Achievements

The two research students, Pham Hiep and Huynh Huu Hien, announced their results measuring current research capacity, based on the average number of articles published in ISI publications by PhDs, lecturers and staff of leading universities in Vietnam in 2015. Two of the highest can be seen to be Duy Tan and Ton Duc Thang Universities. The two research students explain that, to obtain the number of publications of the top 7 Vietnamese universities with most international publications from 2015 to now, they compiled data from the Web of Science web page.

Number	Name	Nr. of PhD holders	Nr. of articles on ISI 2015	ISI articles per PhD holder	Research capacity ranking
1	Hanoi National University	881	141	0,16	5
2	HUST	703	138	0,20	3
3	Vietnam National University,  HCMC	1.087	94	0,09	7
4	Ton Duc Thang University	187	73	0,39	2
5	Can Tho University	285	57	0,20	3
6	Duy Tan University	122	52	0,43	1
7	The Hanoi National University of Education	387	51	0,13	6

* Ton Duc Thang University includes 187 PhD and research students

 

To measure the number of staff and lecturers with PhDs, the research students used university websites to gather their data. The statistics show that research activities at large universities, such as Hanoi National University, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Can Tho University are ranked below Duy Tan and Ton Duc Thang universities.

 

 

 

Vietnam National University in HCMC has the highest number of PhDs, 1,087, but the number of their ISI publications is only 94, averaging at 0.09 publications per PhD, placing them last among the seven universities surveyed.

 

Meanwhile, Duy Tan University has 122 PhDs with 52 ISI articles, averaging 0.43 publications each, making it the leader in international publications.

 

Although these numbers were only measured from the beginning of 2015 and may not yet reflect the overall picture, the results are noteworthy.

 

Research student Huynh Huu Hien explains the numbers are significant, because universities with policies encouraging research usually publish internationally. “The universities with the highest international publications have invested heavily in research,” Huynh Huu Hien says. “They also collaborate internationally. These universities have been actively and efficiently strengthening their infrastrucure to attract and foster teams of permanent research staff. They also have systems in place to encourage and reward outstanding research projects.”

 

Why the two national universities have the highest number of international publications is also easy to understand because they are oldest. But their research volumes are currently not as high as younger universities such as Duy Tan and Ton Duc Thang.

 

“This is a good sign that shows that the Vietnamese educational system is evolving quickly,” research student Pham Hung Hiep explains. “The universities which were traditionally considered to lag in research activities are now catching up quickly. They are the dynamic new universities, with vision, oriented towards internationalization. This does not come without much effort.”

 

Faced with competition from several emerging and dynamic universities, the larger ones are now feeling the pressure. Research student Pham Hung Hiep explains that the more competition there is, the better research and education will be, so more and more students will benefit in the long run.