Duties and Organizational Structure of the Ministry of Education and Training

The Ministry of Education and Training is an agency of the Government of Vietnam, performing state management functions for early childhood education, primary and secondary education, teacher training colleges, teacher training universities, higher education, and other educational institutions regarding: Educational goals, programs, and content; examination regulations, admissions, and degrees, certificates; development of teachers and education management staff; school facilities and equipment; ensuring quality, educational quality accreditation; state management of public service activities within the scope of the Ministry's state management.

The Ministry of Education and Training performs duties and powers as prescribed in Decree 123/2016/ND-CP dated September 1, 2016, of the Government of Vietnam, defining the functions, duties, powers, and organizational structure of ministries and ministerial-level agencies.

The Ministry is tasked with defining the minimum amount of knowledge and the competency requirements that learners must achieve upon graduation from teacher training colleges, teacher training universities, undergraduate programs, master's programs, doctorates; the process of developing, appraising, and issuing training programs at the levels of teacher training colleges, teacher training universities, undergraduate programs, master's programs, doctorates; mandatory subjects in training programs for foreign-invested higher education institutions.

Regarding textbooks, materials, and documents, the Ministry of Education and Training prescribes the compilation, appraisal, and approval of materials allowed for use; guides the selection of materials in early childhood education institutions; sets standards and processes for compiling and revising textbooks; prescribes the duties, powers, operational methods, standards, number, and structure of members of the National Textbook Appraisal Council; issues criteria for evaluating textbooks and approves textbooks permitted for use based on the appraisal results of the National Textbook Appraisal Council; guides the selection of textbooks in primary and secondary education institutions.

It prescribes the organization, selection, appraisal, approval, and use of teaching materials and curricula for teacher training colleges, teacher training universities, undergraduate programs, master's programs, doctorates; organizes the compilation of political theory, defense, and security subjects to be unanimously used in teaching and learning materials for teacher training colleges, teacher training universities, undergraduate programs, master's programs, doctorates.

The Ministry of Education and Training also has the task of issuing national standards for educational institutions under the scope of the Ministry's state management according to the structure of the national education system and the Vietnam National Qualifications Framework; detailing the implementation of classifying and ranking research-oriented and application-oriented higher education institutions; setting minimum quality assurance conditions for implementing training programs.

Organizational Structure

The Ministry of Education and Training has 26 units, including: 1- Early Childhood Education Department; 2- Primary Education Department; 3- Secondary Education Department; 4- Higher Education Department; 5- Ethnic Education Department; 6- Continuous Education Department; 7- Defense and Security Education Department; 8- Political Education and Student Affairs Department; 9- Physical Education Department; 10- Personnel Organization Department; 11- Planning and Finance Department; 12- Department of Science, Technology, and Environment; 13- Legal Affairs Department; 14- Emulation and Reward Department; 15- Office; 16- Inspectorate; 17- Department of Quality Management; 18- Department of Teachers and Education Management Personnel; 19- Department of Information Technology; 20- Department of International Cooperation; 21- Department of Facilities; 22- Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences; 23- Academy of Educational Management; 24- Ho Chi Minh City Educational Management Training School; 25- Education and Times Newspaper; 26- Education Journal.

The units listed from 1 to 21 are divisions assisting the Minister in performing state management functions; the units listed from 22 to 26 are public service providers under the Ministry serving its state management functions.

Source: Vietnam Journalists Association

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