Newest regulations on conditions for graduation recognition and degree awarding in Vietnam

Newest regulations on conditions for graduation recognition and degree awarding in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. Guidance for academic performance assessment by semester and by year in Vietnam

- Students' academic performance is evaluated after each semester or academic year, based on the results of the subjects required by the training program that the student has taken, and graded according to the following criteria:

+ The total number of credits of the subjects that the student did not pass in a semester, an academic year, or has been in debt since the beginning of the study course;

+ The total number of credits of the subjects that the student has passed since the beginning of the study course (accumulated credits), including exempted subjects recognized for credits;

+ The average grade of the subjects that the student has taken in a semester (semester GPA), in an academic year (academic year GPA), or from the beginning of the study course (cumulative GPA), calculated according to the official grade of the subject and its credit weight.

- To calculate the GPA, the letter grades of the subjects are converted to numerical scores as shown below, except as specified in Section 4, Article 10 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT. Letter grades with more levels as regulated by the training institution (if any) are also converted to corresponding numerical scores on a 0 to 4 scale.

A converted to 4;

B converted to 3;

C converted to 2;

D converted to 1;

F converted to 0.

- Letter grades not stipulated in Section 2, Article 10 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT are not included in semester, academic year, or cumulative GPAs. Subjects not required by the training program are not included in the criteria for evaluating the student's academic performance.

- Training institutions using a 10-point scale compute GPAs based on the 10-point scale grades, without converting letter grades to the 4-point scale. In this case, the institution’s regulations specify specific measures to process academic results to be equivalent and replace the provisions of Article 12 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT.

- Students are classified academically based on semester GPA, academic year GPA, or cumulative 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.

- Students are classified by academic year level based on accumulated credits from the start of the course (N) and the average number of credits per academic year according to the standard study plan (M). Specifically:

+ First-year level: N < M;

+ Second-year level: M ≤ N < 2M;

+ Third-year level: 2M ≤ N < 3M;

+ Fourth-year level: 3M ≤ N < 4M;

+ Fifth-year level: 4M ≤ N < 5M.

(According to Article 10 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT)

2. Newest regulations on conditions for graduation recognition and degree awarding in Vietnam

According to Article 14 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT, a student is eligible for graduation recognition if the following conditions are met:

- Accumulate required subjects, credits, and complete other mandatory content as per the training program requirements, and meet the program's output standards;

- The cumulative GPA of the entire study course is at least average;

- At the time of graduation evaluation, the student must not be under criminal prosecution or disciplinary action involving suspension.

3. Regulations on graduation recognition and degree awarding in Vietnam

According to Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Article 14 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT, the regulations on graduation recognition and degree awarding in Vietnam are as follows:

- Students who meet graduation requirements will have their graduation recognized and degrees awarded by the head of the training institution within 03 months from the time the student meets all graduation conditions and fulfills obligations to the institution.

- The graduation classification is based on the cumulative GPA as stipulated in Section 5, Article 10 of the Regulation issued with Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDDT. The graduation classification for students with excellent and good GPAs will be downgraded by one level if they fall into one of the following cases:

+ The credit load of the subjects to be retaken exceeds 5% of the total credits required for the entire program;

+ The student has been disciplined from warning level upwards during the study period.

- Students who have exceeded the maximum study period but have not met the graduation requirements due to incomplete National Defense and Security Education or Physical Education courses, or not meeting the output standards for foreign language and information technology, have up to 03 years from the time they cease studying to complete these requirements and request graduation recognition.

- Students not graduating are issued a certificate for the accumulated subjects within the institution's training program.

- The institution’s regulations stipulate:

+ The process, procedure for graduation assessment and recognition, timing, and the number of graduation assessments per year;

+ The reservation, recognition of accumulated academic results for students not graduating;

+ Allowing students who have exceeded the official study time to transition to part-time or distance learning formats (if available) provided they are still within the study period stipulated for the transferred education format.

To Quoc Trinh

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