644 people were certified as meeting the standards for the titles of professor and associate professor.

The ceremony to announce the decisions and award certificates for achieving the titles of professor and associate professor in 2014 was held solemnly on the morning of February 4th at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. The ceremony was attended by Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan presents the professorship certificate to the Rector of Vinh University, Dinh Xuan Khoa. (Photo: KTĐT)

According to Professor Tran Van Nhung, Secretary General of the State Council for Professor Titles, in 2014, 822 candidates submitted applications for professor and associate professor titles at 89 grassroots professor title councils, including 92 professor candidates and 730 associate professor candidates.

The State Council for Professor Titles has reviewed and decided to recognize 59 educators as meeting the standards for the title of professor and 585 educators as meeting the standards for the title of associate professor in 2014, totaling 644 people.

According to Professor Tran Van Nhung, this year's awarding of professor and associate professor titles has many interesting aspects.

First and foremost, the professors' age range is the widest in history, with both the youngest and oldest professors in this year's selection being the youngest and oldest in the past 38 years, since 1976. The youngest professor this year is Phan Thanh Son Nam, 37 years old, specializing in Chemistry, a lecturer at the University of Technology, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. The oldest is Professor Le Ngoc Canh, 81 years old, specializing in art, formerly a lecturer at the Central University of Arts Education.

Previously, there were also two people who were awarded the title of professor at the age of 37 (but in terms of months, they were a few months older than Professor Son Nam): Professor of Mathematics Nguyen Quang Dieu, in 2011, and Professor of Earth Sciences Hoang Ngoc Ha, in 1996.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan presents the certificate and Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan gives flowers to the youngest professor, Phan Thanh Son Nam. Photo: VNA.

Currently, there are approximately 30 to 40 families nationwide where both the father and son are professors.

The youngest associate professors this year were awarded to two individuals born in 1981: Associate Professor Tu Trung Kien, specializing in animal husbandry, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, and Associate Professor Hoang Quy Tinh, specializing in Biology, Hanoi University of Education.

The oldest associate professor is Professor Vu Tu Lan, 81 years old, specializing in the arts, and formerly a lecturer at Hanoi Pedagogical University.

The record for the youngest associate professor is currently 29 years old, held by Dr. Pham Hoang Hiep, a mathematician from Hanoi Pedagogical University, in 2011, and Dr. Nguyen Khanh Dieu Hong, a chemist from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, in 2012.

Although the age of associate professors and professors is getting younger, according to Professor Tran Van Nhung, this age group is still not as young as in developed countries.

Another remarkable fact is that there is a married couple, both born in 1962, who studied abroad in the Russian Federation in 1983, both majoring in Psychology, both working at the Institute of Psychology, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, and both recognized as having met the standards for the title of Associate Professor in Psychology this time. They are Dr. Do Ngoc Khanh and Dr. Le Van Hao.

Despite the fact that today's ceremony for awarding professorship and associate professorship titles took place in the drizzling rain and biting cold typical of the Northeastern Vietnamese winter, crowds of people continued to flock to the Temple of Literature to congratulate the educators on their tireless efforts and achievements.

Upon being recognized as an associate professor in the field of medicine, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong from the University of Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery emotionally shared: "This is both a great honor and a motivation for us to strive even harder in our careers and to contribute more to education, training, scientific research, and to the country."

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, from 1976 to the end of 2014, after 38 years, the total number of professors and associate professors recognized in our country was 11,097, including 1,628 professors and 9,469 associate professors.

According to Vietnam+