Nguyễn Thiện Nhân (born 12 June 1953, in Cà Mau province), is a Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam and Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam. He had been the 1st vice mayor of Ho Chi Minh City before being appointed Minister of Education on June 28, 2006, by Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. He was appointed by the National Assembly, upon recommendation of Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, Vice Prime Minister of Vietnam. He got a PhD in cybernetics at the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg in East Germany in 1979. In 1993, he studied and earned an MPA of governance at the University of Oregon and a course of Investment Project Assessment at Harvard University, USA. He has been the professor at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Đại học Bách khoa Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh). Nguyễn Thiện Nhân is known for some efforts in reform of Vietnamese education system, widely supported by the Vietnamese public. He is also one of the high senior officials in Vietnamese government who has a good command of English along with Hoàng Trung Hải, another vice prime minister.
Nguyễn Thiện Nhân's father is Nguyễn Thiện Thanh, a professor.