Vietnam: How are university students who use fake certificates for graduation recognition disciplined?

How are university students who use fake certificates for graduation recognition disciplined?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 20 of the Regulation on undergraduate education issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam:

Handling of violations committed by students

1. Students committing fraud in examinations and academic performance assessments shall be subject to disciplinary actions for each unit of study where they commit fraud according to regulations of the applicable regulation on high school graduation exam promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training, unless otherwise provided for in Clause 2 herein.

2. Students sitting exams for other people or asking other people to sit their exams shall be suspended from study for 01 year if they commit this violation for the first time and forced to leave school if they commit this violation for the second time.

3. Students using forged documents, degrees or certificates to apply for admission or graduation shall be forced to leave school; and any graduation degree awarded shall be confiscated and disposed of.

Thus, in cases where students use fake certificates to graduate, they will be dismissed. If a graduation diploma has already been issued, it will be revoked and annulled.

How are university students who use fake certificates for graduation recognition disciplined? (Image from the Internet)

How are regulations on graduation recognition and degree awarding?

According to Article 14 of the Regulation on undergraduate education issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT, regulations on graduation recognition and degree awarding are as follows:

- Conditions for graduation consideration and recognition:

+ The student has accumulated sufficient units of study and credits and completed other compulsory contents required by the training program and achieved the expected learning outcomes of the training program;

+ The student has average GPA or higher for the whole course;

+ At the time of graduation consideration, the student is not facing a criminal prosecution or suspended from study.

- Principals shall issue graduation recognition decisions and award degrees to students eligible for graduation within 03 months starting from the time where the students become eligible and have fulfilled all obligations with their training institutions.

- Degree classification shall be determined based on GPA of the whole course according to regulations in Clause 5 Article 10 of this Regulation, in which, the degree classification of students with excellent and very good GPAs will be lowered by half in any of the following cases:

+ Retaken units of study exceed more than 5% of total credits required for the whole program;

+ The student received a warning or a more severe penalty when they attended the program.

- For students whose study time has exceeded the maximum permitted limit, if they are not yet eligible for graduation due to incomplete national defense - security or physical education unit of study or failure to meet foreign language or information technology standard, within 03 years after they complete their study, they may fulfill the missing requirements and apply for graduation.

- Students not graduating may be awarded certificates of units of study accumulated throughout the training program of the training institution.

* Training institution regulations shall provide for the following matters:

- Procedures for graduation consideration and recognition, graduation consideration timeline in a year;

- Retention and recognition of accumulated study results of students not graduating;

- Permission for students whose full-time study time have expired to transfer to the corresponding part-time or remote study (if any) provided by the training institution if they have not exceeded the permitted study time limit for the latter mode of study according to regulations.

Who have the competence in issuance of degrees and certificates?

According to Article 15 of the Regulation on management of lower secondary diplomas, upper secondary diplomas, Level 4 of VQF diplomas in teacher training, Level 5 of VQF advanced diplomas in teacher training, higher education degrees and certificates of the national educational system issued together with Circular 21/2019/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam:

Competence in issuance of degrees and certificates

1. Competence in issuance of degrees and certificates:

a) Lower secondary diplomas shall be issued by heads of Bureaus of Education and Training;

b) Upper secondary diplomas shall be issued by heads of Departments of Education and Training;

c) Level 4 of VQF diplomas in teacher training and Level 5 of VQF advanced diplomas in teacher training shall be issued by heads of pedagogical institutions or heads of higher education institutions providing pedagogical training;

d) Higher education degrees shall be issued by university directors, university principals, academy directors and heads of scientific research institutes permitted to provide training and issue degrees appropriate to such training;

dd) University directors shall grant higher education degrees to learners of affiliated training and research units (excluding member universities).

2. Heads of Departments of Education and Training and heads of educational institutions shall grant certificates to learners according to regulations.

Thus, the university president or the president of the university, or the director of the academy has the authority to issue graduation diplomas to university students.