Regulations on academic performance assessment of universities in Vietnam

Regulations on academic performance assessment of universities in Vietnam

1. Academic performance assessment by units of study in Vietnam

For each unit of study, students shall be assessed via at least two component grades; for units of study equivalent to less than 02 credits, students may be assessed via one grade. Component grades shall be calculated on a 10-point scale. 

Assessment methods and grade weighting shall be provided for in the detailed outline of each unit of study. 

Online assessment may be employed if it is as honest, fair and impartial as direct assessment and shall contribute no more than 50% to total weighted grade of the unit of study; 

Online defense and assessment of graduate projects and graduate papers may have higher weight under the following conditions:

- A specialized council with at least 3 members shall take charge of the assessment;

- The council members and student agree to carry out the defense and assessment online;

- The online defense session is fully video and audio recorded and archived.

Students absent from an exam or assessment without legitimate reason shall receive a score of 0. Students absent for a legitimate reason may take the exam or assessment at another time and have the score recorded for the first time.

The grade of a unit of study shall be the total of all component grades multiplied by their corresponding weights, rounded to 1 decimal place and assigned a letter grade as follows, unless otherwise provided for in Point d Clause 2 Article 9 of the Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT

- Level-based pass grades applicable to units of study counted towards the average grade include:

A: from 8,5 to 10,0;

B: from 7,0 to 8,4;

C: from 5,5 to 6,9;

D: from 4,0 to 5,4.

- Non-level-based pass grade applicable to units of study not counted towards the average grade:

P: at least 5,0.

- Fail grade:

F: under 4,0.

- Some special cases of letter grades not counted towards the average grade:

I: incomplete grade due to permitted exam deferment;

X: incomplete grade due to insufficient data;

R: grade of unit of study which the student is exempt from taking and the credit(s) of which is/are recognized.

(Article 9 of the Regulation issued together with the Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT)

2. Academic performance assessment by semester and by year in Vietnam

As prescribed in Clause 1, Article 10 of the Regulation issued together with the Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT, students’ academic performance shall be assessed at the end of each semester or academic year based on:

- Total credits of units of study that the student fails in the semester or academic year or since the beginning of the course;

- Total credits of units of study that the students pass since the beginning of the course (number of accumulated credits), including exempted units of study;

- Average grade of units of study that the student has attended in the semester (semester average grade) or academic year (academic year average grade) or since the beginning of the course (GPA) calculated based on official grades of the units with the weight being the number of credits of each unit.

Then, to calculate average grades, letter grades of units of study shall be converted to numerical grades as follows:

A is equivalent to 4;

B is equivalent to 3;

C is equivalent to 2;

D is equivalent to 1;

F is equivalent to 0.

(Unless otherwise provided for in Clause 4 Article 10 of the Regulation issued together with the Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT)

Letter grades not provided as above shall not be counted towards the semester average grade, academic year average grade or GPA. Units of study not required by the training program shall not be counted towards fulfillment of criteria for assessment of student academic performance.

Training institutions using the year-based training system and 10-point scale shall calculate average grades based on grades of units of study on the 10-point scale and not converted letter grades to the 4-point scale.

In this case, training institution regulations shall provide regulations on handling of academic performance equivalent to and substituting regulations in Article 12 of the Regulation issued together with the Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT.

Student academic performance shall be classified based on the semester average grade, academic year average grade or GPA as follows:

- On the 4-point scale:

+ From 3,6 to 4,0: excellent;

+ From 3,2 to under 3,6: very good;

+ From 2,5 to under 3,2: good;

+ From 2,0 to under 2,5: average;

+ From 1,0 to under 2,0: poor;

+ Under 1,0: very poor.

- On the 10-point scale:

+ From 9,0 to 10,0: excellent;

+ From 8,0 to under 9,0: very good;

+ From 7,0 to under 8,0: good;

+ From 5,0 to under 7,0: average;

+ From 4,0 to under 5,0: poor;

+ Under 4,0: very poor.

(Clause 5 Article 10 of the Regulation issued together with Vietnam's Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT)

Thanh Rin

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