Are first-year students in Vietnam permissible to transfer to another academic discipline? What are the requirements for transfer to another academic discipline?

What are the requirements for transfer to another academic discipline?

According to the regulations in Clause 1, Article 16 of the Regulation on undergraduate education issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT:

Transfer to another academic discipline, campus, training institution or mode of study

1. Conditions for transfer to another training program or academic discipline, transfer to another branch campus or transfer from a branch campus to the main campus:

a) The student is not a first-year student or final-year student, is not considered for forced leave from school and has not exceeded the permitted study time limit mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation;

b) The student is eligible to enroll in the target training program or academic discipline or main campus (or branch campus) in the same cohort;

c) The training institution and main campus (or branch campus) meet quality assurance conditions and are capable of providing the training program or academic discipline as per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

d) The transfer is approved by heads of academics units in charge of the training program or academic discipline, heads of campuses (current campus and target campus) and principal of the training institution.

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As such, students need to meet the following conditions to transfer to another academic discipline. To be specific:

- Students  is not a first-year student or final-year student, is not considered for forced leave from school and has not exceeded the permitted study time limit mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of the Regulation on undergraduate education issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT.

- Students is eligible to enroll in the target training program or academic discipline or main campus (or branch campus) in the same cohort.

- The training institution and main campus (or branch campus) meet quality assurance conditions and are capable of providing the training program or academic discipline as per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

- The transfer is approved by heads of academics units in charge of the training program or academic discipline, heads of campuses (current campus and target campus) and principal of the training institution.

Are first-year students in Vietnam permissible to transfer to another academic discipline? What are the requirements for transfer to another academic discipline?​ (Image from the Internet)

Are first-year students in Vietnam permissible to transfer to another training institution?

Based on point a, Clause 2, Article 16 of the Regulation on undergraduate education issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT:

Transfer to another academic discipline, campus, training institution or mode of study​

...

2. Conditions for transfer to another training institution:

a) The student is not a first-year student or final-year student, is not considered for forced leave from school and has not exceeded the permitted study time limit mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation;

b) The student is eligible to enroll in a training program or academic discipline of the target institution in the same cohort;

c) The target institution meets quality assurance conditions and is capable of providing the training program or academic discipline as per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

d) The transfer is approved by the principals of the current training institution and target training institution.

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According to the regulations, one of the conditions for being considered for transferring to another training institution is not being a first-year student.

Therefore, first-year students will not be allowed to transfer to another training institutions.

Can first-year students in Vietnam study two programs simultaneously in the same school?

According to Article 18 of the Regulation on undergraduate education issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT:

Simultaneous enrollment in two programs

1. For credit-based training, students may register for units of study of another training program or academic discipline besides their own according to the situation of their training institutions, but may enjoy official rights pertaining to and apply for graduation from the second program only when they have successfully enrolled in the second program according to regulations in Clause 2 herein.

2. Students may apply for the second program after they have reached second year of the first program. At the time of application, students must meet either of the following conditions and other conditions of their training institutions:

a) Have good GPA or higher and meet admission requirements of the second program in the admission year;

b) Have average GPA and meet admission requirements of the second program in the admission year.

3. While a student is enrolled in two programs simultaneously, if GPA of the first program falls below the average level or the student receives an academic warning, they must stop attending the second program in the following semester; and be removed from list of students enrolled in the second program.

4. Maximum time for a student to attend two programs simultaneously shall be the maximum study time of the first program provided for in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation. While the student enrolls in the second program, results of units of study with equivalent content and academic load of the first program may be recognized.

5. Students may apply for graduation from the second program if they are eligible and have applied for graduation from the first program at least 02 years before applying for graduation from the second program.

6. Training institutions may offer the second program to students only when they meet quality assurance conditions in terms of admission quota and training capacity; concurrently, they shall stipulate procedures and requirements for enrollment and degree awarding for the second program.

Thus, students are allowed to study two programs simultaneously if the training institution's conditions permit.

Students can register for the second program at the earliest when they have been placed in the second year of the first program, and at the time of registration, students must meet one of the following conditions:

- Have good GPA or higher and meet admission requirements of the second program in the admission year;

- Have average GPA and meet admission requirements of the second program in the admission year.