In Vietnam, how many registered credits in an academic year does the full-time mode of study in a doctoral program require?

In Vietnam, how many registered credits in an academic year does the full-time mode of study in a doctoral program require?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 3 of Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT regarding the regulation on doctoral program admission and doctoral education issued by the Minister of Education and Training:

Article 3. Training duration and mode of study

1. Standard duration of a doctoral program shall range from 03 years (36 months) to 04 years (48 months) as decided by the training institution and this duration must be sufficient for the majority of research students to complete the program; each research student shall have a course-wide study and research plan that takes place within the whole standard program duration and is approved together with the research student recognition decision (made using the form in Appendix I).

2. Every research student may complete their programs no more than 01 year (12 months) sooner or later than their course-wise study and research plan but the total training duration shall not be longer than 06 years (72 months) starting from the entry into force of the research student recognition decision to the time where procedures for submitting their dissertation to their training institution are completed (before independent defense and establishment of the dissertation examination committee of their training institution).

3. Doctoral programs shall be provided in the full-time mode of study; research students must spend sufficient study and research time at their training institutions according to the approved plans; the full-time mode of study requires registering for 30 credits per year.

Therefore, according to the above regulation, the full-time mode of study requires registering for 30 credits per year in the doctoral program.

What are the eligibility requirements for applying to a doctoral program in Vietnam?

Under Article 7 of Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT on eligibility requirements:

1. General requirements for applicants:

- Hold a master's degree or bachelor's degree classified as good or higher in a suitable academic discipline or a qualification equivalent to level 7 of the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework in some special academic disciplines suitable for the field of the target doctoral program;

- Meet admission requirements of training program standards promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training and of the target doctoral program;

- Have research experience evidenced by a master’s thesis of a research-oriented training program; or a published scientific report or article; or working for at least 02 years (24 months) as a lecturer or researcher of a training institution or scientific and technological organization;

- Have a draft research outline and draft course-wise study and research plan.

2. Vietnamese applicants must meet foreign language requirements as evidenced by any of the following degrees and certificates:

- A bachelor’s degree or higher awarded by a foreign training institution, Vietnamese branch of a foreign training institution or Vietnamese training institution to learners of a full-time program taught in a foreign language;

- A bachelor’s degree in a foreign language awarded by a Vietnamese training institution;

- Any of the foreign language proficiency certificates mentioned in Appendix II of this Regulation that is unexpired on the application date or any other foreign language proficiency certificate equivalent to level 4 of the Vietnam's language proficiency framework announced by the Ministry of Education and Training.

3. Any foreign applicant who applies for a doctoral program taught in Vietnamese must have a Vietnamese proficiency certificate of level 4 of the Vietnam's language proficiency framework applicable to foreigners or higher and meet second foreign language requirements of the training institution, unless the applicant is a native speaker of the language used to teach the doctoral program.

4. Training institution regulations shall specify requirements for specialized qualification, language proficiency and work experience and other requirements for applicants according to the characteristics of each field of training, academic discipline and training program of the training institution based on the minimum requirements provided in this Article.

In Vietnam, how many registered credits in an academic year does the full-time mode of study in a doctoral program require? (Image from the Internet)

What are the regulations on the organization of training activities for a doctoral program in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 9 of Circular 18/2021/TT-BGDDT, the organization of training activities for a doctoral program in Vietnam is conducted as follows:

- Doctoral programs shall be provided in the full-time mode of study according to regulations in Clause 3 Article 3 of this Regulation at the main campus or a branch authorized to provide training activities of training institutions, excluding some survey, research, experimenting and online training activities that may take place off-campus according to training institution regulations.

- Training institutions may hold discussions about teaching of shared units of study and mutual recognition of research results.

- Training institutions may organize classes and assessment of units of study online or online in combination with offline when they meet existing requirements for application of information technology in online training management and organization; and have solutions to ensure that the quality of these classes is not lower than that of offline classes.

- Assessment and scoring of units of study of doctoral programs may be carried out in compliance with regulations on assessment and scoring of units of study of undergraduate education regulation.

- Training institution regulations shall stipulate learning and research activities of research students; training times, locations and methods; methods for assessment and scoring of units of study and other relevant regulations concerning organization of doctoral program provision.