05 new points on enrollment and training of Master's programs in Vietnam from October 15, 2021

05 new points on enrollment and training of Master's programs in Vietnam from October 15, 2021 (Internet image)

1. Eligibility for enrolment in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 23/2021, applicants for master's programs must meet the following requirements:

- Having graduated or eligible for recognition as university graduates (or equivalent or higher) in appropriate majors; in case of research orientation programs, graduating in good category or higher or making scientific publication in major that learners will study and/or conduct research;  

- Obtaining level 3 foreign language proficiency according to Foreign Language Proficiency consisting of 6 levels in Vietnam;

- Satisfying other requirements of standard training programs issued by Ministry of Education and Training and requirements of training programs.

Previously, Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDĐT did not have specific regulations on graduation grade or foreign language proficiency for applicants to the master's program.

2. Amendments to the method, form and number of enrollments in Vietnam

*In Article 6 of Circular 23/2021, enrolment shall be organized one or multiple times in a year when education institutions satisfy quality assurance requirements for master training programs as per applicable provisions.

Thus, the new regulation allows schools to organize enrollment once or more times a year without limiting enrollment to a maximum of 2 times per year as previously prescribed (Clause 2, Article 4 of Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDĐT)

* Regarding the enrollment method, according to Clause 2, Article 6 of Circular 23/2021, methods of enrolment shall be decided by education institutions, including examination, consideration, or a combination of both. Compared with the previous regulations, the method of enrollment for master's degree training includes: entrance examination for Vietnamese and admission for foreigners who wish to study for a master's degree in Vietnam (Clause 1, Article 4 of Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDĐT). This change shows the assignment of autonomy to schools in choosing enrollment methods.

* Regarding enrollment form, Clause 2, Article 6 of Circular 23/2021 stipulates:

Education institutions may organize online enrolment when satisfying quality assurance requirements to guarantee reliable and fair assessment results.

(Currently, Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDĐT does not mention online enrollment).

Thus, according to the new regulations, schools are allowed to enroll students in the online form when they meet quality assurance conditions so that the assessment results are as reliable and fair as for direct enrollment. This form helps the enrollment process not be interrupted due to the impact of the epidemic and other force majeure issues.

In addition, Circular 23/2021 also adds regulations on online training methods to help schools deal with difficulties in training when there is an epidemic, natural disaster or other force majeure circumstances. As follows:

- Education institutions may organize online classes with workload not exceeding 30% of workload of training program after satisfying applicable regulations on application of information technology in management and organization of online training; and guaranteeing quality no lower than physical classes.

- Online assessment shall be conducted once credibility, fairness, and transparency are guaranteed similar to regular assessment and contribute no more than 50% of weighing factor of scores of units of study, except for thesis and graduating units of study which shall conform to Article 9 and Article 11 of Circular 23/2021.

- In case of natural disasters, epidemic, and other force majeure, education institutions shall provide training and conduct online assessment for units of study according to guidelines of Ministry of Education and training.

3. Regulations on cknowledgement of learning results and credit conversion in Vietnam

According to Article 4 of Circular 23/2021, Learners shall be considered for credit acknowledgement and conversion for certain units of study when they have taken part in another master training program or have graduated a specialized training program according to Article14 of Decree 99/2019/ND-CP. Number of credits acknowledged and converted must not exceed 30 credits.

In addition, students who are pursuing university-level education program (or equivalent or higher) and have good or higher grade point average and other requirements prescribed by education institutions may register to take certain units of study of master training program in advance in the same education institutions. Number of credits acknowledged must not exceed 15 credits.

This is also a new point compared to the past, in order to connect between higher education levels, both saving time for students with outstanding academic achievements and creating favorable conditions for students to study abroad.

To develop training programs at all levels of higher education in connection with the master's level.

4. Specific regulations ontraining location, timetable and amount of credits in Vietnam

* Training location

Clause 1, Article 7 of Circular 23/2021 stipulates that the training location shall be the head offices or branch offices of education institutions; practices, internship, research, and field trips shall be organized outside of education institutions without exceeding 20% of workload of training program. 

For health majors, organization of training activities in practice facilities shall conform to regulations of the Government, satisfy requirements of training program, and must be clarified in teaching plans.

Previously, Circular 15/2014/TT-BGDĐT only stipulates that the training location is the headquarters of a training institution that is inspected and certified by a competent authority. In case of necessity, for application-oriented master's programs, the Minister of Education and Training allows or decides to organize part of the program outside the training institution, including at the branch of the training institution (if any).

* Timetable

Clause 4, Article 7 of Circular 23/2021 clearly states that the teaching plans for units of study in training programs shall be distributed evenly in weeks of a semester.

In case study schedule is to be more densely packed, number of lecturing hours for each unit of study must not exceed 15 hours per week and 4 hours per day.

* Amount of credits

Clause 5, Article 7 of Circular 23/2021 clearly states that the education institutions shall regulate procedures for study registration for learners to register at the beginning of each semester for each training program, maximum and minimum credits in each semester that learners are allowed to register while keeping the maximum credit in a school year does not exceed 45 credits in case of formal format and 30 credits in case of part-time degree.  

5. To raise the output standard of foreign language proficiency

Before, Circular 15/2014 stipulating the output standards for foreign languages at the master's level shall be prescribed by the head of the training institution at the request of the scientific training council but must be at least level 3/6 or higher according to the 6-level Foreign Language Competency Framework for Vietnam or equivalent,

However, according to the new regulations, students must reach a level equivalent to Level 4 according to the 6-level Foreign Language Competency Framework for Vietnam or equivalent.

Thus, from October 15, 2021, the minimum output standard of foreign language proficiency for master's students has been raised one level.

This Circular takes effect from October 15, 2021 and applies to courses matriculated from that time.

Bao Ngoc

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