Once again the issue of fake qualifications has hit the news in Vietnam, and it comes as no surprise that once again the problem seems to be in the state sector, according to Tuoi Tre. What is surprising this time is that Vietnamese education experts agree that sham diploma holders can only be hired by state agencies.
Pham Vu Luan, Minister of Education and Training, announced at a recent meeting discussing the issue of fake qualifications that, “fake diplomas can only exist in state-owned enterprises, not in private companies or foreign-invested entities.”
His opinion is supported by many education experts who have used the opportunity to attack those in the state sector who have been recruited with fake qualifications. Among them is Professor Hoang Tuy who has said that those employed with fake degrees, “undermine the quality of the state apparatus in general.”
Professor Tuy further explains that the combination of those who use fake qualifications and employers who accept them have resulted in “an unhealthy and unequal competition in personnel recruitment and promotion.”
The problem is not a new one but nothing is being done to address it other than the customary lip service we have all come to expect. Professor Tuy claims he raised the issue with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai ten years ago.
He went on to say that “the authorities of a sector at that time even issued a document requesting that those who obtained fake degrees regularize them, while such diplomas should be confiscated and their users should be punished.”
Did this happen? Of course not.
Agreeing with Prof. Tuy is Dao Trong Thi, chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children Affairs who explains that, “that false qualifications are not only harmful to the educational sector but also to the agencies that attach excessive importance to diplomas.”
Other prominent academics have warned that forged degrees, master degrees and even PhDs have become a stinging social problem.
Whilst foreign employers are aware of the problem and will not employ candidates whose qualification raise suspicions, which is frequently the case, local employees are much more lax.
Experts agree that Vietnamese employees tend to put more weight on a piece of paper rather than the ability or suitability to so the job. Many foreign employees look at a candidate’s experience rather than their qualification.
One foreign employer, when asked, said that if a 22-year-old candidate claims to have an MBA and can barely string a sentence together in English, you know that something is amiss!
[Tuoi Tre]
