VietNamNet Bridge – People-founded universities now hurry to employ more lecturers to satisfy the Ministry of Education and Training’s requirements. Counterfeit degrees have helped a lot of people to become lecturers of the schools.

Ho Quang Hai.

Ho Quang Hai has been found as applying for the post of lecturer at the Hong Bang International University with a counterfeit university degree.

Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung, President of Hong Bang, admitted that it was a big mistake of the school to be too slow in ascertaining the profile of Hai.

Learning the lesson from the case, the school’s human resource division has been told to thoroughly verify the degrees of all the candidates applying for the post of lecturers.

If the candidates finish domestic schools, Hong Bang would check up with the schools which grant the degrees. If the candidates show foreign schools’ degrees, Hong Bang would ask for the help from the Ministry of Education and Training.

Dr. Nguyen Tan Vui, President of the Tay Nguyen University, also said it is always necessary to verify the decrees of all candidates before deciding to recruit someone.

The verification conducted at the school in February 2012 discovered that Pham Duc Hiep, a lecturer, used counterfeit degrees. Thanks to the degrees, which showed that he graduated from the famous schools in Hanoi, Hue and HCM City, Hiep was hired to give lectures at some schools in Dak Lak provinces and the Tay Nguyen Universities.

Thanh Nien has reported that even the Chair of the Board of Management of a people-founded junior college only used counterfeit degree.

The problem was that the then rector of the school, who lacked capital to upgrade the material facilities, convinced a person to contribute VND6 billion worth of capital to the school. The investor reportedly even did not have high school diploma.

Therefore, the rector told the investor to buy a counterfeit HCM City Economics University degree to be recognized as the Chair of the Board of Management.

Later, as the rector and the investor had disagreements on some issues, the rector himself came forward and denounced the Chair of the Board of Management of using counterfeit degree.

The vice rector of a junior college noted that universities and colleges, which are now thirsty for lecturers, tend to set easy requirements on candidates.

The schools only require candidates to show the notarized degrees. If the lecturers are discovered as using counterfeit degrees, the schools would deny their responsibilities, saying that they don’t have the competence of verifying degrees and certificates.

According to Tran Van Nghia, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Training’s Department of Testing and Education Quality Assurance, no school has sent lecturers’ profiles to the department for checking up.

It seems that schools don’t want to ask for the education ministry’s help. Some schools told the candidates to have their degrees authenticated by the consulates in Vietnam. After that, they need to come to the HCM City Department of Foreign Affairs to have the stamp and signature certified.

Dr. Vu Hai Quan, Vice President of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, thinks there are many ways to prove the authenticity of degrees. Overseas Vietnamese embassies can do this as well, because under the current regulations, students must report their learning results to the embassies before they return to Vietnam.

Tien Phong