A class at the Vietnam-Japan University. Universities in the country are facing a shortage of lecturers that could undermine the quality of traiining imparted (Photo VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Despite a raft of applications fornine lecturer vacancies announced in July, HCM City University of Transport hasbeen unable to fill any of the positions.
“Recruiting enough lecturers is not an issue.The question is the academic quality of applicants,” said Nguyen VanThu, rector of the university.
“Candidates holding master degrees fromdomestic universities form the majority of applicants. While the number of PhDsis limited, there is competition among universities in hiring them,” Thu toldthe Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
Similarly, HCM City University of NaturalResources and Environment (HUNRE) is in need of academic staff.
According to Phan Dinh Tuan, rector ofHUNRE, despite a policy encouraging lecturers to get their PhDs, theuniversity is struggling to recruit enough lecturers. HUNRE offers each of itscurrent lecturers financial support of 20 million VND (880 USD) to study forPhDs to increase academic quality.
The university also helps staff joinpostgraduate programmes, aiming to raise the percentage of doctoratelecturers to 50 percent by 2020. However, Tuan said that this goal wasunattainable.
Officers of the Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment with PhD degrees have also been invited to teach at theuniversity.
“Some of them are not good at research.Therefore, we have to equip them with teaching and researching skills as wellas provide scientific resources. Besides wages, ideal working conditions aretheir priority,” Tuan said.
Saigon University (SGU) frequently seeksdoctorate lecturers.
“Applications are carefully scanned. Then,candidates will be interviewed directly by the principal. Doctors withexcellent research background and teaching skills are prioritised,” said Cao ThaiPhuong Thanh, vice head of SGU’s human resources department.
Up to August 2017, the university had 466official lecturers including 120 PhDs, accounting for 24 percent, the resthold masters degrees. It recruits 40 to 60 lecturers annually. Most are doctoratelecturers who were supported to do their PhD by the university. Outside hiresare rare.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Trung, head of theOrganisation and Administration Department under HCM City University ofPedagogy (HCMUP), many universities have not offered special policies forhigh-quality lecturers.
“Lecturers are paid based on the Government’swage regulations. Compared with other jobs, their income is small. Therefore, alot of excellent PhDs choose other careers,” said Trung.
Do Van Dung, rector of HCMUP, saidthat besides professional knowledge, lecturers must be fluent in foreignlanguages to keep up to date with innovations in their field.
Dũng said his university’s main source oflecturers was PhD candidates from international universities. Thanks to theuniversity’s high-quality programme which charges high tuition fees, they canoffer generous salaries to lecturers.
Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, head of UniversityEducation Department under MoET, said that Vietnam's talent managementpolicy was not strong enough to attract senior lecturers.
“Potential candidates are not motivated by thecurrent policies. Many universities have not paid attention to develop theirown human resources by supporting lecturers to do PhDs abroad. Conversely, manyapplicants fail to meet foreign language requirements to gain governmentalscholarships for postgraduate programmes. Meanwhile, the demand forhigh-quality academic staff is rising,” he added.
According to the MoET, in the 2016-2017school-year, there were 72,792 lecturers, 4.6 percent more than the previousyear. However, the number of doctorate lecturers is still small.-VNA
“Recruiting enough lecturers is not an issue.The question is the academic quality of applicants,” said Nguyen VanThu, rector of the university.
“Candidates holding master degrees fromdomestic universities form the majority of applicants. While the number of PhDsis limited, there is competition among universities in hiring them,” Thu toldthe Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
Similarly, HCM City University of NaturalResources and Environment (HUNRE) is in need of academic staff.
According to Phan Dinh Tuan, rector ofHUNRE, despite a policy encouraging lecturers to get their PhDs, theuniversity is struggling to recruit enough lecturers. HUNRE offers each of itscurrent lecturers financial support of 20 million VND (880 USD) to study forPhDs to increase academic quality.
The university also helps staff joinpostgraduate programmes, aiming to raise the percentage of doctoratelecturers to 50 percent by 2020. However, Tuan said that this goal wasunattainable.
Officers of the Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment with PhD degrees have also been invited to teach at theuniversity.
“Some of them are not good at research.Therefore, we have to equip them with teaching and researching skills as wellas provide scientific resources. Besides wages, ideal working conditions aretheir priority,” Tuan said.
Saigon University (SGU) frequently seeksdoctorate lecturers.
“Applications are carefully scanned. Then,candidates will be interviewed directly by the principal. Doctors withexcellent research background and teaching skills are prioritised,” said Cao ThaiPhuong Thanh, vice head of SGU’s human resources department.
Up to August 2017, the university had 466official lecturers including 120 PhDs, accounting for 24 percent, the resthold masters degrees. It recruits 40 to 60 lecturers annually. Most are doctoratelecturers who were supported to do their PhD by the university. Outside hiresare rare.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Trung, head of theOrganisation and Administration Department under HCM City University ofPedagogy (HCMUP), many universities have not offered special policies forhigh-quality lecturers.
“Lecturers are paid based on the Government’swage regulations. Compared with other jobs, their income is small. Therefore, alot of excellent PhDs choose other careers,” said Trung.
Do Van Dung, rector of HCMUP, saidthat besides professional knowledge, lecturers must be fluent in foreignlanguages to keep up to date with innovations in their field.
Dũng said his university’s main source oflecturers was PhD candidates from international universities. Thanks to theuniversity’s high-quality programme which charges high tuition fees, they canoffer generous salaries to lecturers.
Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, head of UniversityEducation Department under MoET, said that Vietnam's talent managementpolicy was not strong enough to attract senior lecturers.
“Potential candidates are not motivated by thecurrent policies. Many universities have not paid attention to develop theirown human resources by supporting lecturers to do PhDs abroad. Conversely, manyapplicants fail to meet foreign language requirements to gain governmentalscholarships for postgraduate programmes. Meanwhile, the demand forhigh-quality academic staff is rising,” he added.
According to the MoET, in the 2016-2017school-year, there were 72,792 lecturers, 4.6 percent more than the previousyear. However, the number of doctorate lecturers is still small.-VNA
VNA
