Yen Bai official receives doctorate after just six months
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The media reported a Yen Bai Party official who obtained a doctoral degree from Malaysia within six months.
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The public now doubts the value of a doctoral diploma earned from Malaysia by Nguyen Van Ngoc, Deputy Party Secretary of Yen Bai province, since he studied only six months.
“This diploma is not recognized by our Ministry of Education and Training,” Yen Bai Chair Hoang Thuong Luong told Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Luong affirmed that Yen Bai authorities didn’t know anything about the quality or legal status of the university where Ngoc studied.
Nguyen Van Thanh, Yen Bai Party Committee Office Chair, explained that, since 2006, Yen Bai has subsidized officials to obtain Master’s and doctoral degrees under the province’s policy to attract talents. Yen Bai Party Committee decided in October 2008 to send Ngoc to a doctoral training course in business administration at a “South Pacific University” (the decision didn’t specify the address of this university). Accordingly, Ngoc would go to study at this university and defend his doctoral thesis in Malaysia.
While doctoral training programs in Vietnam and the world over are at least two years, Ngoc obtained a doctorate in business administration after only six months.
Ngoc reported to the Yen Bai Party Committee that he finished his studies in March 2009 and asked the province to subsidize part of his research fees. According to a dispatch sent by Yen Bai Party Committee to the Yen Bai Department of Finance, the entire cost of Ngoc’s study was $17,000 and stated that “Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc completed the doctoral training course of the Southern Pacific University and received the doctoral diploma.” The dispatch attached an announcement in English of Southern Pacific University dated April 9, 2008 about the training course worth $17,000. The announcement didn’t mention Ngoc, but just the training program.
Yen Bai People’s Committee on December 31, 2009 decided to grant 74 million dong (around $5000) to Ngoc. This sum included 50 million dong under the province’s policy to attract doctors and 24 million dong under the policy to encourage officials to get a doctoral diploma, worth 1 million dong a month. The total time for study was estimated at 24 months, equivalent to 24 million dong. Ngoc obtained his diploma in six months, so his aid package should be 6 million dong, not 24 million dong.
Ngoc has not submitted a copy of his doctoral diploma not shown his official diploma to Yen Bai authorities.
According to Tuoi Tre investigations, a Hawaiian court dissolved the so-called Southern Pacific University on October 28, 2003. This university’s diplomas and certificates are not recognized in the US.
Ngoc speaks
Ngoc told Tuoi Tre on July 25 that he has his doctoral diploma, but he has not submitted it to Yen Bai authorities yet. He also maintained that he defended his doctoral thesis in Vietnam, not in Malaysia and asserted that Southern Pacific University is an internationally-associated university.
“I studied from 2007 to 2009. This was my personal decision to improve my knowledge to serve my job. I myself paid for the program,” Ngoc added.
He also claimed that he has not received Yen Bai’s grant of 74 million dong yet.
Tran Van Nghia, Ministry of Education and Training’s (MoET) Examinations and Educational Quality Assessment Department Vice-Head, remarked: “I personally don’t believe there are such short-term doctoral courses.”
He admitted it would be easy to verify Ngoc’s diploma, but added that MoET only verifies degrees upon request of agencies that employ the person or upon the request of the diploma-holder.
According to Tuoi Tre, the online Southern Pacific University only exists at www.spuni.edu. It doesn’t have an address or campus. It supplies online training courses and grants Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. diplomas. This school has not been accredited.
According to its website, its full name is Southern Pacific University Limited and it is registered as a private commercial company at St.Kitts & Nevis (Delaware, USA) and Belize. A doctoral program at this institution claims to last from 2-3 years. This “university” was banned on October 28, 2003 by Hawaiian authorities for legal violations.
According to members of http://online.degree.net, a forum providing information on online training programs, this “university” has many branches and offices in Malaysia and it sells diplomas.
In Vietnam, it is easy to search dozens of advertisement on small-ad websites and forums about the school’s training program. “On-the-spot M.A. and Ph.D. training programs, receiving internationally-recognised diplomas. Enrolling studies through files…” Potential students can contact the school via a cell phone.
According to advertisements, training fees are $6000 for an M.A. and $10,000 for a Ph.D., not $17,000 as Ngoc has stated.
Previously, Ngoc also obtained a Master’s degree from a black-listed university, which offers an M.A. after only 12 months of study on Saturdays and Sundays. The fee is over $8000.
Checking the websites of other agencies and businesses, especially big companies and commercial banks, Tuoi Tre discovered some officials who “hold” M.A. and Ph.D. degrees granted by this “fake” international university.
Similar cases are numerous
Last month the northern province of Phu Tho was stirred up when Nguyen Ngoc An, Phu Tho Province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Director, was introduced as a doctor in business administration at a festival. Previously, he only held an in-service Bachelor’s diploma. An claimed to hold an international doctoral diploma from Southern Pacific, but he can’t speak English.
According to this official, he joined a training course from 2007 to 2009 and went to this university twice, one week at a time, to study with the assistance of an interpreter. He defended his doctoral thesis also through an interpreter.
An maintained that he studied documents in Vietnamese and CDs provided by the Southern Pacific University, which did not require students to know English. Moreover, his doctoral dissertation was not chaired by anyone, but there were up to three critics when he defended it.
An anonymous official from Phu Tho province, told Saigon Tiep Thi (Saigon Marketing) newspaper that the government partly subsidized An’s studies. An later submitted his diploma to authorities.
However, this official also argued that An’s training is “problematic” because, according to MoET regulations, one can pursue a doctoral degree if they hold an M.A. or a Bachelor’s degree of above average level, plus recommendation letters from two prestigious professors or associate professors. One also must be fluent in English to be able to read documents and participate in international research activities.
Phu Tho has around ten officials with similar doctorates.
PV
