If I don't have title of professor, can I be a lecturer of doctoral programs in Vietnam?

If I don't have title of professor, can I be a lecturer of doctoral programs in Vietnam?

In Article 4 of Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDĐT stipulating standards for lecturers of doctoral programs, according to which:

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.

According to this Article, if you have a doctorate degree and have been teaching at the university for 3 years, you still cannot undertake the teaching of the doctoral programs but need to meet more of the above conditions for teaching at the doctoral programs in Vietnam.

What are general requirements for applicants of doctoral programs in Vietnam? 

Pursuant to Article 7 of Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT stipulating eligibility requirements, according to which:

1. General requirements for applicants:

a) Hold a master's degree or bachelor's degree classified as good or higher in a suitable academic discipline or a qualification equivalent to level 7 of the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework in some special academic disciplines suitable for the field of the target doctoral program;

b) Meet admission requirements of training program standards promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training and of the target doctoral program;

c) Have research experience evidenced by a master’s thesis of a research-oriented training program; or a published scientific report or article; or working for at least 02 years (24 months) as a lecturer or researcher of a training institution or scientific and technological organization;

d) Have a draft research outline and draft course-wise study and research plan.

2. Vietnamese applicants must meet foreign language requirements as evidenced by any of the following degrees and certificates:

a) A bachelor’s degree or higher awarded by a foreign training institution, Vietnamese branch of a foreign training institution or Vietnamese training institution to learners of a full-time program taught in a foreign language;

b) A bachelor’s degree in a foreign language awarded by a Vietnamese training institution;

c) Any of the foreign language proficiency certificates mentioned in Appendix II of this Regulation that is unexpired on the application date or any other foreign language proficiency certificate equivalent to level 4 of the Vietnam's language proficiency framework announced by the Ministry of Education and Training.

3. Any foreign applicant who applies for a doctoral program taught in Vietnamese must have a Vietnamese proficiency certificate of level 4 of the Vietnam's language proficiency framework applicable to foreigners or higher and meet second foreign language requirements of the training institution, unless the applicant is a native speaker of the language used to teach the doctoral program.

4. Training institution regulations shall specify requirements for specialized qualification, language proficiency and work experience and other requirements for applicants according to the characteristics of each field of training, academic discipline and training program of the training institution based on the minimum requirements provided in this Article.

Thus, individuals when participating in the recruitment for doctoral training need to meet the above basic conditions in Vietnam.

Best Regards!