Where are the most professors and associate professors concentrated?

At the university education conference this morning, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao, Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said that according to statistics on the HEMIS university education system, the number of lecturers up to now is nearly 94,000 lecturers working at universities.

The qualifications of the current university teaching staff are as follows:

Source: Ministry of Education and Training

In recent times, the proportion of lecturers with doctoral degrees at higher education institutions has been increasing. The State supports improving the capacity of lecturers and managers of higher education institutions to meet the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training through projects approved by the Prime Minister in recent times, such as Project 89 to improve the capacity of lecturers and managers of higher education institutions to meet the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training in the period 2019 - 2030.

According to Mr. Thao, in 2022 there will be 109 people doing research under Project 89, in 2023 there will be 220 research students; in 2024 there will be 167 research students, in 2025 there will be 88 research students.

The proportion of lecturers with the titles of professor and associate professor also increases steadily every year (in 2024: 743 professors, 5,629 associate professors; in 2025: 785 professors, 5,908 associate professors).

Hanoi is leading the country in the number of professors and associate professors working in universities. The number of professors and associate professors working in higher education institutions in Hanoi is 3,933/6,814 people, accounting for over 57% of the country.

If we consider the Red River Delta as a whole, the number of professors and associate professors working in the university education system is 4,377/6,814 people, accounting for over 64%; followed by Ho Chi Minh City in particular and the Southeast in general. The Central Highlands region has the lowest number of professors and associate professors working, 97/6,814 people.

Distribution of teaching staff by level. Source: Ministry of Education and Training

Hanoi and the Red River Delta have the largest number of PhD lecturers in the country. Hanoi alone has 11,143 out of 29,463 people, accounting for over 37% of the country, 31 times more than the Central Highlands, and nearly 4.2 times more than the Mekong Delta. The proportion of PhD lecturers in Hanoi also far exceeds the national average (the national average is 35.7%).

Structure of university management staff and lecturers between public and private sectors. Source: Ministry of Education and Training

In some regions, the proportion of PhD lecturers is below the national average, such as the Central Highlands (25.9%), Southeast (23.9%), Mekong Delta (31.6%), North Central Coast (34.9%), and even Ho Chi Minh City is below the national average (31.9%).

In the Education Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, the target for higher education by 2030 is to have at least 40% of university lecturers with doctoral degrees. This target has only 5 years to achieve and will be a very difficult journey for areas with a very low rate of lecturers with doctoral degrees as above.