Lecturers with doctoral degrees in the North are higher than other regions combined

According to the standards of higher education institutions issued by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2024, the criterion of the ratio of full-time lecturers with doctoral degrees is not lower than 20% and from 2030 not lower than 30% for Universities do not train PhDs; not lower than 40% and from 2030 not lower than 50% for universities with doctoral training.

Many opinions say that this criterion is quite a big challenge for schools, especially universities in the Southern region.

Statistics show that there are currently about 85.000 university and pedagogical college lecturers. Of these, only 26.800 lecturers have doctoral degrees, accounting for 32%. 

However, Northern schools have a higher rate of PhDs than the South. Schools in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta have a very low ratio of PhD lecturers.

Not only lecturers with doctoral degrees, other positions and qualifications such as professor, associate professor or master's degree in Southern universities are also very low.

Notably, if calculated by economic region, the whole country has 6 regions. The proportion of lecturers with professor, associate professor and doctorate titles in the five regions combined is not equal to the Red River Delta region. The Central Highlands is the region with the fewest universities, so the ratio of lecturers at all levels is at the bottom of the table.

In terms of professorship, the Red River Delta region is overwhelming in proportion. It is understandable because this is the area with the highest concentration of universities in Vietnam, accounting for 44,3% of universities. 

The Southeast has the second largest number of universities in the country, accounting for 18,4%. However, the ratio of lecturers with professor titles is very different.

The Red River Delta region alone accounts for more than 63% of the country's number of lecturers with professor titles.

In the position of associate professor, the Red River Delta also accounts for nearly 60%. Adding the remaining five regions is not equal.

The situation is similar at the doctoral level. The Red River Delta accounts for more than 50%.

Meanwhile, at the master's level, the difference between regions remains but is not as high as at higher levels.

Compared to other qualifications, the rate of lecturers with master's degrees in the Red River Delta is lower, although still the highest in the country. Other regions saw an increase in the proportion of faculty with master's degrees.

Thus, compared to the standards of higher education institutions, many universities are still very far from the standard in terms of the ratio of full-time lecturers with doctoral degrees. 

There are about 40% of higher education institutions in the country where the ratio of lecturers with doctoral degrees among the total number of full-time lecturers is lower than 20%.

Mr. Vu Van Yem - Hanoi University of Science and Technology - said that in the past two years, many schools have been actively recruiting PhDs, paying 300 - 500 million VND for PhDs to return to the school, probably following the standard circular for higher education institutions. . This is also good. However, this criterion is a challenge for southern schools, requiring schools to have appropriate staff training strategies.