Vietnam: Regulations on master's thesis guidance and conditions for defense thereof

Vietnam: Regulations on master's thesis guidance and conditions for defense thereof (Illustrative Image)

Under the Master's Training Regulations issued together with Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDDT, master's thesis guidance and conditions for defense thereof in Vietnam are specified as follows:

1. Master’s Thesis Guidance in Vietnam:

- Each thesis has one or two instructors. In cases where there are two instructors, the decision to assign the thesis and appoint instructors must clearly state the primary and secondary instructors;

- A professor can supervise a maximum of 7 students; an academic with a Doctor of Science degree or an Associate Professor title can supervise a maximum of 5 students; a Ph.D. holder for at least 1 year can supervise a maximum of 3 students at the same time, including students from other training institutions;

- For application-oriented theses, the second instructor can be a master's degree holder in the same field of training with at least 15 years of practical experience relevant to the thesis topic; such instructors can oversee a maximum of 2 students at the same time, across all participating training institutions.

2. Conditions for Master’s Thesis Defense in Vietnam

Students must:

+ complete the training program, with an average score of 5.5 or above (on a 10-point scale) or a grade of C or above (on a letter grade scale);

+ achieve a foreign language proficiency level as determined by the head of the training institution upon the recommendation of the training scientific council, but at least level 3/6 according to the 6-level Foreign Language Competence Framework for Vietnam or equivalent (Appendix II);

+ submit a request for defense and a pledge of honor regarding the integrity of the research results, with confirmation from the instructor that the thesis meets the regulatory requirements;

+ not be under criminal prosecution and must not be under disciplinary suspension;

+ not be accused of scientific content violations in the thesis as per the law.

Details may be found in Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDDT effective from July 1, 2014.

Ty Na

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