Without a doctorate, many lecturers are classified as not completing their duties.

Many lecturers at Ha Tinh University expressed their dissatisfaction with the announcement No. 49/TB-TĐHHT issued on June 20 that the university would classify lecturers who do not commit to doctoral training (master's degree for lecturers with bachelor's degrees) as not completing their tasks.

Then, on June 27, Ha Tinh University issued a decision on evaluating and classifying the quality of units, civil servants and contract workers in the 2023-2024 school year. According to this decision, out of a total of 276 civil servants and contract workers working at the school, 52 people completed their tasks excellently, 199 people completed their tasks well, 6 people completed their tasks, 8 people were not classified as competitive and 11 people did not complete their tasks.

Of the 11 people who failed to complete their tasks, 9 were eligible to study for a doctorate in 2023, but these lecturers did not sign a commitment to study for a doctorate.

Many lecturers were classified as not completing their tasks and were upset, claiming that according to the education law, to teach at university, one only needs a master's degree or higher appropriate to the job position, industry or teaching major.

A male lecturer at Ha Tinh University said: "The school can stipulate that if a lecturer does not go to doctoral studies, his benefits will be cut, he will not be planned for a leadership position... but he cannot include going to doctoral studies in the assessment of not completing his duties. I am very upset because if he is classified as not completing his duties, it will greatly affect the teaching process."

Another female lecturer (who asked to remain anonymous) said that she is one of the lecturers who came to Ha Tinh University to teach under the talent attraction program.

"When I came to the school, I was one of the first lecturers with a master's degree. After many years of teaching, now the school announced that I had been classified as not completing my duties because I did not register for a doctorate, which made me very upset. If I was classified as not completing my duties, it would have a huge impact. If there were to be staff reductions, I would be one of the lecturers at risk of being downsized, or possibly transferred to administrative staff..."

Explaining the reason why she has not signed a commitment to study for a doctorate, this female lecturer said that she receives a monthly salary of about 10 million VND, and that studying for a doctorate would be very expensive, and her family could not afford to register for the course.

"In my field, if I study for a PhD in the country, it will cost about 500 million VND, and if I go abroad, it will cost more. The fastest PhD process will take 3 years, the slowest will be about 4 years. According to regulations, to enjoy support policies, I must have completed my tasks well in the previous years, and be under 40 years old, while I am over 40 years old and in previous years I was only classified as having completed my tasks.

So if I go to school, I have to pay for it myself. Moreover, with my current ability and teaching position, I don't think it's necessary for me to register for a PhD," the female lecturer said.

According to some lecturers, many PhD lecturers have returned but the school has not been able to retain them.

It is known that in recent years, Ha Tinh University has sent dozens of lecturers to study abroad to improve their doctoral qualifications. However, paradoxically, most of these people, after completing their training and receiving their doctoral degrees, have sought to stay in their home countries, or if they return, they leave the university to research, teach or manage at other educational institutions with better benefits.

A representative of Ha Tinh University stated that one of the reasons for issuing the above regulation was that in 2014, due to the lack of lecturers and staff to hold the major codes according to the regulations of Circular 08/2011/TT-BGDDT dated February 17, 2022 of the Ministry of Education and Training, the school had to stop training 14 university major codes.

Faced with the increasing demand for training and fostering lecturers with doctoral degrees, and to meet the requirements of maintaining the prescribed codes, in 2015, Ha Tinh University issued Decision No. 556/QD-TĐHHT on training and fostering civil servants.

"For lecturers and part-time lecturers recruited from 2008 onwards, if they have a university or engineering degree when recruited, they must have a master's degree after 5 years, and a doctorate after 15 years. If they have a master's degree when recruited, they must have a doctorate after 10 years," Ha Tinh University informed.

Also according to the representative of Ha Tinh University, the officials and civil servants who are in the training plan after 2 years from the effective date of the regulation, if they do not comply, will be classified as not completing their tasks and will not be considered for promotion or reappointment for management officials or those in the planning area.

"The school will classify non-management officials as not fulfilling their duties and will terminate the labor contracts as committed for officials recruited from 2008 onwards," Ha Tinh University added.