The Ministry of Education and Training on the afternoon of April 10 announced the results of verification reflecting the topic "development of multi-functional polyurethane composite materials for fire resistance, heat insulation, and microbial resistance towards application in construction and life" of students of Luong Van Tuy High School for the Gifted, Ninh Binh.
The project won first prize in the national science and technology competition for students in March, but was accused of having many points that are similar to doctoral dissertations.
After reviewing and verifying, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) affirmed that the first prize-winning topic of the National Science and Technology Research Competition for students in the 2025-2026 school year shows no signs of plagiarism or copying.
According to the report, Luong Van Tuy Specialized High School has seriously implemented the work of selecting ideas, approving plans and selecting projects to participate at the provincial level in accordance with regulations and guidelines; the process, time and subjects of research are implemented in accordance with the Circulars promulgating the Contest Regulations.
The Ministry of Education and Training has established a Consulting Group to evaluate the winning projects of the contest to advise on project evaluation of 2 students of Luong Van Tuy High School for the Gifted, Ninh Binh Department of Education and Training.
The advisory group consists of 5 experts with doctoral degrees or higher from prestigious higher education institutions and research institutes who have researched the award-winning project.
After research, the advisory group held a meeting, agreeing that, with the guidance of teachers and scientific instructors, based on students' exam applications, students can completely implement this project. The content related to the synthesis of materials based on the optimized processes that teachers and instructors have put forward can be completely implemented by students.
Students can understand and conduct the analysis of the results of some measurements such as DTA, XRD, FT-IR, because these knowledge are in the general education program that they are taught.
With the research plan proposed, the implementation of tasks based on verified and highly repetitive procedures is entirely feasible under the guidance of teachers and the advice of scientists. Third, based on plagiarism test data and publications, no plagiarism overlap is recorded with previously published works.
The advisory group also gave the opinion that this is not a scientific research with absolute novelty but only relative novelty, creativity and practical value, suitable for the research capacity at the general education level. The topic has high application value and can also serve as a basis for projects to apply or invent students in the field of functional materials and nanotechnology.
Overall, the topic shows no signs of copying or plagiarism, but clearly shows selective inheritance combined with independent experimentation and scientific analysis, thereby creating meaningful results that are consistent with the research objectives set out" - the Ministry of Education and Training affirmed.
Also according to the Ministry of Education and Training, the topic uses common methods and approaches in the field of polymer materials", however, these are standard methods, widely accepted in scientific research. The research group has proactively designed experiments, selected materials, adjusted processes and built separate data coefficients, showing independence in implementation. Therefore, there is no basis to conclude that it is a copy or plagiarism.
Regarding concerns about the necessity of organizing the contest, the Ministry of Education and Training emphasized that the contest is organized to actively implement the Party and State's guidelines and policies on science and technology development, especially Resolution No. 57, Resolution No. 71.
Not only in Vietnam, countries in the region and around the world have organized national competitions and participated in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
In 2025, the Regeneron ISEF International Science and Engineering Fair was held in the US, gathering nearly 1,700 students from more than 60 countries with more than 1,000 projects. At this fair, the Vietnamese student delegation excellently won 6 official prizes (2 second prizes, 1 third prize, 3 fourth prizes) and 4 special prizes. This is the highest achievement ever of the Vietnamese student delegation.
This result shows that the competition continues to be a meaningful academic playground, contributing to discovering and fostering students' scientific research capacity and strengthening international integration" - the Ministry of Education and Training affirmed.
