Many candidates for professor and associate professor positions whose profiles were rejected were officials.

However, 53 more candidates will be added to the list of those officially recognized as meeting the standards of professors (GS) and associate professors (PGS) in the 2017 review period.

Will process incorrect profile confirmation fields

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Education and Training, the report of the Inspectorate of this Ministry on the results of the inspection and review of the recognition of candidates meeting the standards of Professor and Associate Professor in the 2017 review period shows that 41 candidates will not be recognized because their profiles do not meet the regulations or have requested to withdraw from the list of recognized candidates meeting the standards of the title of Professor and Associate Professor in 2017. The remaining 53 profiles were concluded by the Inspectorate of the Ministry to meet the regulations. According to the source ofAdolescent, among the 41 candidates whose profiles were eliminated, there were 2 professors and 39 associate professors.

Also according to the announcement, in the regular Government meeting on the morning of April 2, Minister of Education and Training, Chairman of the State Council for Professor Titles Phung Xuan Nha reported to the Government on the results of reviewing 94 profiles of Professor and Associate Professor candidates proposed for recognition in 2017 that were left behind due to signs of not meeting the prescribed standards or having complaints. From this result, the council will follow the regulations to only recognize qualified candidates. The Ministry will also continue to handle educational institutions that recognize the number of teaching hours for candidates incorrectly and will make it public.

A representative of the Ministry of Education and Training said that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc reaffirmed that the State Council for Professor Titles must be responsible for its decisions before the Government and the Prime Minister in accordance with regulations. The Prime Minister also welcomed and highly appreciated a number of candidates who voluntarily withdrew their applications to focus on state management tasks.

Minister of Health likely not yet recognized

According to Professor Bui Van Ga, Vice Chairman of the State Council for Professor Titles, after receiving the official conclusion of the Ministry Inspectorate, the council will issue a decision to recognize 53 additional candidates meeting the standards for Professor and Associate Professor in 2017. Thus, in 2017, 1,184 people were recognized as meeting the standards for the title of Professor and Associate Professor, reaching a rate of 77% (in 2016, it was 75.5%).

Professor Ga affirmed that the working group chaired by the Ministry Inspectorate in conjunction with the council worked very responsibly and seriously with each candidate's profile. "The working group went down to the grassroots level, listened to the candidates' explanations, and confronted the candidates directly," said Mr. Ga, emphasizing that the working group only worked on the profile to see if it met the standards, but did not evaluate the scientific quality of the profile.

However, many industry council leaders said they have not received official information from the Ministry's inspection agency, so they do not know who in their industry is recognized and who is not.

“The medical profession has 23 candidates whose profiles need to be reviewed. During the working process with the working group of the Ministry of Education and Training, the working group found 13 profiles acceptable. Of the remaining 10 profiles, 2 people withdrew, and the Ministry Inspectorate found 8 profiles inaccurate. The medical profession council still maintains its opinion of recognizing these 8 candidates, because “inaccurate” is the opinion of the Ministry Inspectorate. However, we do not have any information about the conclusion,” said Professor Pham Gia Khanh, Chairman of the State Council of Professor Titles in the medical profession.

Among the 10 medical candidates who are likely not to be added to the official list of candidates meeting the standards for Professor and Associate Professor in the 2017 review round is Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien. Other rejected (and withdrawn) applications from the medical sector are all from Associate Professor candidates, including one case of Ms. Tien's secretary, three cases of leaders of departments under the Ministry of Health, two candidates at the Hanoi Center for Preventive Medicine, one candidate working for the Vietnam Education Trade Union, and one candidate from a business.

Contract to teach this subject but liquidate to teach another subject!

Mr. Nguyen Huy Bang, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Education and Training, Head of the 2017 inspection team for professors and associate professors, said that the inspection team was divided into 6 groups and went to each facility to verify and work directly with a number of candidates.

The inspection team only focused on evaluating the documents and did not have the authority to evaluate the expertise. From the documents, the following issues emerged: According to regulations, the documents of visiting lecturers must have a contract, contract termination and evaluation by the principal of the teaching institution, but some documents do not have this, even a contract for one subject but termination of another subject. There are even cases where documents from previous years are renewed without basis.

There are also candidates who declare the type of textbook in their application and are scored, but when verified, this textbook has not been selected by the principal. According to the law, a textbook is only recognized when the principal of the higher education institution selects and acknowledges the choice for use.

There are also cases of violations of regulations on seniority. For example, regulations on seniority of professors and associate professors must be calculated by teaching hours for university level, meaning they must teach university, masters or doctoral classes, but they declare to teach training programs. From there, it is concluded that there are not enough teaching hours and not enough seniority.

According to Mr. Bang, the Inspectorate has recommended that the Ministry urgently complete and submit to the Prime Minister for promulgation regulations replacing the Regulations on standards and procedures for appointment and dismissal of the titles of Professor and Associate Professor issued together with Decision No. 174/2008/QD-TTg dated December 31, 2008 and Decision No. 20/2012/QD-TTg dated April 27, 2012 of the Prime Minister to apply immediately from the new recognition review period.

In addition, it is recommended that the Minister take measures to rectify educational institutions that have not properly implemented regulations on guest lecturers and violated regulations in confirming teaching hours for candidates. It is recommended that the State Council for Professor Titles have appropriate solutions and learn from experience with the grassroots councils and industry councils so that the recognition of standards for candidates for the title of Professor and Associate Professor is more accurate.