Do lecturers of doctoral programs have to hold the title of associate professor or higher in Vietnam?

Do lecturers of doctoral programs have to hold the title of associate professor or higher in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Regulation on doctoral program admission and doctoral education issued by Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT regulating standards for lecturers of doctoral programs as follows:

1. Requirements for lecturers of doctoral programs:

a) They are Vietnamese citizens or foreign citizens meeting the requirements in Clause 1 Article 54 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018) and other relevant law provisions;

b) They hold the title of professor or associate professor or Doctor of Science degree or doctorate in a specialization suitable for units of study and subjects (hereinafter collectively referred to as “units of study”) that they are in charge of;

c) They have foreign language and information technology qualifications for teaching, research and international exchange and cooperation concerning specialized areas that they are in charge of in the doctoral program.

2. Additional requirements for persons without the title of professor or associate professor:

a) They have taught undergraduate or master’s programs for at least 01 year (12 months) since they were awarded a doctorate;

b) Within 05 years (60 months) before they are assigned to teach a doctoral program, they publish 02 scientific reports and/or articles in printed publications assigned at least 0,75 point by the State Council for Professorship as the first author or corresponding author; or 01 monograph distributed by Vietnamese and international publishers or 01 chapter of a reference book distributed by international publisher as the author or co-author (hereinafter collectively referred to as “main author”), and their publications must be related to the program’s specialization;

c) For lecturers of arts programs, the requirements in Point b of this Clause may be substituted by the title of “Nghệ sĩ Nhân dân” (“People’s Artists”) awarded by the State.

Thus, it is not necessary to have an associate professor title or higher to be a lecturer at the doctoral programs in Vietnam. For lecturers with PhDs who do not yet have the title of professor, associate professors can also teach at the doctoral programs but must meet the additional conditions specified above.

Do lecturers of doctoral programs have to hold the title of associate professor or higher in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

How many instructors can research students of doctoral programs have in Vietnam?

According to Article 5 of the Regulation on doctoral program admission and doctoral education issued by Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT, standards for research student instructors are as follows:

1. Primary instructors, secondary instructors and independent instructors of research students must meet the standards for lecturers of doctoral programs according to regulations in Article 4 of this Regulation.

2. Within 05 years (60 months) before issuance of the decision on recognition of research student instructor, the primary instructor, independent instructor or co-instructor (if the primary instructor and secondary instructor are not differentiated) must produce results for a research on a specialized area related to the topic of the dissertation that they will provide instructions for. To be specific:

a) The instructor is the main author of a scientific conference report/ scientific article published in a printed publication included in the Web of Science or Scopus List (hereinafter collectively referred to as “WoS/Scopus List”) or a chapter of a reference book distributed by a reputable international publisher, or an article published on a Vietnamese academic journal assigned at least 0,75 point by the State Council for Professorship, or a monograph distributed by a reputable Vietnamese or international publisher; the publication must earn at least 4,0 points in total according to maximum score stipulated by the State Council for Professorship for each type of project (points shall not be distributed when there are co-authors); or

b) The instructor is the author or co-author of at least 01 result of a scientific or technological research or application registered and awarded a national or international patent; or at least 01 official award of a national or international competition recognized by the competent authority for the fields of arts, physical training and sports.

3. Each research student may have one or two instructors, one of whom shall be a tenured official of the training institution or have a teaching/ scientific research contract with the training institution as prescribed by law; work full-time at the training institution with a contract term appropriate to the course-wise study and research plan of the research student.

According to this Article, each research student of doctoral program will have 1 or 2 instructors who meet the above conditions in Vietnam.

Best regards!