Data from the past three academic years shows a gradual increase in the rate of doctoral training achievement, but there is still a significant gap compared to the assigned targets.
Specifically, in the 2023-2024 academic year, training institutions were allocated 7,158 doctoral program quotas, but only fulfilled 3,376, achieving 47.16%.
In the 2024-2025 academic year, the target decreased slightly to 7,068, while the actual number increased to 4,077, reaching 57.68%. By the 2025-2026 academic year, the target for doctoral training increased sharply to 9,083, with the actual number reaching 5,687, equivalent to 62.61%.
Thus, in three years, the rate of achieving doctoral targets increased by more than 15%, from 47.16% to 62.61%. However, for the 2025-2026 academic year, there are still 3,396 targets, equivalent to 37.39%, that have not been achieved.
Nevertheless, the scale of doctoral training in various fields increased significantly during the period from 2022-2023 to 2025-2026. In particular, field III (Business and Management, Law) saw the largest and strongest growth, from 2,310 doctoral graduates to 4,510, nearly doubling in four years.
Sector VII also saw rapid growth, from 2,007 to 4,045 PhDs. Sector V increased from 1,912 to 3,422, while Sector VI rose from 937 to 2,204. These groups showed significant increases during this period.
Sector I, encompassing education and teacher training, also recorded a continuous upward trend, from 682 PhDs in 2022-2023 to 1,541 in 2025-2026. Sector II saw a more modest increase, from 80 to 141.
Notably, Group IV is the only group experiencing a decrease in size in the 2025-2026 academic year. After increasing from 678 PhDs in 2022-2023 to 1,139 in 2024-2025, the number will decrease to 914 in the 2025-2026 academic year.
Overall, the number of PhDs is concentrated mainly in sectors III, VII, and V. Specifically in 2025-2026, these three sectors are expected to have 4,510, 4,045, and 3,422 PhDs respectively, accounting for the majority of the total number of PhDs surveyed. This indicates that the increase in the number of PhD holders is strongly concentrated in certain fields, while the increase is not uniform across sectors.
The 7 doctoral training programs include:
Sector I: Educational Sciences and Teacher Training;
Group II: Arts;
Group III: Business and Management, Law;
Group IV: Life Sciences, Natural Sciences;
Group V: Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science and Information Technology, Engineering Technology, Engineering, Manufacturing and Processing, Architecture and Construction, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Veterinary Medicine;
Sector VI: Health;
Sector VII: Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Journalism and Information, Social Services, Hospitality - Tourism - Sports and Personal Services, Transportation Services, Environment, National Security and Defense.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/e-chi-tieu-dao-tao-tien-si-2561056.html
