic minority woman was one of the candidates for the associate professor title.

Mentioning the high number of candidates this year, a professor of the Hanoi National University said that candidates are sprinting to get the professorship title before the new regulations on professor/associate professor appointment are issued.

The new regulation is expected to set very high requirements on candidates for professor/associate professor titles. With the high requirements, the decrease in the number of individuals to be approved to become professors/associate professors in the upcoming years is foreseeable.

Under the draft regulation, candidates not only have to have high achievements in scientific research, but also need to have fluent foreign language skills and have internationally published articles.

Bui Manh Nhi, former director of the Ministry of Education and Training’s Organization and Personnel Department, also said it is understandable that candidates are trying to obtain the professorship title this year, before the regulation is amended. 

However, Nhi said that the selected candidates all deserve the title and the high number of such candidates is not a surprise because universities now make hefty investments to improve the quality of their teaching staff.

Nevertheless, despite the affirmation, the quality of this year’s professors/associate professors is still questionable. 

Tien Phong cited its statistics as reporting that of 85 selected professors, only 56, or 66 percent, have scientific articles published in ISI/Scopus journals. This means that 34 percent don’t have internationally published articles.

Among 1,141 selected associate professors, only 532 have internationally published articles, which means that 53 percent don’t have ISI/Scopus articles. This is believed to be an important factor to assess professors/associate professors’ capability.

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Tien Phong