VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has vowed to produce 20,000 PhDs more by 2020. To reach that number, Vietnam will have to handle a gigantic workload.

“PhD production machine” runs at full speed

Vietnam strives to obtain 20,000 PhDs more by 2020, a big challenge if noting that Vietnam could train only 4,000 PhDs in 2001-2010. This means that Vietnam needs 15,000 PhDs more, and that the number of PhDs Vietnam needs to produce in the next 10-year period is three times higher than in the first one.

Analysts, while warning that Vietnam would need to fulfill an enormous workload to implement the program, keep doubtful about the feasibility of the program.

There is a noteworthy thing that most of the PhDs come from the universities in the Red River Delta, mostly in Hanoi.

A MOET’s report showed that in 2010, Vietnam had 504 PhD students, including 384 from the Red River Delta (378 from Hanoi). Meanwhile, the numbers of PhD students from the northern mountainous areas, the central region and Mekong River Delta were insignificant.

In 2011, Hanoi had 282 out of the 434 PhD students nationwide. Meanwhile, HCM City had 100 students and the Mekong River Delta had no one.

Analysts have also pointed out the unreasonable structure of PhDs with the doctorates in social sciences accounting for the highest proportion.

In 2011, Vietnam had 121 PhD students finishing the Academy of Social Sciences. Meanwhile, only three obtained the doctorate from the University of Technology, and the Medical University had none.

Vietnam also focused on some other training majors, including natural sciences and  economics. A report showed that 38 obtained the doctorates from the University of Natural Sciences, 46 from the University of Technology and 44 from the Economics University.

Meanwhile, the recent surveys have all shown the increasingly high number of the PhDs in social sciences who stay jobless, or take the jobs in the untrained fields.

What will PhDs do?

Dr. Pham Bich San, Deputy Secretary of VUSTA, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Association, in an interview given to Dat Viet, noted that PhDs, in principle, should undertake the training job at higher education establishments. However, in fact, many of them are working as the managers for enterprises or state agencies. This could be explained by the fact that the PhDs can earn more money as the managers rather than the lecturers.

Since Vietnamese try to obtain doctorates just to advance in their careers, not to continue their research works, a lot of PhDs do not have the scientific knowledge they need to have.

A doctor of social sciences, when carrying out a survey, gave a question as follows: Are there any members of your families taking one of the following jobs: 1) thief, 2) whore 3) gambler 4) smuggler.

In theory, it is a taboo to give such questions to come to any conclusions.

“This means that the PhD even did not know the basic principles of sociology and did not know how to seek information,” San commented. “But they still got the doctorate.”

Dat Viet