Minimum Requirements for Implementing Distance Education Programs in Vietnam

1. The distance education system of the higher education institution in Vietnam has been fully established, in accordance with the selected distance education method.

2. The implementation of the distance education program in Vietnam must be defined in the mission, vision, orientation, and development plan of the higher education institution, and such implementation must be resolved by the University Council, School Council, or Board of Directors. Higher education institutions are allowed to implement distance education programs at the undergraduate level for disciplines that have been approved to open regular undergraduate training disciplines.

3. The distance education program in Vietnam has been fully developed, with a full-course training plan and detailed syllabus for each module that meets the program’s training requirements and is consistent with the distance education method. In the same training discipline, the content of the distance education program is the same as the training program in regular education format.

4. The organization and management system of the distance education activities in Vietnam ensures the management, supervision of the teaching process, learning, exams, assessments, and degree issuance. There must be a testing unit with a comprehensive test question bank and an independent testing process.

5. The distance education regulations of the higher education institution in Vietnam ensure compliance with this Regulation and other related legal provisions.

6. The team of lecturers, learning support staff, and management staff possess adequate knowledge and have been trained in skills and methods for distance teaching and management.

7. Adequate infrastructure, equipment, library, and learning materials are ensured for the implementation of distance education in Vietnam:

- There must be technical rooms with sufficient area to install the equipment of the distance education system; there must be working rooms with enough area for the activities of management staff and lecturers;

- All necessary equipment for the distance education method must be provided;

- There must be a technical system supporting the distance education process that ensures: providing information related to distance education; storing and transmitting the content of the distance education program to learners; supervising, managing, and assessing learners during the learning process; storing and securing information about learning, learning participation process, and personal records of learners; connecting information between learners, lecturers, and management staff through the information technology system;

- There must be a system of testing and assessment that ensures the evaluation of the learning process or end-of-module, subject assessment fits the distance education method; controls and authenticates the learning, test taking, exams, and execution of assigned tasks in the learners' study program; correctly evaluates learners' study results;

- The electronic information page must be regularly updated, publicly announcing educational quality commitments, disclosing quality assurance conditions, tuition fees, and other charges from learners;

- There must be a library, electronic library with sufficient books, textbooks, reference materials, and specialized electronic databases to provide and support learners' study and research;

- There must be a unit for producing distance education learning materials. Sufficient primary and supplementary learning materials suitable for the distance education method must be provided for two-thirds of the modules in the first years of the distance education program, with a plan to build and develop learning materials for the remaining modules.

8. There must be an information technology application system to manage all information online for the entire process of enrollment, training, testing, graduation consideration, and degree issuance of each learner.

9. Compliance with current regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training regarding information technology application in management and organization of online training is ensured if the higher education institution selects the Computer Network method.

Refer to Circular 10/2017/TT-BGDDT, effective from June 5, 2017.

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