Regulations on foreign-invested educational institutions in Vietnam

Decree No. 86/2018/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government has specified foreign-invested educational institutions as follows:

Forms: Permissible forms of foreign-invested educational institutions include:

- Short-term training institutions

- Pre-school educational institutions.

- Compulsory educational institutions (elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, universal schools).

- Higher educational institutions

- Branch campuses of foreign-invested higher education institutions in Vietnam.

Naming foreign-invested educational institutions

- The Foreign-invested educational institutions shall be established and operate in forms of schools and centers and shall be named as follows:

+ As for schools, their names shall follow this order: "Trường” (Kind of school), “Cấp học hoặc trình độ đào tạo” (Grade or level) and “Proper name”;

+ As for short-term training institutions, their names shall follow this order: "Trung tâm giáo dục hoặc đào tạo” (The educational or training center), "Ngành hoặc nhóm đào tạo chính" (Primary disciplines) and “Proper name”.

+ As for the branch campuses of the foreign-invested higher education institutions in Vietnam, their names shall follow this order: “Phân hiệu" (Campus of), "Tên cơ sở giáo dục đại học có vốn đầu tư nước ngoài" (Proper name of the foreign-invested higher education institution) and "Tại tỉnh/thành phố” (name of the province/city).

- The name of a foreign-invested educational institution shall not coincide or cause confusion with the name of a registered educational institution or the name of the enterprise that executes the investment project; shall not use the words or symbols that contradict the tradition, history, culture, ethics and customs of Vietnam.

- A foreign-invested educational institution shall have both Vietnamese and English names (or in another common foreign language) with the same contents as described above.

- The Minister of Education and Training shall consider and make a decision on naming a number of particular educational institutions.

Period of operation

The period of operation of a foreign-invested educational institution shall be no longer than 50 years from the date on which the certificate of investment registration is issued, but shall not exceed the renting period.

Procedures for approving the establishment

- The procedures for approving the establishment of short-term foreign-invested training institution shall be completed as follows:

+ Issue investment registration certificate.

+ Issue the license to provide education and post the decision on the licensing authority’s website.

- The procedures for approving the establishment of a pre-school educational institution and a compulsory educational institution as requested by a foreign diplomatic mission or an inter-government international organization shall be completed as follows:

+ Issue the establishment license.

+ Issue the license to provide education and post the decision on the licensing authority’s website.

- The procedures for approving the establishment of a pre-school educational institution, a compulsory educational institution and a foreign-invested higher education institution shall be completed as follows:

+ Issue the investment registration certificate

+ Issue the establishment certificate.

+ Issue the license to provide education and post the decision on the licensing authority’s website.

- The procedures for approving the establishment of a campus of foreign-invested educational institutions shall be completed as follows:

+ Issue the investment registration certificate.

+ Issue establishment certificate to the campus of foreign-invested educational institution.

+ Issue the license to provide education and post the decision on the licensing authority’s website.

View more at Decree No. 86/2018/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government effective from August 01, 2018.

-Thao Uyen-

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