When shall a higher education institution in Vietnam be suspended its distance education activities?

When shall a higher education institution in Vietnam be suspended its distance education activities?

Pursuant to Article 6 of the Regulation on distance education at higher education level issued together with Circular 28/2023/TT-BGDDT, a higher education institution is suspended from distance education activities when there is a conclusion from a competent authority about the training institution's violation in one of the following cases:

- Make autonomy decisions on distance education when one of the minimum requirements for distance education is not met as prescribed in Article 5 of this Regulation;

- Failure to maintain compliance with one of the minimum requirements for distance education delivery which affects the quality of training as prescribed in Article 5 of this Regulation;

- The training institution is suspended from operating the academic discipline with the distance education program.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Education and Training may impose a suspension of distance education activities for a duration of 6 months to 1 year on training institutions found by competent agencies to have violated Clause 1 of this Article which affects the training quality. The suspension decision must clearly define the reasons, scope, suspension duration, and public announcement on the means of mass media.

When shall a higher education institution in Vietnam be suspended its distance education activities?​ (Image from the Internet)

What are the minimum requirements for facilities and equipment for distance education of higher education institutions in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 8, Article 5 of the Regulation on distance education at higher education level issued together with Circular 28/2023/TT-BGDDT, the facilities and equipment for distance education of higher education institutions in Vietnam must meet the following minimum requirements:

- Having technical rooms spacious enough to install distance education equipment and staff rooms with enough space and providing necessary amenities for administrators, learning support staff, and lecturers;

- Having adequate necessary equipment, infrastructure, and software to serve distance education modes; and sufficient systems for management of admission, training, and degree awarding along with the full-time training management system;

- Having the technical systems used for delivering distance education:

+ Providing information related to the distance education; 

+ Storing and transmitting the contents of distance education programs to learners;

+ Supervising, managing, and assessing the learners through their learning process;

+ Storing and securing information on learning activities and student’s learning timeline and personal files in accordance with current legal regulations and training institution regulations on archives and information security;

+ Connecting information between learners, lecturers, and administrators through information technology systems;

What shall be done by a higher education institution to ensure quality assurance in distance education in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 12 of the Regulation on distance education at higher education level issued together with Circular 28/2023/TT-BGDDT:

Quality assurance in distance education

1. Training institutions shall initiate the following: internal inspection and supervision mechanism on teaching and learning activities, support for learners and exams, tests, and assessment of academic performance; get feedback from learners about their learning experience, quality of learning materials, effectiveness of teaching methods, perceived support from lecturers, support staff, software functions and get feedback from other stakeholders; procedures for handling suggestions, recommendations, and feedback from learners.

2. Carry out quality assessment of distance education programs, in specific:

a) As for a distance education program that has enrolled learners before the effective date of this Regulation, no later than 3 years from the effective date of this Regulation, the training institution must carry out quality assessment of the distance education program that had a graduation course;

b) As for a distance education program that has enrolled learners before the effective date of this Regulation but have not yet had a graduation course or has been approved after the effective date of this Regulation, the training institution must apply for quality assessment of distance education program in accordance with Clause 5, Article 33 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018).

3. Training institutions are not allowed to enroll learners in subsequent courses if they do not carry out program quality assessment in accordance with this Regulation or do not pass quality assessment of the distance education program.

Therefore, a higher education institution in Vietnam must ensure quality assurance in distance education in Vietnam:

- An internal mechanism for checking and monitoring the organization of teaching and learning activities, supporting learners, and testing, assessing learning outcomes;

- Collecting feedback from learners on the learning experience, quality of learning materials, effectiveness of teaching methods, perception of support from lecturers, support staff, software functions, and feedback from other stakeholders;

- Processing proposals, recommendations, and reflections from learners.

Higher education institutions conduct quality accreditation for distance education programs as follows:

- For distance education programs enrolled before this Regulation takes effect, no later than 3 years from the effective date of this Regulation, the training institution must carry out quality accreditation for distance education programs that have graduated cohorts;

- For distance education programs enrolled before this Regulation takes effect but have no graduated cohorts or are approved after this Regulation takes effect, the training institution must register for quality accreditation of the distance education programs according to the provisions of Clause 5, Article 33 of Law on Higher Education 2012 (amended by Clause 18, Article 1 of Amended Law on Higher Education 2018).