From January 1, 2026, how will university lecturers' salaries be calculated and what is the highest?

The draft on salary policy that the Ministry of Education and Training has just released for comments has an important new point: teachers will enjoy a special salary coefficient and professors will be applied the salary scale of senior experts. So how are university lecturers' salaries calculated?

The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced a draft Decree regulating salary and allowance policies for teachers to solicit comments from agencies, organizations and individuals. Accordingly, the salary of university lecturers from January 1, 2026 will be applied according to the new formula.

Specifically, the salary calculation formula is as follows: Salary effective from January 1, 2026 = Basic salary x Current salary coefficient x Specific salary coefficient.

The special salary coefficient is a new point compared to the salary policy for teachers. All university lecturers will have a special salary coefficient of 1.15.

According to the draft Decree regulating salary policy and allowance regime for teachers, from January 1, 2026, university teachers and lecturers will have a new salary level with the addition of a special salary coefficient.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

It is known that the salary coefficient of lecturers (civil servants) is being implemented according to Decree 204/2024 of the Government on salary regime. The basic salary being implemented according to Decree 73/2024 of the Government is 2.34 million VND/month.

Thus, senior lecturers (grade 1) at universities are applying the salary coefficient of civil servants of type A3.1 (from grade 1 coefficient of 6.20 to grade 6 of 8). According to the calculation of the Draft Decree, the salary level of grade 1 of senior lecturers will be 2,340,000 VND x 6.20 x 1.15 = 16,684,000 VND/month. Grade 6 is 2,340,000 VND x 8 x 1.15 = 21,528,000 VND/month.

Senior lecturers (grade 2) are applying the salary coefficient of civil servants of type A2.1 (from coefficient level 1 is 4.40 to level 8 is 6.78). The salary level of level 1 will be 2,340,000 VND x 4.40 x 1.15 = 11,840,400 VND/month. The highest level of level 8 is 2,340,000 VND x 6.78 x 1.15 = 18,244,980 VND/month.

Lecturers (grade 3) are applying the salary coefficient of civil servants of type A1 (from coefficient of grade 1 is 2.34 to grade 9 is 4.98). The salary of lecturers of grade 1 will be 2,340,000 VND x 2.34 x 1.15 = 6,296,940 VND. The salary of grade 9 will be 2,340,000 VND/month x 4.98 x 1.15 = 13,401,180 VND/month.

The above salary does not include allowances (if any) including job responsibility allowance (equal to 0.2 x base salary x (actual number of teaching hours or lessons for people with disabilities in the month divided by the standard teaching hours or lessons of the teacher in the month), mobility allowance (coefficient of 0.2 compared to the base salary according to the actual number of days of mobility).

At the same time, the above salary does not include the position allowance coefficient and seniority allowance beyond the framework (if any).

Also according to the draft, lecturers appointed to the title of professor will be subject to the senior expert salary scale. Accordingly, the salary coefficient will have 3 levels, including level 1 is coefficient 8.8; level 2 is 9.4 and level 3 is 10. Thus, the professor's salary is calculated separately, according to the draft, the lowest is 23,680,800 VND/month and the highest is 26,910,000 VND/month excluding other allowances.

In fact, some universities have policies to attract highly qualified lecturers, so the salary/income of lecturers with doctoral degrees, professorial degrees, and associate professorial degrees at these schools is often higher. For example, according to job position, a PhD lecturer at the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University) has a salary of 25 million VND/month, and associate professors and professors from 42-47 million VND/month.

The salary/income of a PhD lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade is at least 40 million VND/month and at most more than 80 million VND/month. PhDs at Van Lang University also have an income in the first year of recruitment of 25-30 million VND/month, associate professors from 45-50 million VND/month and 50-55 million VND/month. Each year after that, it increases by 5 million VND/month.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tu-112026-luong-cua-giang-vien-dh-tinh-the-nao-va-cao-nhat-bao-nhieu-185251104132114817.htm