Vietnam: Who has the power to issue upper secondary diplomas?

Who has the power to issue upper secondary diplomas in Vietnam?

Based on point b, clause 1, Article 15 of the Regulation on the 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 in Vietnam (hereafter referred to as the Regulation) promulgated together with Circular 21/2019/TT-BGDDT:

Power to issue diplomas and certificates

1. The power to issue diplomas is prescribed as follows:

a) Lower secondary school diplomas are issued by the head of the Department of Education and Training;

b) upper secondary diplomas are issued by the Directors of the Departments of Education and Training;

c) Vocational secondary diplomas, college degrees are issued by the head of the teacher training institution or the head of the higher education institution that has a teacher training program;

d) University degrees are issued by the university president, university rector, institute director, or the research institute director authorized to train and grant degrees at corresponding levels;

dd) University presidents grant university degrees to students of affiliated training, research units (except for member universities).

2. The Director of the Department of Education and Training, and the head of the education and training institution, shall issue certificates to learners per regulations.

Thus, the Directors of the Departments of Education and Training will issue issue upper secondary diplomas in Vietnam.

Who has the power to issue upper secondary diplomas in Vietnam? (Image from Internet)

Shall the upper secondary diploma in Vietnam be reissued in case of loss?

Under clause 2, Article 2 of the Regulation promulgated together with Circular 21/2019/TT-BGDDT on the principles of management, the issuance of diplomas and certificates:

Rules for management and issuance of degrees and certificates

1. Degrees and certificates shall be under uniform management; Departments of Education and Training shall be assigned management tasks, and pedagogical institutions and higher education institutions may exercise autonomy and shall take responsibility for their own actions according to regulations in Article 3 herein.

2. A degree or certificate shall be issued only once, excluding the cases prescribed in Article 18 herein.

3. All acts of fraudulence in issuance and use of certificates and degrees are prohibited.

4. Degrees and certificates shall be issued with transparency.

Article 18 of the Regulation promulgated together with Circular 21/2019/TT-BGDDT stipulates as follows:

Reissuance of degrees and certificates

1. If an issued degree or certificate is found to have been wrongly written by the issuing authority, the issuing authority shall reissue the authentic copy of the degree or certificate.

2. Heads of the issuing authorities specified in Article 15 herein have the power to reissue degrees and certificates.

3. Procedures for reissuance of degrees and certificates:

a) The person who requests a degree or certificate be reissued shall submit an application in person or by post to the authority with competence in reissuing the degree or certificate. The application shall consist of a letter of application for reissuance; the degree or certificate to be reissued; and documentary evidences proving the degree or certificate was incorrectly written by the issuing authority;

b) Within 05 working days from the date of receipt of the valid application, the authority with competence in reissuing the degree or certificate (“reissuing authority”) shall decide on reissuance of such degree or certificate, and send a written explanation to the applicant if the application is rejected;

c) If the specimen of the issued degree or certificate is no longer in use, the reissuing authority shall use the applicable specimen to reissue the degree or certificate.

Therefore, upper secondary diplomas are only reissued in case of the fault of the issuing authority.

Thus, the upper secondary diploma in Vietnam shall not be reissued in case of loss.

Do copies of upper secondary diplomas in Vietnam have the same legal value as the original?

Based on Article 28 of the Regulation promulgated together with Circular 21/2019/TT-BGDDT stipulates the legal value of copies of diplomas as follows:

Legal value of copies of degrees and certificates based on master registers

1. Copies of degrees and certificates based on master registers may be used in place of authentic copies in transactions unless otherwise provided for by law.

2. If there is any evidence proving that a copy of a degree or certificate is forged or invalid, the regulatory body or organization receiving the copy shall request the person possessing the copy to present the authentic copy for comparison or verification.

Thus, copies of upper secondary diplomas have the same legal value as the original in some transactions, except as otherwise provided by law.