What are the general conditions for opening an undergraduate training program in Vietnam?

What are the general conditions for opening an undergraduate training program in Vietnam?

According to the regulations in Article 3 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT, the general conditions for a higher education institution to open an undergraduate training program include:

(1) Regarding the training field and the level of training intended to be opened

- Suitability with the human resource needs for the socio-economic development of the locality, region, country, and the training field, ensuring international integration;

Ensuring compliance with the approved and published human resource development planning of the ministries, central authorities, and local authorities or the official report of the competent state authority (if any), in accordance with the functions, tasks, and development strategy of the training institution;

- It must be in the Statistical List of Training Fields (except in cases where there are separate regulations of the Government, the Prime Minister); the proposal to add new fields to the Statistical List of Training Fields is implemented according to the Circular stipulating the Statistical List of Training Fields of higher education.

(2) Regarding the faculty

- There must be enough faculty members in terms of quantity, ensuring quality to implement the training program (including full-time and visiting lecturers);

Meeting the requirements for the faculty as per the regulations on the standards of the training program for the level of training, field, group of training fields, and training field, in which visiting lecturers (calculated per academic year) may only take up a maximum of 30% of the teaching load in each component of the training program;

For training fields in the fields of Arts, visiting lecturers can take up to 40% of the teaching load in each component of the training program;

- For training fields of ethnic minority language teacher training, Vietnamese language, literature, and culture training, foreign language, literature, and culture training, Physical Education, sports training, training fields in the field of Arts shall be implemented as stipulated in point a, clause 2, Article 3 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT and the following regulations:

+ Lecturers with the title of People's Artist or People's Artisan or People's Teacher awarded by the State, simultaneously holding a master's degree in a field suitable with the intended opening training field, may replace a lecturer with a doctoral degree and are not required to be the chair lecturer building, organizing, and implementing the teaching of the training program;

Or holding a doctoral degree in a field suitable with the intended opening training field may replace a lecturer with an associate professor title and is not required to be the chair lecturer building, organizing, and implementing the teaching of the training program;

- For the training field of ethnic minority languages and cultures in Vietnam, a lecturer who is an ethnic minority person or someone knowledgeable about the language and culture of the relevant ethnic minority group, simultaneously holding a master's degree, may replace a lecturer with a doctoral degree and is not required to be the chair lecturer building, organizing, and implementing the teaching of the training program;

Or holding a doctoral degree, may replace a lecturer with an associate professor title and is not required to be the chair lecturer building, organizing, and implementing the teaching of the training program.

- For training fields in the field of Health, lecturers and practice instructors for subjects and courses related to medical examination and treatment must have a practicing certificate for medical examination and treatment, and have worked or are currently working directly at medical examination and treatment facilities qualified as practical training facilities in the field of health according to the Government's regulations on organizing practical training in health sector training.

(3) Regarding facilities

- There must be facilities, equipment, libraries, and textbooks that meet the requirements for teaching, studying, and research according to the requirements of the training program, meeting the physical facilities requirements according to the regulations of the training program standards in the field, group of training fields, and training fields, and the regulations in Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT;

- There must be enough classrooms, laboratories, practice rooms, experimental production facilities, information technology systems, learning support management systems, training management systems, and other necessary equipment to meet the requirements for teaching, studying, and scientific research according to the requirements of the training program, suitable for the training scale at each training level and;

There must be a plan for using classrooms, laboratories, practice rooms with specific areas and equipment for each laboratory, practice room, suitable with the number of students practicing and experimenting at each table and each piece of equipment in each laboratory, practice room, suitable with the training scale according to the requirements of the training program for each academic year;

- There must be training and practicing contracts with external practical training facilities suitable with the teaching, studying, and scientific research plans for the entire academic course;

Practical training facilities for training fields in the field of health must have a principle contract for practical training ensuring compliance with the Government's regulations on organizing practical training in health sector training;

- There must be traditional libraries and electronic libraries ensuring enough textbooks, materials supporting teaching, studying, and research for lecturers and learners;

There must be copyrights to access domestic databases on books and scientific journals related to the training field, meeting the requirements of the field and training level, suitable for the training scale;

From the academic year 2023 - 2024 onwards, it is mandatory for training institutions to have copyrights to access international databases on books and scientific journals related to the training field, meeting the requirements of the field and training level, suitable for the training scale;

- There must be a website posting all information required to be publicly disclosed according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and other relevant legal provisions.

- The training program of the proposed opening field must be built, appraised, and issued in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, meeting the standards of the training program in the field, group of training fields, and training fields, and suitable with the Vietnamese National Qualifications Framework.

- The training institution must already have a specialized unit at the faculty level or equivalent to manage the professional activities, lecturers, learners, and other management tasks for the intended opening training field.

- The training institution must meet the minimum requirements and conditions as per the current regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training to be ready to switch to online teaching, ensuring training quality according to the regulations.

- The school council must have a resolution approving the policy to open the training field at the training institution. In cases where the training institution has not yet formed a school council, there must be a document approving the policy to open the training field from the direct management agency of the training institution.

What are the general conditions for opening an undergraduate training program in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

What does the application for opening an undergraduate training program include?

According to Article 10 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT, the application for opening a training field includes:

- A document proposing the opening of the training field: summarizing the process of building the scheme, a report confirming the assurance of meeting all conditions prescribed to be allowed to open the training field and proposing the competent authority to decide.

- The scheme to open the training field that has been appraised according to the regulations in Article 9 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT, ensuring all contents in accordance with Article 8 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT.

- The Official Dispatch of the university approving the policy (for member units of the university when opening training fields in the field of Health and the group of Teacher training fields).

Who has the authority to appraise the proposal to open undergraduate training programs in Vietnam?

According to clause 1, Article 9 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BGDDT, it is stipulated as follows:

Appraisal of the scheme for opening a training field

1. The Scientific and Training Council organizes the appraisal of the scheme for opening the training field, in which the Appraisal Council must consider and evaluate the actual conditions of the training institution based on the regulations in this Circular, the regulations of the training institution, and the current legal regulations, evaluating the level of meeting the requirements for conditions to be allowed to open the field for each specific content of the scheme, including appraising the conditions regarding the name of the training field, the training program, the faculty, facilities, readiness for online teaching, and the management organization for the proposed opening training field.

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Thus, the Scientific and Training Council has the authority to appraise the scheme for opening an undergraduate training program.