What are units of study of undergraduate education according to the law in Vietnam? Are units of study in Vietnam determined credits?

What are units of study of undergraduate education according to the law in Vietnam?

Based on Clause 1, Article 2 of the regulation on undergraduate education issued together with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT, it is defined that "Training programs shall be developed using the credit system and comprise subjects or units of study (hereinafter collectively referred to as “units of study”), which must include all mandatory units of study and meet training program standards according to existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. Training programs of dual-degree programs and major/minor degree programs must specify the total academic load and academic load of each degree."

According to Clause 2, Article 3 of the regulation on undergraduate education issued together with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT:

- Credit-based training is a method for training organization where units of study are organized into classes as appropriate to the teaching plan of the training institution, allowing students to accumulate credits of each unit of study and take the training program following their individual learning plans;

- Students failing a mandatory unit of study shall retake that unit of study or take an equivalent unit of study according to regulations of the training program or a substituting unit of study if the unit of study that they fail is no longer taught;

- Students failing an elective unit of study shall retake that unit of study or take another elective unit of study according to regulations of the training program.

Training institutions shall select and adopt credit-based training as follows:

- Adopt credit-based training for all cohorts and modes of study in a consistent manner;

- Adopt credit-based training for some cohorts or one mode of study.

Thus, an unit of study is the smallest unit in the training program at higher education institutions. An unit of study represents a certain amount of knowledge, corresponding to a subject or a part of a subject. Each unit of study typically lasts for one semester and is evaluated by a certain number of credits.

What are units of study of undergraduate education according to the law in Vietnam? Are units of study in Vietnam determined credits?​ (Image from Internet)

Are units of study in Vietnam determined credits?

Based on Clause 2, Article 7 of Circular 17/2021/TT-BGDDT regulating the study load:

Study Load

1. The study load of the training program, of each component, or of each course unit in the training program is determined by the number of credits.

a) One credit is equivalent to 50 standard study hours including class attendance, guided study hours, self-study, research, practice, and assessments;

b) For classroom teaching activities, one credit requires a minimum of 15 teaching hours or 30 hours of practice, laboratory work, or discussions with one classroom hour calculated as 50 minutes.

2. The minimum study load for a training program must meet the requirements of the Vietnam National Qualifications Framework. Specifically:

a) Undergraduate program: 120 credits, plus physical education, national defense- security education in accordance with current regulations;

b) Specialized professional programs at level 7: 150 credits, plus physical education, national defense- security education in accordance with current regulations; or 30 credits for those with a bachelor’s degree in the same field;

c) Master’s program: 60 credits for those with a bachelor’s degree in the same field;

d) Doctoral program: 90 credits for those with a master’s degree, 120 credits for those with a bachelor’s degree in the same field.

3. The minimum study load for double major programs must include an additional 30 credits, and an additional 15 credits for major-minor programs compared to the corresponding single-major programs.

According to the above regulations, the study load of the training program, of each component, or of each unit of study in the training program is determined by the number of credits.

Thus, it implies that the undergraduate unit of study will be measured by the number of credits in the training program.

What are regulations on assessment and grade of units of study of undergraduate students in Vietnam?

Based on the regulations in Clause 1, Article 9 of the regulation on undergraduate education issued together with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT:

- For each course unit, students are assessed through at least two component scores, for course units with a load of less than 2 credits, only one assessment score may be required.

Component scores are assessed on a scale of 10. The evaluation method, form of assessment, and weight of each component score are specified in the detailed syllabus of each course unit.

The online assessment method is applied when it ensures honesty, fairness, and objectivity similar to direct assessment and contributes no more than 50% of the course unit’s total weight; for the organization of protection and evaluation of projects and theses, the online form can have a higher weight when the following conditions are met:

+ The assessment is conducted through a specialized committee with at least 3 members;

+ The online protection and evaluation form is agreed upon by committee members and learners;

+ The proceedings of the online protection are fully video and audio recorded and archived.

- Students who are absent from exams without valid reasons must receive a score of 0. Students with valid reasons are allowed to take the exam in another session, and their score will be counted as the first time.

- The course unit score is calculated from the total component scores multiplied by the corresponding weights, rounded to one decimal place, and graded according to the letter grades as follows, except in the cases stipulated in point d of this clause.

+ Pass grades, applied to course units counted in the grade point average (GPA), include:

A: from 8.5 to 10.0;

B: from 7.0 to 8.4;

C: from 5.5 to 6.9;

D: from 4.0 to 5.4.

+ Non-graded pass, applied to course units only requiring a pass, not counting in the GPA:

P: from 5.0 and above.

+ Fail grade:

F: below 4.0.

+ Some special cases use letter grades, not counted in the GPA:

I: Incomplete due to allowed exam postponement or assessment;

X: Incomplete due to insufficient data;

R: Exempted and recognized credits.

- Retaking, exams, and grade improvement:

+ Students with failing grades must register to retake the course unit according to the regulations in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 3 of these regulations, except as stipulated in point e of Clause 5; the final retake score is the official grade for the course unit;

+ Students with passing grades may register to retake to improve their grades according to the training institution's regulations.

- The regulations of the training institution stipulate:

+ The organization of evaluating the learning and experiential process of students, including laboratory work, practice, assignments, and presentation reports as components of the course unit;

+ The organization of exams and tests, including regulations on exam preparation time and exam duration, exam question creation, invigilation, grading, re-evaluation (if any), exam paper preservation, exam postponement, and exam exemption;

+ The organization of evaluating course units, projects, theses, internships, and other specific course units;

+ The requirement for a higher pass threshold than stipulated in point a of Clause 3; the application of more letter grades than specified in Clause 3;

+ Allowing retakes or re-evaluation of a component score to improve from a fail to a pass; in this case, the course unit score after retake or re-evaluation is limited to D or C;

+ Allowing retakes to improve grades and the official course unit score calculation rules when the retake grade is lower.

- The regulations of the training institution on evaluating and grading course units must comply with the following principles and requirements:

+ Seriousness, objectivity, reliability, and honesty;

+ Fairness to all students in class, between classes, courses, and training forms.