In Vietnam today, you can meet people with PhD degree everywhere. It’s not an exaggeration.
In developed countries, in order to obtain a PhD degree, candidates must have profound knowledge and must conduct valuable research in their field. Unlike at the university level, knowledge can be found in textbooks, research documents or scientific journals.
As of 2016, according to state statistics, Vietnam has more than 24,000 PhDs. The Ministry of Education said that, among them, the number of PhDs working in the field of teaching is about 15,000 people. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, compared to 1996, the number of PhDs increased at a rate of 7%/year.
So, in addition to the 15,000 PhDs participating in university teaching, the remaining PhDs are about 9,000 people. Who are they and where are they working?
The story of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong going to the Soviet Union to study after university (1981 – 1983), then “magically” turning it into a PhD in Theory of Marxism-Leninism, is also a story of using a fake PhD that few people know.
It is known that many Vietnamese officials working in management, or even leaders of state-owned enterprises, have the letters TS – GS (PhD – Professor) written on their business cards.
According to Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, Pham Bich San, said: “Our number of professors and PhDs is the largest in Southeast Asia, but no Vietnamese university is ranked in the ranking of the world’s top 500 universities.” And if calculated from the position of Deputy Minister and above, the number of people with doctorate degrees in Vietnam is 5 times higher than in Japan.
However, the fact that there are many people with PhDs, but their qualifications do not match their academic degrees, it can be affirmed that most PhDs are officials or businessmen, which are fake PhDs.
According to VietnamNet, there is a situation where many leaders and state officials use money to buy doctoral degrees like those from the University of the South Pacific, which is on the list of 21 universities operating in Vietnam, but not recognized in the United States.
Public opinion in Phu Tho province was stirred in 2010 when it was learned that Mr. Nguyen Ngoc, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Phu Tho province, also had a PhD. Before that, he only had a bachelor’s degree in economics from the National Economics University – the training course was organized in the form of paying money to a school opened in Viet Tri city.
Even though he did not know English, he spent nearly $20,000 to buy a fake PhD degree from the University of the South Pacific in the United States.
Another “Doctor” is Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc, Deputy Secretary of the Yen Bai Provincial Party Committee, who also received a PhD from the University of the South Pacific in just 6 months, for $17,000.
According to VietnamNet, a previous famous story related to “Doctor” death row prisoner Duong Chi Dung is similar. It is known that after graduating from high school in the late 1980s, Duong Chi Dung went to work abroad in the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany). In 1994, Mr. Dung returned to Vietnam and worked as a worker at the Union of River Dredging Enterprises. During this time, Duong Chi Dung attended in-service classes at Maritime University, then studied for a master’s degree, and then somehow, Mr. Dung got a PhD in Business and Commerce. Thanks to that, Duong Chi Dung was appointed General Director of Waterway Construction Corporation (Vinawaco), and eventually Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vinalines. The consequences that this “Doctor” on death row caused, causing thousands of billions in damage, are obvious to everyone.
In 1998, the Associate Doctorate degree in Eastern Europe was converted into a Doctor of Science degree by Vietnam. Incumbent General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, in the 1981-1983 period, went to the Soviet Union to study for a master’s degree (postgraduate study). Suddenly, one fine morning, he became a PhD of Theory of Marxism-Leninism, that’s the truth.
Mr. Trong’s assessment that “our education has never been like it is now” is a statement of similar value to the sentence “in general, will our country ever be like it is now?” because such reason. And why the Vietnamese country and people are forever immersed in poverty, weakness and slavery is also because of that.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
