The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced a draft circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the regulations on the National Science and Technology Research Competition for high school students.

Compared with previous regulations, the new draft circular strengthens the responsibilities and rights of agencies, organizations and individuals participating in the exam.

Accordingly, for the participating units, instead of just stopping at selecting projects, preparing documents and registering for the competition, the draft adds the requirement to issue regulations and organize the competition at the unit level. On that basis, select and register projects for the competition, while ensuring scientific integrity and compliance with professional ethics in research as prescribed. In addition, projects selected for the national competition must be publicly announced.

Along with that, the draft also "embraces" more responsibility for the supervisor: "Research supervisors are responsible for scientific integrity and professional ethics in scientific research; ensuring requirements for competition projects according to the provisions of this Regulation".

The above adjustments were made after controversies related to plagiarism in this playground.

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The project of a smart waste classification system integrating artificial intelligence and sound sensors by a group of students in Hung Yen was once "accused" of being similar to a product from abroad.

At the end of April 2025, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a decision to cancel the first prize of the national science and technology research competition for middle and high school students in 2024-2025 with a project accused of plagiarism.

Specifically, after the inspection process, the Ministry of Education and Training decided to cancel the first prize and revoke the award and certificate of the project "Smart waste classification system integrating artificial intelligence and sound sensors" of the group of students in Hung Yen province.

How to calculate the number of new projects eligible for the competition

The draft circular also provides a method for calculating the number of new competition projects.

Accordingly, it is expected that from the 2026-2027 school year, the maximum number of competition projects for each Department of Education and Training will be calculated according to the following formula:

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Based on the project participation rate, each Department of Education and Training is allowed to register the following number of projects:

- Projects with a participation rate of less than or equal to 1% can register for a maximum of 3 projects;

- The proportion of projects participating in the competition greater than 1% and less than or equal to 5% can register a maximum of 6 projects;

- The proportion of projects participating in the competition is greater than 5% and less than or equal to 10% and can register a maximum of 9 projects;

- Projects with a participation rate greater than 10% can register for a maximum of 12 projects.

As for the participating units which are high schools under the Ministry and ministerial-level agencies, universities, colleges, institutes and academies, each unit can register a maximum of 3 competition projects.

The contest host can register up to 6 additional projects.

The contestant will be allowed to submit one more project for each project that won Fourth Prize or higher at the international competition in the previous year.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thay-co-cung-bi-quy-trach-nhiem-ve-liem-chinh-khoa-hoc-trong-du-an-cua-hoc-sinh-2449049.html