Changing the standards for heads of ministerial-level science and technology projects

The new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training in the circular on management of ministerial-level science and technology topics of the Ministry of Education and Training show changes in the standards of the person in charge of research topics.

The Ministry of Education and Training has just issued a Circular regulating the management of ministerial-level science and technology topics, replacing Circular 11 of 2016, effective from January 5, 2025.

The Circular applies to universities, academies, colleges, pedagogical colleges, schools of educational management staff, research institutes under the Ministry of Education and Training and organizations and individuals selected or directly assigned to implement ministerial-level topics.

Two new requirements of ministerial-level science and technology topics

Accordingly, ministerial-level topics are carried out to solve scientific and technological issues to improve the quality of education, training and scientific research.

Research results of ministerial-level science and technology projects of the Ministry of Education and Training must be published in scientific journals or conference proceedings...

The results of a ministerial-level project must meet at least two requirements. Firstly, the research results must be published in scientific journals, proceedings of international conferences and scientific seminars; or in domestic scientific journals, proceedings of domestic conferences and scientific seminars; or published as books or chapters of monographs or reference books.

Second, there are results of master's level training or support for doctoral level training or results that are scientific arguments and solutions to solve practical problems within the scope of state management of the ministry, or research results that are intellectual property and other applied products.

Thus, compared to Circular 11, the Ministry has made more specific requirements, not general ones. In particular, the two contents mentioned above are completely new compared to previous regulations.

It is known that each ministerial-level topic has a maximum of 10 members participating in implementation, including a project manager, a scientific secretary and members according to their titles: main member, member, technician, support staff.

The implementation period of a ministerial-level project shall not exceed 24 months (excluding any extension of the project implementation period, if any). In special cases, the Ministry of Education and Training shall decide to extend the project implementation period to over 24 months.

The project leader must be a lecturer or a full-time researcher.

In particular, the standards for the project manager at the ministerial level have also changed. While Circular 11 stipulates that the project manager must be a lecturer or researcher with a master's degree or higher, this circular clearly requires that the project manager must be a full-time lecturer or researcher of the host organization. The host organization is the unit assigned by the Ministry of Education and Training to manage and implement the project at the ministerial level.

At the same time, there must be at least one work published in a domestic or foreign scientific journal in the research field of the topic within the last 3 years. While the old regulation was "there must be at least one work published in a domestic or foreign scientific journal in the research field or a field close to the topic, or the project leader at the grassroots level or higher has been accepted in the research field within the last 5 years".

Cases that are not approved to be project managers include: Being project managers of ministerial-level topics or other ministerial-level scientific tasks of the Ministry of Education and Training from the time of selecting organizations and individuals to implement the topics. Or project managers of ministerial-level topics or other ministerial-level scientific tasks of the Ministry of Education and Training are liquidated (not eligible for acceptance) within 2 years from the time of the conclusion of the project liquidation council at the ministerial level; or are being disciplined from the level of reprimand or higher.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thay-doi-tieu-chuan-chu-nhiem-de-tai-khoa-hoc-va-cong-nghe-cap-bo-185241201110725591.htm