Recently, Vietnam’s State Council of Professors announced a list of proposed qualified candidates to be considered for recognition of the title of Professor and Associate Professor in 2023. Notably, in the field of Security Science, there is only one qualified candidate, that is Nguyen Hoa Binh – Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court.
While the debate on social networks is still unresolved, about “Does Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh deserve to be a Professor?” state media reported:
“The People’s Police Academy held a ceremony to announce and award the decision to appoint the title of Professor to Dr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court.”
On December 19, Cong Ly Newspaper reported with the title “Awarding the decision to appoint Professor to Dr. Nguyen Hoa Binh.” The news said that on December 18, in Hanoi, the People’s Police Academy held a ceremony to announce and award the appointment decision to the title of Professor and Associate Professor of Security Sciences in 2023.
According to Cong Ly newspaper, previously, on November 20, the State Council of Professors officially announced the Decision to qualify for the title of Professor and Associate Professor in 2023, for 630 educators, including 58 Professors and 572 Associate Professor. In particular, the Security Science sector has one more Professor and 13 Associate Professors recognized.
According to Cong Ly newspaper, speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh “confided” that he had been appointed to the position of Associate Professor since 2002, and he had worked in the police sector for a long time. In particular, Mr. Binh showed off what public opinion affirmed was “untrue” when affirming that he “regularly engages in teaching activities, scientific research, and guides graduate students and masters at People’s Public Security schools, including the People’s Police Academy.”
On social networks, the story of Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh being promoted to Professor became hot again. Public opinion said that the awarding of a Professor title to Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh was not convincing, it sounded… strange.
The title of Professor is an academic title, not a position. Mr. Binh calls it “appointment” which is wrong. Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh’s biography clearly shows that he has never taught at any university. So how can he meet the mandatory conditions to be awarded the title of Professor, which is “must be a lecturer and have guided many students (specific number) graduated.”
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh’s biography and background show that he used to work in the police force, as Head of the Police Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security; then Director of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, and now Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court.
With positions like that, the online community asks, “Where does Mr. Binh have time to teach or guide students?”
Meanwhile, regarding Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh’s legal expertise, according to lawyer Tran Dinh Trien, a fellow student with Nguyen Hoa Binh studying at the (former) Public Security University, once evaluated on the Facebook page personally “Mr. Binh is not capable of reading to understand a legal document.”
Not to mention, the qualifications of a “new” Professor like Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh are still at the level of not understanding that the title of Professor is “awarded on the basis of actual ability,” not appointment from somewhere the title of Professor, and it is not a degree that can be bought with money like at Dong Do University.
Dr. Vu Ngoc Xuan, lecturer at Hanoi National Economics University, said:
“Associate Professors must have many years of teaching experience, must have a scientific research topisc, must have projects to guide a master’s thesis, then have projects to write books and articles,etc. After that, they must submit the application for recognition as Associate Professor. Many years does it take for an Associate Professor to apply to be recognized as a Professor.
A retired leader of a major university in Hanoi, speaking to a reporter at Thoibao.de on condition of anonymity, commented:
“Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, in his current position as Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, Member of the Politburo, how does he have time to stand on the podium? Second, in terms of capacity and qualifications, just going through the results of the cassation session of the case of Cau Voi Post Office and Ho Duy Hai is also very clear.”
Professor Dr. Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, who was promoted to Professor in 1992, told Radio Free Asia that Vietnam’s big problem is due to following the trend of formality, leading to academic titles, degrees, Professors or Doctors that have no substance.
Professor Dr. Dang Hung Vo said:
“That is, they just need to go back to their hometown, pat their chest and claim that they are professors or PhDs, then people will immediately be excited, thinking that this is a particularly outstanding person in society. So people don’t need to know where they stand, what knowledge they have, or what contributions they have made to science.”
Is that the reason, National Assembly Delegate Le Thanh Van has proposed that the government need to have a general review of degrees, academic titles, and degrees, after the scandal at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, with the purpose of screening personnel quality.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
