What are the conditions for public higher education institutions in Vietnam to autonomously determine the tuition fees?

What is tuition according to the law in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 3 of Decree 81/2021/ND-CP:

Term interpretation

1. “service fees in education and training sector” refers to the money paid by service users for each service in education, training, and vocational education sectors, including: tuition fees (depending on education and training level) and fees for other services in education and training sectors (fees for enrolment service, fees for education quality control service; fees for issuance of degree, certificate templates; fees for education support and human resource supply service via researching and developing strategies, planning, schemes for human resource training; fees for human resource demand investigation, analysis, and estimation services via connecting training facilities with employers to extract resources for human resource training; fees for teacher and education personnel improvement service; fees for consulting service for organizations and individuals to develop plans and schemes for human resource development and development of necessary skills for learners; fees for education and training support services).

2. “tuition” refers to the amount of money paid by the learners to cover fees of education and training services in part or in whole. Tuition amount shall be determined according to roadmap for guaranteeing education and training service according to this Decree.

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Thus, tuition refers to the amount of money paid by the learners to cover fees of education and training services in part or in whole.

What is tuition according to the law in Vietnam? What are the conditions for public higher education institutions in Vietnam to autonomously determine the tuition fees? (Image from the Internet)

What are the conditions for public higher education institutions in Vietnam to autonomously determine the tuition fees?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 65 of the Higher Education Law 2012 (amended by Clause 33, Article 1 of the Amended Higher Education Law 2018):

Tuition Fees and Other Service Charges

1. Tuition is the amount of money that learners must pay to higher education institutions to cover part or all of the training costs.

2. Public higher education institutions determine tuition fees as follows:

a) Higher education institutions that meet the conditions stipulated in Clause 2, Article 32 of this Law and fully cover regular expenses are autonomously determine tuition fees;

b) Higher education institutions that do not meet the conditions stipulated in Point a of this Clause determine tuition fees according to the regulations of the Government of Vietnam;

c) The determination of tuition fees must be based on economic-technical norms according to a roadmap ensuring accurate and sufficient training costs.

As such, public higher education institutions are allowed to autonomously determine tuition fees if they meet the following conditions:

- Meet the conditions for implementation of self-management. To be specific:

+ Have established the university council; have been recognized to meet the standards of a higher education institution by a legitimate educational quality accreditation organization;

+ Have issued and implemented regulations on organization and operation; financial regulations; other internal management regulations, procedures, and policies ensuring the quality standards set by the State;

+ Decentralize self-management and accountability to each unit and individual within the higher education institution;

+ Publicize the conditions ensuring quality, accreditation results, graduation employment rates, and other information as required by law.

- Fully cover regular expenses.

What are the principles for determining tuition fees for public higher education institutions in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 8 of Decree 81/2021/ND-CP, the principles for determining tuition fees for public higher education institutions are as follows:

- Public higher education institutions partially covering their own recurrent expenditures and public higher education institutions fully funded by the State (referred to as public higher education institutions not fully covering their recurrent expenditures) determine tuition fees not exceeding the tuition ceiling stipulated in Points a, Clause 1 and Points a, Clause 2, Article 11 of Decree 81/2021/ND-CP;

- Public higher education institutions fully covering recurrent and investment expenses, public higher education institutions fully covering recurrent expenses determine the tuition fee level for each sector according to an adjustment coefficient compared to the tuition ceiling stipulated for public higher education institutions not fully covering recurrent expenses according to regulations in Clause 2, Article 11 of Decree 81/2021/ND-CP;

- For training programs of public higher education institutions achieving quality accreditation standards as set by the Ministry of Education and Training, or meeting equivalent foreign training program accreditation standards, higher education institutions are allowed to autonomously determine the tuition fees for that program based on the economic-technical norms issued by the institution, and transparently explain to learners and society.