Thông tư 08/2021/TT-BGDDT

CIRCULAR

PROMULUGATING REGULATION ON UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

Pursuant to the Education Law dated June 14, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Higher Education dated June 18, 2012;

Pursuant to the Law on Amendment to the Law on Higher Education dated November 19, 2018;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 69/2017/ND-CP dated May 25, 2017 on functions, duties, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 99/2019/ND-CP dated December 30, 2019 elaborating and providing guidelines for a number of Articles of the Law on Amendments to Law on Higher Education;

At the request of the Director General of Higher Education Department;

The Minister of Education and Training hereby promulgates a Circular promulgating regulation on undergraduate education.

Article 1. Promulgated together with this Circular are the regulation on undergraduate education (hereinafter referred to as “Regulation”).

Article 2. This Circular comes into force from May 03, 2021, is applicable to cohorts admitted after the entry into force of this Circular and supersedes Decision No. 25/2006/QD-BGDDT dated June 26, 2006 by the Minister of Education and Training on promulgation of regulation on formal undergraduate education; Decision No. 43/2007/QD-BGDDT dated August 15, 2007 by the Minister of Education and Training on promulgation of regulation on formal undergraduate education using academic credit system; Circular No. 57/2012/TT-BGDDT dated December 27, 2012 amending some Articles of regulation on formal undergraduate education using academic credit system promulgated together with Decision No. 43/2007/QD-BGDDT ; Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BGDDT dated March 15, 2017 by the Minister of Education and Training promulgating regulation on part-time undergraduate study; Decision No. 22/QD-BGDDT dated June 26, 2001 by the Minister of Education and Training providing for the training to award second university graduation diploma; Circular No. 10/2018/TT-BGDDT dated March 30, 2018 by the Minister of Education and Training promulgating regulations on training for second bachelor degrees and college degrees in teacher education; and Circular No. 07/2017/TT-BGDDT dated March 15, 2017 by the Minister of Education and Training promulgating regulations on joint undergraduate programs.

Article 3. Head of Office of the Ministry of Education and Training, Director General of Higher Education Department, heads of relevant affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training; presidents of parent universities and academies, university principals; heads of schools affiliated to state agencies, political organizations and socio-political organizations, and relevant organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular./.

REGULATION

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

(Promulgated together with Circular No. 08/2021/TT-BGDDT dated March 18, 2021 by the Minister of Education and Training)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. This Regulation provides for the organization and management of undergraduate education, including training programs and study duration; modes of study and methods for training organization; formulation of teaching plans and teaching organization; academic performance assessment and degree awarding; and other regulations applicable to students.

2. This Regulation is applicable to parent universities, academies, universities; and schools affiliated to state agencies, political organizations and socio-political organizations tasked with undergraduate education (hereinafter referred to as “training institutions”) and organizations and individuals involved in provision of full-time and part-time training programs. Training programs with foreign degrees, including joint training programs, may conform to this Regulation or regulations of the institutions awarding the degrees under joint training/ cooperation agreements between all parties but shall not go against regulations of this Regulation.

3. This Regulation shall provide the basis for presidents of parent universities and academies, university principals; and heads of schools affiliated to state agencies, political organizations and socio-political organizations (hereinafter collectively referred to as “principals”) and training institutions to formulate and promulgate documents providing specific provisions (hereinafter referred to as “training institution regulation”), including provisions on organization of undergraduate education and training programs for some special academic disciplines mentioned in Point a Clause 1 Article 14 of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2019/ND-CP dated December 30, 2019 elaborating and providing guidelines for a number of Articles of the Law on Amendments to Law on Higher Education.

Article 2. Training programs and study duration

1. Training programs shall be developed using the credit system and comprise subjects or units of study (hereinafter collectively referred to as “units of study”), which must include all mandatory units of study and meet training program standards according to existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. Training programs of dual-degree programs and major/minor degree programs must specify the total academic load and academic load of each degree.

2. Content and expected learning outcomes of a training program shall apply to all modes of study, methods for training organization and types of students. For those holding a qualification at a different level or in another major, the actual academic load shall be determined based on the recognition or transfer of accumulated credits and exemption from taking units of study already completed in the previous training program.

3. Training programs must be announced to students before admission and at the start of the course; changes relevant to training programs shall be made in accordance with existing regulations and announced before adoption so as not to affect students negatively.

4. Training programs shall have a standard learning plan for the whole program for each mode of study to provide orientations for students.

a) For full-time study, the study duration according to the standard learning plan for the whole training program must be appropriate to the duration provided for in the structural framework of the national education system and enable the majority of students to complete the training program;

b) For part-time study, the study duration according to the standard learning plan for the whole training program must be at least 20% longer than that of the full-time mode.

5. Maximum time limit for students to complete a course shall be stipulated in the training institution regulation but shall not be longer than twice the study duration according to the standard learning plan for the whole course for each mode of study. For students who take bridge programs and whose accumulated credits have been accounted for, maximum time limit for them to complete a course shall be determined by deducting the amount of study time corresponding to the completed academic load from the study duration according to the standard learning plan of the whole course.

Article 3. Methods for training organization

1. Year-based training:

a) Year-based training is a method for training organization where all mandatory units of study of the training program are organized into relatively fixed classes, allowing students of the same class to follow the standard learning plan and a common schedule, except for elective or retaken units of study;

b) Students with satisfactory study progress may advance to the next year according to the standard learning plan and shall retake failed units of study in compliance with regulations of the training program;

c) Students with unsatisfactory study progress shall retake failed units of study together with students of the next cohort in compliance with regulations of the training program.

2. Credit-based training:

a) Credit-based training is a method for training organization where units of study are organized into classes as appropriate to the teaching plan of the training institution, allowing students to accumulate credits of each unit of study and take the training program following their individual learning plans;

b) Students failing a mandatory unit of study shall retake that unit of study or take an equivalent unit of study according to regulations of the training program or a substituting unit of study if the unit of study that they fail is no longer taught;

c) Students failing an elective unit of study shall retake that unit of study or take another elective unit of study according to regulations of the training program.

3. Training institutions shall select and adopt methods for training organization as follows:

a) Adopt credit-based training for all cohorts and modes of study in a consistent manner;

b) Adopt year-based training for all cohorts and modes of study in a consistent manner;

c) Adopt credit-based training for some cohorts or one mode of study; and adopt year-based training for the other cohorts or mode of study.

Article 4. Modes of study

1. Full-time mode of study:

a) Teaching activities shall take place in training institutions, and practicals, internships, practical experiences and online teaching may be carried out outside of training institutions;

b) Teaching activities shall take place between 6 AM and 8 PM from Monday to Saturday; activities specific to training programs shall be organized according to regulations of training institutions.

2. Part-time mode of study:

a) Teaching activities shall take place in training institutions or institutions involved in joint training according to regulations on joint training in Article 5 of this Regulation; and practicals, internships, practical experiences and online teaching may be carried out outside of training institutions and institutions involved in joint training;

b) Teaching time may be scheduled flexibly.

3. For academic disciplines needing to be prioritized for socio - economic development for each period, the Ministry of Education and Training shall provide guidelines for the modes of study applied to them.

Article 5. Joint training

1. Joint training programs shall only be offered in part-time mode of study according to regulations in Clause 22 Article 1 of the Law on Amendment to Law on Higher Education and Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article. Joint training in health-related disciplines that award practitioner certificates is not permitted.

2. Minimum requirements for institutions in charge of joint training:

a) The institution has been accredited by a licensed educational accreditation organization and the accreditation is unexpired according to regulations;

b) The training program of the joint training has been offered for at least 03 consecutive cohorts in full-time mode of study; from the 2024 cohort onwards, the training program must be accredited as per applicable regulations;

c) Full-time lecturers shall teach at least 70% of the content and academic load of the training program;

d) Regulations on joint training have been promulgated and quality assurance conditions of the institution cooperating in the joint training have been appraised;

dd) Training institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security are exempt from Points a and b of this Clause but may cooperate in training only with educational institutions affiliated to the same supervisory ministry and be assigned the joint training by the supervisory ministry in writing.

3. Minimum requirements for institutions participating in joint training:

a) The institution meets conditions for pedagogical environment, facilities, equipment, libraries and management officials according to requirements of the training program;

b) The institution has sent a report on self-assessment of educational institution quality to the competent authority according to regulations; from the 2024 cohort onwards, the institution must be accredited as per applicable regulations, unless it is affiliated to the Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security.

4. Responsibilities of joint training parties:

a) The institution in charge of joint training and the institution participating in joint training shall sign a joint training agreement, negotiate the rights and responsibilities of both parties for the joint training in detail, manage teaching activities to ensure training quality and execute the agreement in compliance with regulations of this Regulation and other relevant law provisions;

b) The institution in charge of joint training shall manage training quality; and report on joint training activities to the People’s Committee of the province where the joint training takes place before admission; if the institution participating in joint training fails to meet quality assurance conditions according to regulations of a unit of study or the training program, transfer students to the institution in charge of joint training to continue providing training for them and ensure their rights;

c) The institution participating in joint training shall cooperate with the institution in charge of joint training in ensuring facilities for training; and partake in management and teaching under the agreement between the two parties;

d) The institution in charge of joint training and the institution participating in joint training shall take responsibility before the law for execution of the joint training agreement; compliance with admission and training regulations; and assurance of legitimate rights of lecturers and students throughout the training process.

Chapter II

FORMULATION OF TEACHING PLANS AND TEACHING ORGANIZATION

Article 6. Teaching and learning plans

1. Teaching and learning plans shall elaborate the provision of training programs by year and by semester as appropriate to the mode of study and method for training organization.

2. Every academic year plan shall include main timestamps of training activities in the academic year for all modes of study and training programs and be promptly announced to all relevant parties before the academic year starts. An academic year shall have two or three main semesters with a total of at least 30 academic weeks. Besides main semesters, training institutions may have additional semesters.

3. Every semester plan shall include class opening plans, teaching and learning forms (in-class or online), class schedules and exam schedules of units of study taught in the semester for each training program and mode of study. Semester plans must be promptly formulated and announced and include all necessary information to help students prepare their learning plans and register for classes.

4. Study schedules shall specify the time, location and teaching and learning activities of each class of each course, mode of study and training program. Study schedules of normal classes of units of study shall be evenly distributed across all weeks of a semester. Where it is necessary for units of study to be taught in a short period of time, each unit shall not be taught for more than 15 hours/week and 4 hours/day.

5. Training institution regulations shall stipulate semester organization, study schedules, class locations and class hour organization in accordance with regulations of this Regulation.

Article 7. Organization of class registration

1. Before the start of each semester, training institutions shall provide their students with instructions on how to register for classes on their class registration systems.

2. Students of credit-based training programs shall register for classes of units of study that they plan to attend in the semester, including new units of study, units of study with unsatisfactory performance (for retaking) and units of study with satisfactory performance (for grade improvement, if any) based on list of units of study opened and registration requirements of each unit of study.

3. Students of year-based training programs shall register for units of study with unsatisfactory performance for retaking, units of study for grade improvement or elective units of study according to regulations of their training programs.

4. Training institution regulation shall stipulate procedures for and organization and retention of class registration of students in each semester and withdrawal from registered units of study; regulations on academic load limit of students for each semester are as follows:

a) Minimum academic load shall be at least 2/3 of the average academic load of the semester according to the standard learning plan;

b) Maximum academic load shall not exceed 3/2 of the average academic load of the semester according to the standard learning plan.

Article 8. Teaching and learning organization

1. Requirements for teaching and learning organization:

a) Enhance professional capacity and responsibility of lecturers in compliance with working regulations for lecturers;

b) Enhance the proactive role and responsibility of students, enable and motivate students to learn; maintain school discipline and improve training quality and efficiency;

c) Provide internal supervision and inspection mechanisms and systems for quality improvement based on feedback collected from students.

2. Online teaching and learning:

a) Training institutions may organize online classes when they meet existing requirements for application of information technology in online training management and organization; have quality assurance solutions and have proof that quality of online classes is no lower than that of physical classes;

b) No more than 30% of the total academic load of a full-time or part-time training program may be taught via online classes. In case of natural disasters, complicated epidemics and other force majeure events, training institutions shall follow guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Training.

3. Training institution regulations shall provide for the following matters:

a) Assigning lecturers to classes, assigning lecturers to teach and advise students on experiments, practicals, internships, graduate projects, graduate papers and other learning activities;

b) Collecting feedback from students of all classes of the training institution about quality assurance conditions and learning efficiency, and publishing such feedback, including content to be published and publishing level and form;

c) Responsibilities and rights of lecturers assigned to teach or advise students; responsibilities of academics units and relevant management and support units;

d) Responsibilities and rights of students when attending classes, doing experiments, participating in practicals or internships and doing projects, papers and other activities.

Chapter III

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT AND DEGREE AWARDING

Article 9. Assessment and calculation of grades of units of study

1. 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) A specialized council with at least 3 members shall take charge of the assessment;

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

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

2. 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.

3. 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 of this Clause:

a) 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.

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

P: at least 5,0.

c) Fail grade:

F: under 4,0.

d) 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 (hereinafter referred to as “exempted unit of study”).

4. Retaking of units of study, examination and retaking of units of study for grade improvement:

a) Students who fail a unit of study must retake the unit according to regulations in Clauses 1 and 2 Article 3 of this Regulation, unless otherwise provided for in Point dd Clause 5 of this Article; the grade of the latest time the unit is retaken is the official grade of the unit;

b) Students who pass a unit of study may retake the unit for grade improvement according to regulations of the training institution.

5. Training institution regulations shall provide for the following matters:

a) Organization of assessment of academic performance and experiences of students, including experiments, practicals, assignments and reports, which shall be considered a component of each unit of study;

b) Exam organization, including regulations on pre-exam study periods and exam periods, question sheet preparation, exam invigilation, marking, remarking (if any), script preservation, exam deferment and exemption from taking exams;

c) Organization of assessment of units of study, graduate projects, graduate papers, practicals, internships and other special units of study;

d) Any grade level higher than those provided for in Point a Clause 3 herein; application of more letter grades than those provided for in Clause 3 herein;

dd) Permission for retaking an exam and assessment of a component grade to pass a unit of study; in this case, the new grade of the unit of study shall either be D or C;

e) Permission for retaking units of study for grade improvement and rules for calculation of the official grade of a unit of study in case the new grade is lower.

6. Regulations of training institutions on assessment and calculation of grades of units of study must be in compliance with the following rules and requirements:

a) The regulations must be serious, impartial, reliable and honest;

b) The regulations must be fair to all students in one class, all classes, all courses and all modes of study.

Article 10. Academic performance assessment by semester and by year

1. Student academic performance shall be assessed at the end of each semester or academic year based on results of units of study that are required by the training program and have been completed and scored and the following criteria:

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

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

c) 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.

2. To calculate average grades, letter grades of units of study shall be converted to numerical grades as follows, unless otherwise provided for in Clause 4 of this Article. Different letter grade levels decided by training institutions (if any) shall be converted to numerical grades on a 4-point scale.

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.

3. Letter grades not provided for in Clause 2 herein 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.

4. 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 this Regulation.

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

a) 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.

b) 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.

6. Study progress shall be determined based on the number of credits accumulated from the beginning of the course (“N”) and average number of credits of an academic year according to the standard learning plan (“M”) as follows:

a) First year: N < M;

b) Second year: M ≤ N < 2M;

c) Third year: 2M ≤ N < 3M;

d) Fourth year: 3M ≤ N < 4M;

dd) Fifth year: 4M ≤ N < 5M.

Article 11. Handling of credit-based academic performance

1. At the end of each main semester, students will receive an academic warning in any of the following cases:

a) Total number of failed credits in the semester exceeds more than half of the number registered for the semester or total number of failed credits from the beginning of the course is more than 24;

b) Semester average grade is under 0,8 for the first semester of the course or under 1,0 for following semesters;

c) GPA is under 1,2 for first-year students, under 1,4 for second-year students, under 1,6 for third-year students or under 1,8 for the following years.

2. Students will be forced to leave school in any of the following cases:

a) Number of academic warnings or level of academic warning received exceeds the permitted amount/ level according to regulations of the training institution;

b) Study duration exceeds the amount of time mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation.

3. Training institution regulations shall provide for the following matters:

a) Application of some conditions for academic warning and permitted number of academic warnings or academic warning level, which shall allow for no more than 2 consecutive warnings;

b) Procedures for academic warning and forced leave from school; and announcement of such measures to students;

c) Retention of accumulated study results in case of forced leave from school.

Article 12. Handling of year-based academic performance

1. At the end of each academic year, students will be regarded as having made satisfactory study progress and permitted to advance to the next year under both of the following conditions:

a) The academic year average grade is at least 1,0 for the first year, at least 1,2 for the second year and at least 1,4 for the third year onwards;

b) The number of failed credits since the beginning of the course is no more than 16.

2. Students will be forced to leave school in any of the following cases:

a) The academic year average grade is under 0,8;

b) GPA is under 1,2 after 2 years of study, under 1,4 after 3 years of study and under 1,6 after 4 or more years of study;

c) Study duration exceeds the amount of time mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation.

3. Students besides those mentioned in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article may attend the same class as the later cohort to improve their academic performance.

4. Training institution regulations shall provide for the following matters:

a) Regulations on application of some academic warning conditions similar to regulations applicable to the credit-based system mentioned in Clause 1 Article 11 herein;

b) Procedures for academic warning (if any) and forced leave from school; and announcement of such measures to students;

c) Retention of accumulated study results in case of forced leave from school.

Article 13. Recognition of study results and credit transfer

1. Study results which a student accumulated from another qualification, academic discipline, training program, course or training institution may be considered for recognition and credits of which may be transferred to units of study of the training program that the student is attending by the training institution providing this program.

2. A specialized council of the training institution shall consider recognition and credit transfer based on comparison of expected learning outcomes, academic content and load, methods for assessment of units of study and conditions for program quality assurance at the following levels:

a) Recognition and transfer for each unit of study;

b) Recognition and transfer for each group of units of study;

c) Recognition and transfer for the whole training program.

3. Training institutions shall publish regulations on recognition of study results and credit transfer. Maximum load that may be recognized and transferred shall not exceed 50% of the minimum academic load of the training program; maximum load that may be recognized and transferred of teacher training programs shall be stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Article 14. Graduation recognition and degree awarding

1. Conditions for graduation consideration and recognition:

a) The student has accumulated sufficient units of study and credits and completed other compulsory contents required by the training program and achieved the expected learning outcomes of the training program;

b) The student has average GPA or higher for the whole course;

c) At the time of graduation consideration, the student is not facing a criminal prosecution or suspended from study.

2. Principals shall issue graduation recognition decisions and award degrees to students eligible for graduation within 03 months starting from the time where the students become eligible and have fulfilled all obligations with their training institutions.

3. Degree classification shall be determined based on GPA of the whole course according to regulations in Clause 5 Article 10 of this Regulation, in which, the degree classification of students with excellent and very good GPAs will be lowered by half in any of the following cases:

a) Retaken units of study exceed more than 5% of total credits required for the whole program;

b) The student received a warning or a more severe penalty when they attended the program.

4. For students whose study time has exceeded the maximum permitted limit, if they are not yet eligible for graduation due to incomplete national defense - security or physical education unit of study or failure to meet foreign language or information technology standard, within 03 years after they complete their study, they may fulfill the missing requirements and apply for graduation.

5. Students not graduating may be awarded certificates of units of study accumulated throughout the training program of the training institution.

6. Training institution regulations shall provide for the following matters:

a) Procedures for graduation consideration and recognition, graduation consideration timeline in a year;

b) Retention and recognition of accumulated study results of students not graduating;

c) Permission for students whose full-time study time have expired to transfer to the corresponding part-time or remote study (if any) provided by the training institution if they have not exceeded the permitted study time limit for the latter mode of study according to regulations.

Chapter IV

OTHER REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STUDENTS

Article 15. Temporary leave and dropping out

1. Students may temporary leave school and have their study results retained in the following cases:

a) The student is conscripted;

b) The student is selected to represent Vietnam in an international competition by the competent authority;

c) The student is ill, is pregnant or has an accident that requires long-term treatment, which is verified by the competent healthcare facility according to regulations of the Ministry of Health;

d) The student takes leave for a personal reason but has attended at least 01 semester in the training institution and is not considered for forced leave from school or discipline.

2. Duration of temporary leave for personal reason shall be counted towards the full-time study time provided for in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation.

3. Students may drop out of school for personal reason, unless they are considered for forced leave from school or discipline. These students shall apply for admission following the procedures applicable to other applicants if they wish to return to school.

4. Training institution regulations shall provide for conditions, competence and procedures for handling of applications for temporary leave, receipt of returning students and forced leave from school; and retention and recognition of accumulated study results of students who drop out.

Article 16. Transfer to another academic discipline, campus, training institution or mode of study

1. Conditions for transfer to another training program or academic discipline, transfer to another branch campus or transfer from a branch campus to the main campus:

a) The student is not a first-year student or final-year student, is not considered for forced leave from school and has not exceeded the permitted study time limit mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation;

b) The student is eligible to enroll in the target training program or academic discipline or main campus (or branch campus) in the same cohort;

c) The training institution and main campus (or branch campus) meet quality assurance conditions and are capable of providing the training program or academic discipline as per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

d) The transfer is approved by heads of academics units in charge of the training program or academic discipline, heads of campuses (current campus and target campus) and principal of the training institution.

2. Conditions for transfer to another training institution:

a) The student is not a first-year student or final-year student, is not considered for forced leave from school and has not exceeded the permitted study time limit mentioned in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation;

b) The student is eligible to enroll in a training program or academic discipline of the target institution in the same cohort;

c) The target institution meets quality assurance conditions and is capable of providing the training program or academic discipline as per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

d) The transfer is approved by the principals of the current training institution and target training institution.

3. Students may transfer from full-time study to part-time or remote study provided by their training institutions if they have not exceeded the permitted study time limit for the target mode of study according to regulations.

4. Training institution regulations shall provide for competence, conditions and procedures for transfer to another training program, academic discipline, campus, training institution or mode of study; and recognition of study results or transfer of accumulated credits for students making these transfers.

Article 17. Student exchange and training cooperation

1. Training institutions shall formulate and promulgate regulations on mutual recognition of training process, training content and credit value to provide the basis for students of one training institutions to take some units of study in another training institution and vice versa (hereinafter referred to as “student exchange”).

2. On the basis of mutual recognition and assessment, a student of one training institution may register for some units of study of another training institution provided that the principals of both institutions approve of the registration and the number of credits accumulated in the latter institution (if any) does not exceed 25% of total academic load of the student’s training program.

3. For training cooperation between two training institutions, mutual recognition and assessment of the number of credits that a student of one institution accumulates in the other institution shall not exceed 25% of total academic load of the student’s training program.

4. Training institution regulations shall provide for and publish conditions for student exchange, training cooperation, recognition of study results and credit transfer for students of training programs on their websites.

Article 18. Simultaneous enrollment in two programs

1. For credit-based training, students may register for units of study of another training program or academic discipline besides their own according to the situation of their training institutions, but may enjoy official rights pertaining to and apply for graduation from the second program only when they have successfully enrolled in the second program according to regulations in Clause 2 herein.

2. Students may apply for the second program after they have reached second year of the first program. At the time of application, students must meet either of the following conditions and other conditions of their training institutions:

a) Have good GPA or higher and meet admission requirements of the second program in the admission year;

b) Have average GPA and meet admission requirements of the second program in the admission year.

3. While a student is enrolled in two programs simultaneously, if GPA of the first program falls below the average level or the student receives an academic warning, they must stop attending the second program in the following semester; and be removed from list of students enrolled in the second program.

4. Maximum time for a student to attend two programs simultaneously shall be the maximum study time of the first program provided for in Clause 5 Article 2 of this Regulation. While the student enrolls in the second program, results of units of study with equivalent content and academic load of the first program may be recognized.

5. Students may apply for graduation from the second program if they are eligible and have applied for graduation from the first program at least 02 years before applying for graduation from the second program.

6. Training institutions may offer the second program to students only when they meet quality assurance conditions in terms of admission quota and training capacity; concurrently, they shall stipulate procedures and requirements for enrollment and degree awarding for the second program.

Article 19. Bridge programs for other degree holders

1. Holders of vocational education diplomas may apply for and enroll in undergraduate bridge programs according to existing regulations of the Government and Prime Minister and training institution regulations.

2. A bachelor degree holder may apply for and enroll in a bridge program to earn a bachelor degree in another academic discipline when the training institution has fully employed the credit-based training system (national defense and security programs shall conform to regulations of training institutions) and the bridge program has admitted at least 03 cohorts in the mode of study selected by the holder.

3. Students of bridge programs shall attend the programs and register for classes according to general plans like other students in the same mode of study. Based on credit recognition and transfer, these students may be exempt from taking units of study corresponding to accumulated academic load in compliance with regulations in Article 13 of this Regulation.

4. Training institution regulations shall provide for conditions and procedures for admission to bridge programs, credit recognition and transfer and exemption from taking units of study for bridge program students in a manner that ensures fairness and transparency for all students, strict compliance with quality requirements and application of the same expected learning outcomes as other students.

Article 20. Handling of violations committed by students

1. Students committing fraud in examinations and academic performance assessments shall be subject to disciplinary actions for each unit of study where they commit fraud according to regulations of the applicable regulation on high school graduation exam promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training, unless otherwise provided for in Clause 2 herein.

2. Students sitting exams for other people or asking other people to sit their exams shall be suspended from study for 01 year if they commit this violation for the first time and forced to leave school if they commit this violation for the second time.

3. Students using forged documents, degrees or certificates to apply for admission or graduation shall be forced to leave school; and any graduation degree awarded shall be confiscated and disposed of.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 21. Formulation and implementation of training institution regulations

1. Pursuant to this Regulation and other relevant applicable regulations, principals shall:

a) Direct the formulation, promulgation and implementation of training regulations of their institutions based on advice from science and training councils and internal management regulations; these regulations must be specific and may provide stricter requirements but shall not contradict regulations of this Regulation;

b) Promulgate decisions on organization of full-time training, part-time training, joint training and bridge programs (if any) in compliance with requirements of this Regulation, which must include name of academic discipline, mode of study, type of students, admission quota and method, training location, institution participating in joint training and other relevant information;

c) Disseminate and provide guidance on training institution regulations and regulations related to study, obligations and rights of students for students from the start of the course;

d) Perform internal inspection of execution of plans, programs, training institution regulations and other training-related tasks; and be subject to the inspection and supervision of the Ministry of Education and Training and competent authorities as per existing regulations.

2. Training institutions shall exercise accountability according to regulations in Clause 4 Article 13 of the Government's Decree No. 99/2019/ND-CP dated December 30, 2019 elaborating and providing guidelines for a number of Articles of the Law on Amendments to Law on Higher Education and other relevant law provisions.

Article 22. Reporting, retention and information publication requirements

1. Before December 31 of every year:

a) Training institutions shall report data on new students, graduates, dropouts and current students of the year, students expected to graduate next year and graduates employed within 12 months after graduation (sorted by type of admission, academic discipline, cohort and mode of study) to the Ministry of Education and Training and their supervisory authorities;

b) Training institutions shall report on admission and training situations in provinces where they are located to People's Committees of the provinces.

2. Training institutions shall retain and protect training-related documents according to regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training.

a) Admission decisions, original transcripts, decisions on graduation recognition and master registers of awarding of degrees to students shall be permanently retained in training institutions;

b) Other documents pertaining to admission and training shall be retained throughout the training process;

c) Admission- and training-related documents no longer retained shall be disposed of in compliance with existing state regulations.

3. Training institutions shall publish the following information on their websites at least 45 days before a training program starts:

a) Training institution regulations and relevant regulations on training management;

b) Decisions to offer new programs and the decisions mentioned in Point b Clause 1 Article 21 for programs to be offered;

c) Quality assurance conditions per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

d) Proofs that training programs meet training program standards promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training;

dd) Admission announcements according to existing admission regulations;

e) Proofs of meeting the minimum requirements for joint training in part-time mode of study according to regulations in Clauses 2 and 3 Article 5 of this Regulation.