Thesis “doctor of badminton”: It is necessary to prevent the incubator of the doctorate

Many doctoral theses are “cloned” in series

The story of the doctoral thesis that has been circulating on newspapers, forums and social networks in the past weeks will be the topic of Events and Comments this week.

In recent times, if there is a question: What is the most commonly used phrase in the internet search bar? then it is”Badminton Doctor“. This story originates from public opinion finding a doctoral thesis topic with a controversial name “Research on solutions to develop badminton for civil servants in Son La city”. How does a scientific research project with a name like this create public opinion?

The thesis “Research on solutions to develop badminton for civil servants in Son La city” by graduate student Dang Hoang Anh caused a stir on many academic forums.

In the past three years, the Institute of Sports Science has accepted a total of 22 doctoral theses

Not only worrying about the development of badminton, many PhDs also work hard to research yoga, basketball, weightlifting… Even socio-economic changes in localities have become the subject of dissertations. PhD project with similar words and content, a consequence of “copy and paste”.

Explaining the status of the thesis with low scientific content being mass cloned, experts believe that the root cause is partly in the value of this degree in recruiting and appointing staff.

GS. Pham Duc Chinh, Vietnam Institute of Mechanics said: “Doctoral training in Vietnam is not only for training, but also a doctorate and professor is a standard. Those who have a degree are given priority. In some ways, the good side is finding good people for the government, but on the other hand it damages the value of science.”

Illustration. Source: Youth

The evaluation of the thesis is not only based on the title of the thesis but also on the scientific value and actual contribution. However, after the noise of public opinion, in the near future, this content should be considered as the initial criteria in the thesis review.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy, Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training said: “The review boards as well as the instructors should be very serious and should not approve topics with too large a scope. It is not narrow enough for the scope of a doctoral thesis and will cause public opinion”.

To do scientific research is not for achievement, for promotion

Every time there is public opinion around an issue, people think of one thing, which is the process, and the last story that some people satirized as “paper doctor” was no exception. But, what is our current process for doctoral training? It is said that the current doctoral training process in Vietnam is quite strict, even more difficult than in other countries. But if you cut it tight, you can still pass the doctor of badminton, doctor of weightlifting, doctor of yoga, it is clear that this is something to think about.

Illustration. Source: Giaoduc.net.

Last year, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 18 on Regulations on enrollment and doctoral training with some new regulations. Notably, the requirement that PhD students must publish at least one scientific report in an international journal is no longer mandatory.

The Circular supplements regulations on the acceptance of monographs and publications in domestic journals of good quality. This is believed to contribute to limiting the number of graduate students publishing their research works in some poor quality international journals or conferences, with a sketchy review process.

Circular 18 also adjusts to increase the number of PhD students that a professor can instruct at the same time from 5 to a maximum of 7. However, besides the expectation of tightening, more transparency in the training process. PhD, there are some concerns about a low standard in doctoral training.

A fact also pointed out by many researchers and scientists is that a country that requires international publication will have very good doctorate quality, and vice versa, if it does not require it, there will also appear many unqualified PhDs. quality. At the same time, raising the standard of doctoral training also helps promote the international integration of Vietnamese science.

Over the past decades, Vietnamese higher education has made many efforts to gradually approach the education level in the world. But talking about the story of doctoral training, from recent cases, it will probably need strong, serious actions, and even strict sanctions from the State management agencies, or constructive criticism, supervision, and contributions from experienced researchers and experts.

All of that is so that scientific research in Vietnam really means a contribution to science, to life, not to achievements or advancement.

It is hoped that practical and timely measures will help prevent the appearance of doctoral incubators with 18 scientific topics being accepted a day, or PhDs who are authors of theses that are not of sufficient scope. , not enough scientific content not worthy of the title of doctor. Academia needs to be built with gray matter, not with the number of degrees, and the development of the country, too, needs people with real wisdom. And this is a story that needs to be taken very seriously in the near future.

Joining this week’s Events and Comments program are two guests: Assoc. Dr. Hoang Minh Son – Deputy Minister of Education and Training and Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Vien – Former Director of Vietnam Academy of Agriculture.

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