What does the sharp increase in candidates for professor and associate professorship say?

giáo sư - Ảnh 1. — The 3rd meeting of the State Council of Professors for the 2024 - 2029 term - Photo: State Council of Professors

Behind the impressive numbers of professor and associate professor candidates is a colorful picture of Vietnam’s higher education system and academic staff. However, there are also questions that need to be asked about what this growth reflects about the higher education system, and whether quality is going hand in hand with quantity.

Increase 26 professor candidates, 234 associate professor candidates

Compared to 2024, the number of professor candidates increased from 63 to 89 people; associate professors increased from 610 to 844 people. That is, in just one year, Vietnam has 26 more professor candidates and 234 more associate professor candidates.

This year's list of candidates shows that the fields of economics , medicine, and engineering technology continue to lead in the number of candidates. Specifically: economics has 153 candidates (11 professors, 142 associate professors); medicine has 124 candidates (15 professors, 109 associate professors).

The need to supplement the academic staff is to develop postgraduate training capacity, guide graduate students, and ensure a leading academic role in key fields.

Reality shows that many universities, especially in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, etc., are actively creating conditions for lecturers to improve their standards to meet the requirements of opening new majors, postgraduate training, and international integration.

On the contrary, some fields in the social sciences and humanities still show a small number of applicants. The literature field has only 1 candidate for associate professor. The history - archaeology - ethnology field has only 6 candidates, and many fields have "no" candidates for professor.

In particular, universities are currently under great pressure regarding quality accreditation standards, in which the title of professor or associate professor is one of the key criteria to be recognized as a school that meets international standards.

Concerns about scientific integrity

Immediately after the list of candidates was proposed by the university's professor council to be considered for recognition as meeting the standards for the title of professor and associate professor in 2025, many petitions reflecting that many candidates "violated integrity", "superhumans" published internationally in huge numbers... were sent everywhere.

Before that, during the stage when the faculty council selected candidates, there were a series of petitions reflecting on the quality of candidates, including those who had been eliminated 1-2 times in previous seasons of considering and recognizing academic titles.

What makes many people in the academic community wonder is that a number of candidates who were rejected for recognition in previous years due to accusations of violating scientific integrity such as plagiarism, unclear citations, poor quality scientific publications, etc., have continued to be recommended for recognition by the basic professor councils this year.

In terms of procedure, current law does not prohibit candidates from re-applying after being disqualified. However, the lack of a mechanism to thoroughly handle past violations or to seriously re-evaluate before being included in the recommendation list can lead to consequences for the reputation of the entire review system.

It is necessary to affirm that academic integrity is not just a formal requirement, but the ethical foundation of scientists. A system of evaluating scientific titles that only considers the "sufficient criteria" but ignores the professional ethics factor can easily fall into the situation of "meeting the standards on paper, but lacking the standards on value".

This is a warning bell for all professional and interdisciplinary professor councils, and especially the State Professor Council, to strengthen the review and serious re-evaluation of candidate history, instead of leaving the "re-submit and be reconsidered" mechanism, regardless of controversial records.

Candidate quality is always the core factor

The sharp increase in the number of candidates for professor and associate professor in 2025 is a positive sign, reflecting efforts to improve the standards of the teaching staff. However, what society cares about is not only how many people are recognized, but how many are truly worthy.

The titles of professor and associate professor cannot be a reward or a formality, but must be the result of an honest, serious and persistent academic process. If the review is too lenient and not transparent, the risk of "academic title inflation" will undermine the prestige and trust in higher education.

Achieving the standards of professor or associate professor is not only about the number of articles, teaching hours or thesis guidance, but also about independent research capacity, academic influence and team leadership ability.

The increase in the number of candidates also shows the desire for academic development. But to realize that desire, we need a long-term vision, investment in people, encouragement of serious research and building a sustainable academic culture. Academic titles are just the starting point, not the destination.

A healthy academic system does not only need many people with titles, but also the right people, with enough capacity and commitment. Only then will academic titles truly be a symbol of knowledge, not only on paper, but also in research and teaching practice.

The list of candidates proposed by the basic professor council to be considered for recognition as meeting the standards for the title of professor and associate professor in 2025 is here.

TRAN HUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ung-vien-giao-su-pho-giao-su-tang-manh-noi-len-dieu-gi-20250908184946148.htm