Establishing a council to re-evaluate the 'accused' doctoral thesis topic: What does the school say?

However, according to Dr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, this is part of the doctoral thesis defense process of any graduate student, not just Mr. Tran Huu Ai.

"The principle of the doctoral thesis defense process is that after a doctoral student successfully defends a school-level topic, the school will publish the topic online for public criticism and comments within 3 months. All doctoral topics are like that, so the establishment of a council to re-evaluate the topic of doctoral student Tran Huu Ai is completely normal, not because someone 'accused' that it was re-evaluated," Dr. Quoc Anh shared.

PhD thesis topic of PhD student Tran Huu Ai in 2014 (left) and the topic successfully defended on September 9 recently

Mr. Quoc Anh said that the school is inviting members of the evaluation board who are some prestigious professors, associate professors, and doctors from outside. "Around the end of December or the beginning of January, the evaluation board will work with PhD student Tran Huu Ai to discuss more issues related to the topic," Dr. Quoc Anh added.

Previously, on September 9, PhD student Tran Huu Ai (2016-2019 course) successfully defended his doctoral thesis in business administration titled "Improving the competitiveness of seafood enterprises: A case study in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province" at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. However, some lecturers "accused" that this doctoral thesis had been defended by Mr. Ai at the Academy of Social Sciences on November 8, 2014.

In fact, Mr. Tran Huu Ai once defended his thesis "Improving the competitiveness of seafood enterprises (research in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province)" at the Academy of Social Sciences, but only 2/3 of the reviewers agreed, so it was rated as unqualified.

However, when he passed the doctoral exam at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in 2016, Mr. Ai decided to redo this topic from the beginning. In 2021, Mr. Ai defended his thesis at the university level but had to stop because he was "accused" for the same reason that this topic had been defended before at the Academy of Social Sciences.

After explaining, Mr. Ai was allowed to defend again in 2022, but at that time, Mr. Ai encountered some problems during the working process so he was asked to do it again.

At this time, Mr. Ai had to start over following the correct procedure including thesis defense, grassroots defense, closed-door review, and school-level defense. Finally, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis on September 9, and continued to be... accused.

The former head of the postgraduate department of a member university of Ho Chi Minh City National University confirmed that "accusing" a THA doctoral student is incorrect.

"A PhD student who fails his thesis at school A can completely redo it with a new approach and get it evaluated as successful at school B. Only when a PhD student copies someone else's thesis and successfully defends it is a serious problem. Therefore, this accusation may be due to personal conflicts and is completely worthless," he shared.

It is known that PhD student Tran Huu Ai graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics in 1996 with a degree in Business Administration. It was only after his retirement that Mr. Ai went to study for a Master's degree in Business Administration at Ton Duc Thang University in 2009-2011 and became a PhD student at the Academy of Social Sciences (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) in 2012. Mr. Ai is now 72 years old.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/lap-hoi-dong-tham-dinh-lai-de-tai-luan-an-tien-si-bi-to-truong-noi-gi-185231217103616053.htm