Change the way to consider and recognize professors and associate professors

TP - Resolution 71 has sent the first signals about changing the current way of considering and recognizing standards for the titles of Professor and Associate Professor (GS, PGS). In the coming time, universities and research institutes will play an important role in shaping the quality of the team of Professors and Associate Professors nationwide.

Professors and Associate Professors must be involved in research work. Photo: HOA BAN

Distinctive

Speaking with reporters, an expert pointed out the problems that cause distortion in the recognition of the titles of Professor and Associate Professor in Vietnam today.

Firstly, according to international practice, Professor and Associate Professor are job positions, equivalent to the position of department head, director of a research institute or dean of a faculty. When they leave school, they are only PhDs (a title they have to take exams, study and research to achieve). From a professor at a low-ranking university, moving to a higher-ranking university, they have to strive from the beginning, there is no such thing as automatically becoming a professor. In Vietnam, Professors and Associate Professors are recognized by the State and appointed by universities. The appointment of universities does not depend on job positions and everyone sees that when recognized as Professors and Associate Professors, they are very "impressive", like directors during the subsidy period (because there are only state-owned enterprises). Meanwhile, in France, Professors at the Polytechnic University of Paris must be different from Professors at a university in a remote area. Professors and Associate Professors in Vietnam are not associated with the university brand but are lifelong titles recognized by the State Council.

Second, Vietnam's recognition process seems to be smooth, but it is actually the opposite of the world . The expert gave an example: in France, there is a State Council of Professors (HĐGS) similar to Vietnam, but it only regulates a general "floor", universities and research institutes from this floor will have specific requirements for the job positions of professors and associate professors in the facility. Vietnam's process starts from the proposal of the school, institute, the industry's Council of Professors reviews, and the State Council of Professors recognizes. Each stage has some failures. This process seems smooth at first, but it turns out to be the opposite. Because the decision to meet the standards is made by the State Council of Professors, the industry's Council of Professors. With such a role, universities and research institutes (HĐGS at the facility) have no reason to strongly eliminate candidates because there are 2 higher levels of review.

Third, Professors and Associate Professors play a role in scientific research and postgraduate training. However, in Vietnam, Professors and Associate Professors are often used to “show off” and manage. This is clearly seen in the health sector, where the price of medical examinations for Professors is the highest, followed by other titles. This seems absurd but still exists reasonably in reality. “This is the distortion of Professors and Associate Professors in Vietnam today,” the expert said.

The current 3-round review process, in addition to the shortcomings mentioned above, also has some other limitations such as: long time, causing delays in personnel arrangement and appointment; lack of transparency and difficulty in predicting review results when qualified candidates may still not be recognized simply because they do not have enough votes of confidence; risk of personal bias or unfair competition in the voting process. Therefore, the State's regulation of the standard framework, while higher education institutions exercise the right to review, recognize and appoint the titles of Professor and Associate Professor is a trend in line with international practice.

Next, Professors and Associate Professors belong to the University, but the recognition of standards is reviewed by unrelated people. The expert gave an example: Information technology is the most developed industry in Vietnam today, but the Council of Professors of this industry must mostly take people with expertise in Mathematics. Not only that, some people who are 70-80 years old, an age that can no longer adapt to the development of information technology, still sit on the council to review young candidates, who can access technology faster, and have newer research projects. Why does this absurdity still exist?

Finally, the expert said that famous professors and associate professors working at foreign universities, if they return to the country, still have to go through the review process of the State Council of Professors, once a year. With this process, universities that want to appoint professors and associate professors to work in the country will have difficulty and candidates will be very "afraid" to return.

Responsibilities of the University

Faced with the above situation, the expert proposed to soon allow universities to be completely autonomous in reviewing, recognizing, and appointing professors and associate professors. This autonomy is linked to research and postgraduate training. From the research lab, the number of graduate students, research funding, and income of professors and associate professors will determine how many professor and associate professor positions each training institution needs. If more are needed, the above indicators must be increased. Then, the "inflation" of professors and associate professors as many people worry about will be avoided. At the same time, professors and associate professors are titles associated with the brand of a university, not mixed with gold and brass as is the case today.

This expert believes that this will also solve the problem of attracting foreign professors and associate professors to work in the country. “In the university education system of many developed countries, the titles of professor and associate professor are not “permanent certifications” but are the result of a rigorous selection process at each institution,” he said.

In fact, the current basic teaching council, although it is the unit that directly employs and pays lecturers, does not have full authority to decide on the recognition of the titles of Professor and Associate Professor.

The possibility of negative consequences in the process of university education institutions recognizing and appointing the titles of Professor and Associate Professor may occur. However, in the context of implementing university autonomy, training institutions must compete to attract high-quality human resources. Any manifestation of obstruction or objective interference with the professional team has serious potential risks. It is a risk not only to the school's academic reputation, but also to its ability to retain and attract talent. Especially in an increasingly open educational ecosystem, lecturers and scientists have many choices, when other universities build a transparent working environment, promote professional values ​​more and are willing to appoint, along with good remuneration.

Resolution 71 clearly states: Ensure full and comprehensive autonomy for higher education institutions and vocational education institutions regardless of the level of financial autonomy. Complete regulations on staffing, standards, conditions, recruitment and appointment processes for professors, associate professors and other lecturer positions in accordance with international practices and Vietnamese reality, on that basis, assign higher education institutions and vocational education institutions to decide and implement in accordance with the school's conditions, decide to recruit, hire lecturers, and appoint leadership and management positions for talented people from abroad.

The reality of the academic labor market, especially in the doctoral degree, has clearly shown this trend. The occurrence of many doctors leaving an educational institution in a short period of time is a noteworthy signal, forcing school leaders to seriously and transparently review their human resource development orientation and academic management strategy.

Prof. Dr. Chu Duc Trinh, Principal of the University of Technology (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) agrees with the view that the recognition of the titles of Professor and Associate Professor must be linked to common international practices. Professor is a working position, a job position. When the job is over, the position of Professor is no longer needed, that person will leave the school. But in the current context of Vietnam, Prof. Chu Duc Trinh said that how to decentralize power is a difficult problem. He proposed that there should be a common set of standards, even the Ministry of Education and Training should have an information portal for candidates to declare, with confirmation from heads of units. That system has the effect of classifying scientific articles based on the given criteria. From there, schools can refer to and set standards for recognition and appointment, and not lower than the national standards. At that time, the State plays the role of promulgating a framework and supervision to improve the efficiency and consistency in recognizing academic titles.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/thay-doi-cach-xet-cong-nhan-gs-pgs-post1778146.tpo