Thông tư 18/2021/TT-BGDDT

CIRCULAR

PROMULUGATING REGULATION ON DOCTORAL PROGRAM ADMISSION AND DOCTORAL EDUCATION

Pursuant to the Education Law dated June 14, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Higher Education dated June 18, 2012 and the Law on Amendments to Certain Articles of the Law on Higher Education dated November 19, 2018;

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;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 123/2016/ND-CP dated September 01, 2016 on functions, duties, powers and organizational structure of Ministries and ministerial-level agencies; Pursuant to the Decree No. 101/2020/ND-CP dated August 28, 2020 amending the Government’s Decree No. 123/2016/ND-CP dated September 01, 2016 on functions, duties, powers and organizational structure of Ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

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;

At the request of Director General of Higher Education Department;

The Minister of Education and Training hereby promulgates a Circular promulgating regulation on doctoral program admission and doctoral education.

Article 1. Promulgated together with this Circular is the regulation on doctoral program admission and doctoral education (hereinafter referred to as “Regulation”).

Article 2. This Circular comes into force from August 15, 2021 and supersedes Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BGDDT dated April 04, 2017 by the Minister of Education and Training introducing regulations on doctoral enrolment and training.

Article 3. Chief of the Ministry Office, Director General of Higher Education Department, heads of relevant affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training; heads of parent universities and academies; heads of universities; heads of research institutes providing doctoral programs; heads of other educational institutions authorized to provide doctoral programs; and relevant organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular./.

REGULATION

DOCTORAL PROGRAM ADMISSION AND DOCTORAL EDUCATION

(Promulgated together with Circular No. 18/2021/TT-BGDDT dated June 28, 2021 by the Minister of Education and Training)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. This Regulation provides general provisions for doctoral program admission, doctoral program provision and doctorate awarding.

2. This Regulation is applicable to higher education institutions, institutes established by the Prime Minister in accordance with the Law on Science and Technology and other educational institutions authorized to provide doctoral programs (hereinafter collectively referred to as “training institutions”) and relevant organizations and individuals.

3. This Regulation provides the basis for training institutions to formulate and promulgate specific regulations on doctoral program admission, doctoral program provision and doctorate awarding applicable to their institutions (hereinafter referred to as “training institution regulations”).

4. This Regulation is not applicable to admission to and provision of doctoral programs whose degrees are awarded by foreign educational institutions (including programs provided in cooperation with other countries according to regulations on foreign cooperation and investment in education).

Article 2. Training programs

1. Doctoral programs shall be formulated, appraised and promulgated in compliance with requirements of the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework and regulations on training program standards of the Ministry of Education and Training.

2. Scientific research shall be a primary and compulsory component of doctoral programs and be stipulated in detail in training institution regulations according to the requirements of each field of training and academic discipline. Research results must be presented in doctoral dissertations and relevant scientific publications of research students.

Article 3. Training duration and mode of study

1. Standard duration of a doctoral program shall range from 03 years (36 months) to 04 years (48 months) as decided by the training institution and this duration must be sufficient for the majority of research students to complete the program; each research student shall have a course-wide study and research plan that takes place within the whole standard program duration and is approved together with the research student recognition decision (made using the form in Appendix I).

2. Every research student may complete their programs no more than 01 year (12 months) sooner or later than their course-wise study and research plan but the total training duration shall not be longer than 06 years (72 months) starting from the entry into force of the research student recognition decision to the time where procedures for submitting their dissertation to their training institution are completed (before independent defense and establishment of the dissertation examination committee of their training institution).

3. Doctoral programs shall be provided in the full-time mode of study; research students must spend sufficient study and research time at their training institutions according to the approved plans; the full-time mode of study requires registering for 30 credits per year.

Article 4. Standards for lecturers of doctoral programs

1. Requirements for lecturers of doctoral programs:

a) They are Vietnamese citizens or foreign citizens meeting the requirements in Clause 1 Article 54 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018) and other relevant law provisions;

b) They hold the title of professor or associate professor or Doctor of Science degree or doctorate in a specialization suitable for units of study and subjects (hereinafter collectively referred to as “units of study”) that they are in charge of;

c) They have foreign language and information technology qualifications for teaching, research and international exchange and cooperation concerning specialized areas that they are in charge of in the doctoral program.

2. Additional requirements for persons without the title of professor or associate professor:

a) They have taught undergraduate or master’s programs for at least 01 year (12 months) since they were awarded a doctorate;

b) Within 05 years (60 months) before they are assigned to teach a doctoral program, they publish 02 scientific reports and/or articles in printed publications assigned at least 0,75 point by the State Council for Professorship as the first author or corresponding author; or 01 monograph distributed by Vietnamese and international publishers or 01 chapter of a reference book distributed by international publisher as the author or co-author (hereinafter collectively referred to as “main author”), and their publications must be related to the program’s specialization;

c) For lecturers of arts programs, the requirements in Point b of this Clause may be substituted by the title of “Nghệ sĩ Nhân dân” (“People’s Artists”) awarded by the State.

Article 5. Standards for research student instructors

1. Primary instructors, secondary instructors and independent instructors of research students must meet the standards for lecturers of doctoral programs according to regulations in Article 4 of this Regulation.

2. Within 05 years (60 months) before issuance of the decision on recognition of research student instructor, the primary instructor, independent instructor or co-instructor (if the primary instructor and secondary instructor are not differentiated) must produce results for a research on a specialized area related to the topic of the dissertation that they will provide instructions for. To be specific:

a) The instructor is the main author of a scientific conference report/ scientific article published in a printed publication included in the Web of Science or Scopus List (hereinafter collectively referred to as “WoS/Scopus List”) or a chapter of a reference book distributed by a reputable international publisher, or an article published on a Vietnamese academic journal assigned at least 0,75 point by the State Council for Professorship, or a monograph distributed by a reputable Vietnamese or international publisher; the publication must earn at least 4,0 points in total according to maximum score stipulated by the State Council for Professorship for each type of project (points shall not be distributed when there are co-authors); or

b) The instructor is the author or co-author of at least 01 result of a scientific or technological research or application registered and awarded a national or international patent; or at least 01 official award of a national or international competition recognized by the competent authority for the fields of arts, physical training and sports.

3. Each research student may have one or two instructors, one of whom shall be a tenured official of the training institution or have a teaching/ scientific research contract with the training institution as prescribed by law; work full-time at the training institution with a contract term appropriate to the course-wise study and research plan of the research student.

Article 6. Rights and responsibilities of lecturers of doctoral programs and research student instructors

1. Duties and rights of lecturers of doctoral programs are provided in regulations of Articles 55 and 58 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018), training institution regulations and relevant law provisions.

2. A professor title holder may independently provide instructions for no more than 07 research students; a holder of the associate professor title or a Doctor of Science degree may independently provide instructions for no more than 05 research student; and a doctorate holder may independently provide instructions for no more than 03 research students simultaneously. Co-instruction of a research student shall be equivalent to independent instruction of 0,5 research student.

3. Responsibilities of research student instructors:

a) Approve course-wise and annual study and research plans of research students; provide instructions for, support, assess, supervise and expedite study and research carried out per approved plans by research students;

b) Propose or give opinions on changes made to the study and research processes of research students;

c) Propose examination of dissertations of research students at management units and dissertation defense at dissertation examination committees of training institutions;

d) Perform other duties and exercise other powers according to training institution regulations.

Chapter II

ADMISSION

Article 7. Eligibility requirements

1. General requirements for applicants:

a) Hold a master's degree or bachelor's degree classified as good or higher in a suitable academic discipline or a qualification equivalent to level 7 of the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework in some special academic disciplines suitable for the field of the target doctoral program;

b) Meet admission requirements of training program standards promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training and of the target doctoral program;

c) Have research experience evidenced by a master’s thesis of a research-oriented training program; or a published scientific report or article; or working for at least 02 years (24 months) as a lecturer or researcher of a training institution or scientific and technological organization;

d) Have a draft research outline and draft course-wise study and research plan.

2. Vietnamese applicants must meet foreign language requirements as evidenced by any of the following degrees and certificates:

a) A bachelor’s degree or higher awarded by a foreign training institution, Vietnamese branch of a foreign training institution or Vietnamese training institution to learners of a full-time program taught in a foreign language;

b) A bachelor’s degree in a foreign language awarded by a Vietnamese training institution;

c) Any of the foreign language proficiency certificates mentioned in Appendix II of this Regulation that is unexpired on the application date or any other foreign language proficiency certificate equivalent to level 4 of the Vietnam's language proficiency framework announced by the Ministry of Education and Training.

3. Any foreign applicant who applies for a doctoral program taught in Vietnamese must have a Vietnamese proficiency certificate of level 4 of the Vietnam's language proficiency framework applicable to foreigners or higher and meet second foreign language requirements of the training institution, unless the applicant is a native speaker of the language used to teach the doctoral program.

4. Training institution regulations shall specify requirements for specialized qualification, language proficiency and work experience and other requirements for applicants according to the characteristics of each field of training, academic discipline and training program of the training institution based on the minimum requirements provided in this Article.

Article 8. Admission and recognition of research students

1. Every training institution may decide to admit new students one or more than one time a year when it meets quality assurance conditions for doctoral programs according to existing regulations.

2. Admission methods include admission by examination, admission without examination or combination between examination and admission without examination. Training institutions shall decide on the admission method, ensuring transparent, fair, impartial and honest assessment of knowledge and capacity of applicants. Training institutions may organize online admission when they meet quality assurance conditions applicable to direct admission.

3. Training institutions shall publish an admission announcement on their websites at least 30 working days before application begins, which shall include information on eligibility requirements; academic discipline and suitable specialized requirements; admission quota; application content, admission plan, result announcement time and enrolment time; tuition, policies for tuition reduction, exemption and assistance for research students during their study (if any) and other necessary information according to requirements of the training program and training institution.

4. During admission, training institutions must perform internal inspection and supervision as per existing regulations.

5. A research student recognition decision shall comprise the following information: name of the research student, academic discipline, provisional dissertation topic, instructor or co-instructor, management unit of the research student, training duration and course-wise study and research plan of the research student.

6. Training institution regulations shall stipulate admission plans, admission announcements, admission methods, admission organization and research student recognition; archiving for the purposes of management, appraisal, supervision and inspection; responsibilities and sanctions for violations committed by groups, units and individuals involved in admission organization and research student recognition.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF DOCTORAL PROGRAM PROVISION

Article 9. Organization of training activities

1. Doctoral programs shall be provided in the full-time mode of study according to regulations in Clause 3 Article 3 of this Regulation at the main campus or a branch authorized to provide training activities of training institutions, excluding some survey, research, experimenting and online training activities that may take place off-campus according to training institution regulations.

2. Training institutions may hold discussions about teaching of shared units of study and mutual recognition of research results.

3. Training institutions may organize classes and assessment of units of study online or online in combination with offline when they meet existing requirements for application of information technology in online training management and organization; and have solutions to ensure that the quality of these classes is not lower than that of offline classes.

4. Assessment and scoring of units of study of doctoral programs may be carried out in compliance with regulations on assessment and scoring of units of study of undergraduate education regulation.

5. Training institution regulations shall stipulate learning and research activities of research students; training times, locations and methods; methods for assessment and scoring of units of study and other relevant regulations concerning organization of doctoral program provision.

Article 10. Changes made during the course of a training program

1. Every research student and their instructor may propose change to the dissertation topic, addition of another instructor, change of instructor, change of management unit and transfer to another training institution to their training institution. These changes shall entail revision of the course-wise study and research plan to ensure that the training duration complies with regulations in Article 3 of this Regulation.

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

a) They fail to complete their programs within the time limits set out in Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 3 of this Regulation;

b) They commit a grave violation against regulations on responsibilities of research students or regulations of law as concluded by a specialized council or competent authority;

c) They commit a violation against regulations of their training institutions that results in expulsion.

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

a) Change to dissertation topic, addition of another instructor or change of instructor, change of management unit and transfer to another training institution;

b) Reduction or extension of study and research time of research students; cases resulting in expulsion and expulsion procedures.

Article 11. Recognition of study and research results

1. Study and research results accumulated by a research student in a doctoral program may be retained and considered for recognition and transfer in any of the following cases:

a) The research student is expelled and wishes to study a master’s program in a corresponding academic discipline if they meet regulations of the existing regulation on graduate program admission and graduate education;

b) The research student transfers to another specialization or training institution;

c) The research student leaves the doctoral program, reapplies and is recognized as a new research student of the training institution.

2. Recognition and transfer of study and research results accumulated by a research student must be carried out in accordance with content and requirements of the training program and with the proposal from a specialized council. In case the research student transfers to another training institution or becomes a new research student, study and research results equivalent to no more than 50% of the total load of the new program may be recognized and transferred.

3. Training institution regulations shall provide for retention time limit, composition of specialized councils and procedures for recognition and transfer of study and research results of research students.

Article 12. Rights and responsibilities of research students towards training programs

Every research student has the following rights and responsibilities:

1. Exercise the rights and fulfill the responsibilities mentioned in Articles 60 and 61 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018).

2. Formulate and propose detailed study and research plan for each year based on the approved course-wise plan in the research student recognition decision, which shall include a plan for working and reporting to the instructor; follow the plans approved by the instructor and management unit; report on study and research progress and results to the management unit on a biannual basis; propose changes to their study and research to the instructor and management unit.

3. Participate in scientific meetings at their management unit as a tenured researchers or lecturer assistant; participate in research projects and duties as assigned by the instructor.

4. Comply with regulations of their training institution on academic integrity; ensure that published results are produced from their own research with the support of the instructor; acknowledge and cite all relevant individuals, groups and organizations (if any).

5. Exercise other rights and fulfill other responsibilities according to training institution regulations.

Article 13. Rights and responsibilities of management units

Every management unit has the following rights and responsibilities:

1. Propose research student instructors whose specializations are suitable for dissertation topics.

2. Approve detailed annual study and research plans of research students; facilitate, support, expedite, supervise and inspect compliance with study and research plans of research students.

3. Organize periodic scientific meetings for research students; examine dissertations of research students; approve proposal for dissertation defense at dissertation examination committee of the training institution.

4. Exercise other rights and fulfill other responsibilities according to training institution regulations.

Chapter IV

DISSERTATION EXAMINATION AND DOCTORATE AWARDING

Article 14. Dissertation examination at management units

1. The management unit shall examine a dissertation when the research student meets the following requirements and additional requirements of the training institution for each training program (if any):

a) The student has completed all units of study of the program;

b) The instructor or co-instructor proposes that the draft dissertation be examined by the management unit;

c) The student is the main author of a scientific conference report/ scientific article published in a printed publication included in the WoS/Scopus List or a chapter of a reference book distributed by a reputable international publisher, or an article published on a Vietnamese academic journal assigned at least 0,75 point by the State Council for Professorship concerning the student’s academic discipline, or a monograph distributed by a reputable Vietnamese or international publisher; the publication must earn at least 2,0 points in total according to maximum score stipulated by the State Council for Professorship for each type of project (points shall not be distributed when there are co-authors) and be relevant and have substantial contribution to the research results presented in the dissertation;

d) The requirements in Point c of this Clause may be substituted by evidence of being the author or co-author of 01 result of a scientific or technological research or application registered and awarded a national or international patent; or 01 official award of a national or international competition recognized by the competent authority for the fields of arts, physical training and sports; such achievement must be relevant and have substantial contribution to the research results presented in the dissertation.

2. Training institutions shall stipulate examination of dissertation at management units to ensure that the examination is of scientific nature and assists research students in completing their dissertation before independent dissertation examination and defense at dissertation examination committees of training institutions.

Article 15. Independent dissertation examination

1. Dissertations of research students must undergo independent examination before they are defended before dissertation examination committees of training institutions. Within 06 months after a research student submits the dissertation approved by the management unit, the training institution shall complete independent examination of the dissertation; for cases requiring a second independent examination according to regulations in Clause 3 of this Article, the abovementioned time limit may be extended by 03 months at the maximum.

2. Every dissertation requires examination by 02 scientists or experts who are not officials of the training institution, are specialized in an area suitable for the dissertation's topic and meet the requirements for independent instructors mentioned in Article 5 of this Regulation. Independent examiners must not have any interest directly related to the research student and instructor; not be the mother, father, spouse or biological sibling or child of the research student; not offer direct professional cooperation or support relevant to the dissertation’s content to the research student and instructor during the dissertation formulation process.

3. Independent examination must take place in an impartial and transparent manner. Conclusions of the independent examiners for a dissertation must specify whether they approve of the dissertation professionally. The dissertation will be considered having passed the independent examination when the two examiners give their approval. If one examiner disapproves, the training institution shall send the dissertation to another independent examiner for their opinion, which shall provide the basis for decision. If the two examiners do not approve of the professional quality of the dissertation, the training institution shall request the research student and instructor to revise the dissertation and perform a second independent examination. Do not perform a third independent examination.

4. Information on independent examiners shall  be kept confidential from the research student and instructor. Independent examiners shall not have contact with or request the research student to provide information or explanations for the examiners’ opinions. Any contact with the examiners during independent examination shall be undertaken by the training institution. All explanations by the research student must be sent to the training institution and presented in the dissertation defense session.

5. Training institutions shall stipulate procedures for independent examiner selection and collection and handling of opinions from independent examiners; and protection of identities and personal information of independent examiners.

Article 16. Dissertation examination at training institutions

1. A doctoral dissertation may be defended at a dissertation examination council of a training institution when it meets the following requirements:

a) The dissertation is a scientific report consolidating study and research results of the research student, and showing that the research student is capable of conducting research independently, creating new knowledge that contributes to the scientific knowledge of the research field or proposing new ideas and solutions for existing issues in the research field under actual circumstances;

b) The dissertation passes independent examination;

c) The dissertation abides by the training institution’s regulations on format, plagiarism control and academic integrity standards; specify references concerning general research results of the research student and references from other authors (if any) and comply with other regulations  of law on intellectual property.

2. Training institution regulations shall provide for establishment of their dissertation examination committees and include the following requirements:

a) Each committee shall consist of at least 05 members; number of members without professor or associate professor title shall not be more than 02 persons and number of members not affiliated to the training institution shall be at least 02 persons;

b) The committee shall comprise a chairperson, secretary, examiners and other members, with 01 examiner affiliated to the training institution and 01 examiner unaffiliated with the training institution; the examiners shall not be co-authors with the research student in scientific publications related to the dissertation; the committee chairperson shall be a professor or associate professor in an academic discipline suitable for the specialized area of the dissertation's topic, tenured researcher or lecturer of the training institution; 01 instructor of the research student may join the committee as a member;

c) Research capacity standards applicable to committee members shall be similar to research capacity standards for main instructors mentioned in Article 5; and the committee secretary must meet requirements for lecturers of doctoral programs mentioned in Article 4 of this Regulation;

d) Parents, spouse and biological children and siblings of the research student may not join the committee.

3. Within 03 months after a dissertation passes independent examination, the training institution shall convene the dissertation examination committee. The training institution shall decide to organize a dissertation examination session for the research student in compliance with the following requirements:

a) Time and location of the examination session and dissertation’s summary shall be posted on the website of the training institution (excluding cases of confidential dissertation examination);

b) The examination session may not take place if less than 05 committee members are present or more than 01 member is absent;

c) An online dissertation examination session must be joined by at least 03 committee members and the research student; in case of a natural disaster or epidemic or force majeure event, follow guidelines of the Minister of Education and Training;

d) The training institution shall prepare for the dissertation examination session; the research student and instructor may not contact committee members before the examination session.

4. The committee shall vote and resolve to pass or not pass the dissertation; request for any necessary revision if the dissertation is passed; propose or not propose reexamination if the dissertation is not passed. The dissertation will be passed if no member or only one member of the committee present in the examination session disapproves of the dissertation professionally. Dissertation examination sessions shall be recorded in writing; online examination sessions must have audio and video recordings, which shall be retained at the training institution.

5. Training institution regulations shall stipulate dissertation examination, including requirements for research students before dissertation examination; procedures for establishment of dissertation examination committees, standards and duties of each committee member; change of committee members and procedures for online and offline dissertation examination sessions of training institutions.

Article 17. Confidential dissertation examination

1. If the dissertation topic is related to a state secret included in a state secret list stipulated by the competent authority, the training institution shall determine the confidential nature of the topic immediately upon issuance of the research student recognition decision, submit a report to the Ministry of Education and Training together with evidence and obtain approval of the Ministry of Education and Training in writing.

2. Research students doing dissertation topics determined as confidential must meet general requirements for research students; requirements in Points c and d Clause 1 Article 14 of this Regulation may be substituted by internal reports with scientific and practical values in the research field verified by the training institution.

3. Training institutions shall stipulate organization of training, research, dissertation examination and management of relevant documents according to regulations of law on confidentiality.

Article 18. Dissertation reexamination at training institutions

1. In case a dissertation is not passed by the dissertation examination committee of the training institution in the first defense session but the committee proposes a redefense, within 06 months after the first dissertation examination, the training institution shall decide to establish an examination committee and organize a second dissertation defense for the research student.

2. Do not organize dissertation reexamination without a proposal of the first dissertation examination committee; do not organize a third dissertation examination.

3. Training institution regulations shall provide for time and procedures for the second dissertation examination. The second dissertation examination committee must consist of at least 03 members of the first committee, including all members who do not approve of the dissertation.

Article 19. Doctorate recognition and awarding

1. A research student will be considered for qualification recognition and doctorate awarding when they meet the following requirements:

a) The research student’s dissertation has been passed by the dissertation examination committee of the training institution;

b) The research student has submitted the final dissertation with their signature, confirmation of the instructor and confirmation of the chairperson of the dissertation examination committee after revision (if any) to the training institution (in physical and electronic forms);

c) The research student has submitted the final dissertation with their signature, confirmation of the instructor and confirmation of the training institution in summary and in full to National Library of Vietnam (in physical and electronic forms).

2. The training institution shall post the final dissertation in full to on website (excluding confidentially examined dissertations) for 03 months after the research student meets the requirements in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. After the period of time mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article, the training institution shall consider and issue a decision to recognize the doctorate of the research student.

4. The training institution shall formulate an application for doctorate recognition and awarding, which includes:

a) Record of the dissertation examination session at the training institution;

b) Decision to pass the dissertation of the dissertation examination committee of the training institution;

c) Record of checking of votes and dissertation assessment sheets with signatures of all committee members present in the dissertation examination session;

d) Written comments and assessments of the instructor; written confirmation of dissertation revision of the instructor and chairperson of the dissertation examination committee (if any);

dd) Other documents as per regulations of the training institution.

5. The training institution shall award a doctorate to the research student within 30 working days from the entry into force of the doctorate recognition decision.

Chapter V

INSPECTION OF DOSSIERS ON TRAINING PROCESS AND APPRAISAL OF DISSERTATION QUALITY

Article 20. Rules and procedures for selection for inspection and appraisal

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall take charge of inspection of dossiers on training process and appraisal of dissertation quality in the following cases:

a) Random inspection and appraisal according to requirements of management, inspection and supervision of compliance with this Regulation and relevant regulations;

b) Inspection and appraisal of certain cases per reports, complaints or denunciations.

2. Lists of documents subject to inspection and appraisal:

a) For training process inspection: admission application and research student recognition decision; dossier on dissertation examination session at training institution; and application for doctorate awarding;

b) For dissertation quality appraisal: dissertation; dissertation summary; copies of publications of research results of research student.

3. Inspection and appraisal procedures:

a) The Ministry of Education and Training shall announce list of cases requiring training process inspection or dissertation quality appraisal based on periodic reports of training institutions in writing;

b) Training institutions shall send 01 dossier for training process inspection or 03 dossiers for dissertation quality appraisal to the Ministry of Education and Training;

c) The Ministry of Education and Training shall carry out the inspection or appraisal and notify the results to training institutions in writing within 60 working days after receipt of sufficient documents according to regulations in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 21. Handling of inspection and appraisal results

1. A satisfactory inspection or appraisal result is given in the following cases:

a) The training process dossier provided by the training institution contains sufficient evidences that admission, training organization and management and dissertation examination are carried out in accordance with requirements of the training institution  applicable to the research student as per regulations;

b) The dissertation’s quality is appraised and approved professionally by at least 02 out of 03 scientists holding the professor or associate professor title, having a Doctor of Science degree or doctorate, specialized in a suitable area, and knowledgeable about the research topic and field of the research student.

2. An unsatisfactory inspection or appraisal result is given in the following cases:

a) The training process dossier provided by the training institution does not contain sufficient evidences that admission, training organization and management and dissertation examination are carried out in accordance with regulations of this Regulation and requirements of the training institution  applicable to the research student;

b) The dissertation’s quality is not approved professionally by 02 out of 03 appraising scientists.

3. For training process dossiers with unsatisfactory results, training institutions shall provide explanations for relevant matters, supplement evidences and propose handling methods to the Ministry of Education and Training as per existing regulations.

4. For dissertations with unsatisfactory quality:

a) The Ministry of Education and Training shall decide to establish a dissertation appraisal committee to examine and pass a resolution on the dissertation’s quality; authorize the training institution to convene the dissertation appraisal committee under the supervision of a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training;

b) The appraisal committee shall consist of 07 members, at least 03 of whom are not an independent examiner or a member of the dissertation examination committee; appraising scientists who did not approve of the dissertation according to regulations in Point b Clause 2 of this Article are ex officio members of the appraisal committee;

c) Standards and duties of members of the dissertation appraisal committee shall be similar to those of members of the dissertation examination committee of the training institution mentioned in Clause 2 Article 16 of this Regulation;

d) The dissertation appraisal committee may convene when at least 06 members are present, including the chairperson, secretary and committee members who did not approve of the dissertation;

dd) The dissertation will fail the appraisal when it is not approved by 02 members of the dissertation appraisal committee or more. In this case, the training institution shall organize and preside over a dialogue between the dissertation appraisal committee and dissertation examination committee with the participation of a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training. At least 09 members of both committees must join the dialogue; chairpersons, examiners, secretaries and members who did not approve of the dissertation from both committees must be present. The dissertation will not be passed if at least 03 members present in the dialogue does not approve of it. The dialogue’s result shall be the final result concerning appraisal of the dissertation’s quality.

5. In case training process and dissertation quality are unsatisfactory after implementation of regulations in Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article, training institutions shall consider and decide on one of the following options:

a) If the research student has not been awarded a doctorate, the training institution shall allow the research student to complete requirements for doctorate awarding (for cases requiring training process inspection) within the study time limit stated in the research student recognition decision, including permitted extension (if any); or to have the dissertation reexamined if it has not undergone a second examination (for cases requiring dissertation quality appraisal) within no more than 06 months;

b) If the research student has been awarded a doctorate, the doctorate shall be revoked according to existing regulations and in the following cases: the training process dossier confirms that there is a serious violation or mistake resulting in the doctorate holder being ineligible for admission, research student recognition and maintenance of quality assurance conditions during the study and research processes at the training institution; there is content copied or cited against regulations in the dissertation and the appraisal committee concludes that, if the copied or citied content is removed, the dissertation no longer meets requirements of this Regulation; the dissertation is not passed by the appraisal committee according to regulations in Point dd Clause 4 of this Article.

6. Within no more than 60 working days after the date of receipt of the notification from the Ministry of Education and Training on the final inspection or appraisal result or date upon which the dialogue results are available, the training institution shall send a written report on handling of the inspection or appraisal results to the Ministry of Education and Training together with evidences.

Chapter VI

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 22. Formulation and implementation of training institution regulations

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

a) Formulate, promulgate and implement regulations of their institutions; these regulations must be specific and may provide equivalent or stricter requirements but shall not contradict regulations of this Regulation;

b) Fulfill duties concerning education quality assurance according to regulations in Article 50 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018);

c) Fulfill duties and exercise powers concerning scientific and technological activities according to regulations in Article 41 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018);

d) Reinforce academic integrity; supervise and control anti-plagiarism; develop sanctions, strictly handle violations; ensure honesty of content of doctoral dissertations evaluated at their institutions;

dd) Formulate policies promoting gender equality in doctoral education to contribute to the national strategy for gender equality in education and training;

e) Plan and organize annual inspection of compliance with regulations on doctoral program admission, doctoral program organization and doctorate awarding of their institutions;

g) Before the start of each course, disseminate and provide guidance for research students on training institution regulations and other regulations related to study, research, and rights and responsibilities of research students;

h) Perform internal inspection of execution of plans, programs, training institution regulations and other tasks concerning admission, training and doctorate awarding; 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 and other relevant law provisions.

Article 23. Retention, reporting and information publication requirements

1. Responsibilities of training institutions:

a) Complete internal databases and update data on doctoral education to the national higher education database, including information on admission; information of research students; information of lecturers and instructors; information on results of scientific and technological activities related to doctoral education; information on doctorate awarding; completed dissertations of research students submitted to National Library of Vietnam in summary and in full;

b) Archive dossiers on admission, training process and degree awarding of research students as per existing regulations.

2. On the last day of each even numbered month, training institutions shall submit reports on lists of research students having defended their dissertations and dissertations approved by dissertation examination committees of training institutions in the 02 immediately preceding months to the Ministry of Education and Training (using the form in Appendix III); training institutions shall also submit periodic reports before December 31 of every year (using the form in Appendix IV) and ad hoc reports upon request.

3. Training institutions shall publish the following information on their websites before admission and training programs start:

a) Training institution regulations and relevant training management regulations concerning admission, doctoral programs and doctorate awarding;

b) Quality assurance conditions per existing regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and other information according to regulations.

Article 24. Transitional clauses

1. Doctoral programs provided for cohorts admitted before the entry into force of this Circular shall continue to take place according to the regulation on doctoral program admission and doctoral education enclosed with Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BGDDT dated April 04, 2017 by the Minister of Education and Training.

2. Training institutions shall decide application of Clause 2 Article 5 and Point c and Point d Clause 1 Article 14 of this Circular to cohorts admitted before the entry into force of this Circular.