Circular No. 12/2024/TT-BGDĐT Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BGDĐT dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Minister of Education and Training, concerning conditions, procedures, and steps for opening training programs and suspending operations of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral level training programs.

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BGDĐT dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Minister of Education and Training on conditions, procedures, and steps for opening training programs and suspending activities of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree training programs. đperiodi bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees

Pursuant to the Education Law dated June 14, 2019;

Pursuant to the Higher Education Law dated June 18, 2012; the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Higher Education Law dated November 19, 2018;

Pursuant to Decree No. 86/2022/NĐ-CP dated October 24, 2022 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to Decree No. 99/2019/NĐ-CP dated December 30, 2019 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Higher Education Law;

7. Components of a training program include a group of courses and other learning and research activities with common characteristics in specialized fields; clearly playing a role in achieving a set of goals and requirements of the training program. These components are used to design the overall structure of the training program (such as general education, basic sciences, core subjects, internships and experiences, scientific research, and other components).

The Minister of Education and Training issues this Circular to amend and supplement some articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BGDĐT dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Minister of Education and Training on conditions, procedures, and steps for opening training programs and suspending activities of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree training programs.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BGDĐT dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Minister of Education and Training on conditions, procedures, and steps for opening training programs and suspending activities of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree training programs.

1. Supplementing Point d of Clause 2 and Clauses 8 and 9 of Article 3 as follows:

a) Supplementing Point d of Clause 2 as follows:

"d) The head instructor responsible for developing and implementing the training program and the head instructor teaching the training program must be a full-time faculty member who has not reached the maximum retirement age as stipulated by the Government regarding higher retirement ages for civil servants in public institutions; they must directly teach a complete set of required courses or supervise master's theses and doctoral dissertations annually within the training program."

b) Supplementing Clauses 8 and 9 as follows:

"8. A field suitable at the doctoral or master's level for a lower-level training program must meet one of the following requirements:

a) It must have the same name as the training program or comply with the standards of the training program curriculum established by the Ministry of Education and Training;

b) In cases where there is no standard curriculum for the relevant field or group of fields: There must be scientific and practical grounds and it must be determined by the Scientific and Training Council of the training institution as the field with the closest professional foundation to the training program, chosen by most graduates when pursuing higher levels of education;

c) It must be confirmed by the Ministry of Education and Training based on the opinion of the Expert Advisory Board established by the Ministry of Education and Training."

9. A field suitable at the doctoral level for a training program of the same level must meet one of the following requirements:

a) It must have the same name as the training program or comply with the standards of the training program curriculum established by the Ministry of Education and Training;

b) In cases where there is no standard curriculum for the relevant field or group of fields: There must be scientific and practical grounds and it must be determined by the Scientific and Training Council of the training institution as the field with the same professional foundation and belonging to the same group of fields as the training program;

c) It must be confirmed by the Ministry of Education and Training based on the opinion of the Expert Advisory Board established by the Ministry of Education and Training."

2. Supplementing Clauses 7 and 8 of Article 4 as follows:

"7. For training programs for teachers of ethnic minority languages in Vietnam and training programs for ethnic minority languages in Vietnam that do not meet the conditions specified in Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Article, the training institution shall develop a proposal to open the training program and submit it to the Ministry of Education and Training for review and decision based on the opinion of the Expert Advisory Board established by the Ministry of Education and Training.

8. Faculty members meeting the requirements specified in Clause 2 of this Article are those who meet the criteria specified in the standard curriculum and satisfy one of the following conditions:

a) They hold a doctoral or master's degree in a suitable field as stipulated in Clause 8 of Article 4 of this Circular;

b) They hold a doctoral or master's degree in a field determined by the Scientific and Training Council of the training institution as suitable for leading at least two core courses in a component of the training program, and have at least two years of direct teaching experience in these courses."

3. Amending and supplementing Clause 4 of Article 5 as follows:

"4. Having experience in organizing training and scientific research related to the training program, meeting one of the following conditions:

a) The master's degree training program is a suitable field for a bachelor's degree training program;

b) In the last five years, the number of faculty members specified in Clause 1 of this Article have had at least two years of direct teaching experience in more than 50% of the courses in the training program; and have published at least 20 scientific papers or reports in journals recognized by the State Council of Professors for the training program, as the lead author or corresponding author."

4. Amending and supplementing Clause 4 and Clause 5 of Article 6 as follows:

"4. Having experience in organizing training and scientific research related to the training program, meeting one of the following conditions:

a) The doctoral degree training program is a suitable field for a master's degree training program;

b) In the last five years, the number of faculty members specified in Clause 1 of this Article have supervised at least five successful doctoral dissertations in the training program (at another training institution); and have published at least 50 scientific papers or reports in journals recognized by the State Council of Professors for the training program, as the lead author or corresponding author.

5. Meeting the criteria of the University Education Institution Standard applicable to doctoral training institutions including:

a) Criterion 2.3 on the ratio of full-time faculty members with doctoral degrees;

b) Criterion 6.1 on the proportion of income from scientific and technological activities (excluding training institutions under the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security);

c) Criterion 6.2 on the average number of scientific and technological publications per full-time faculty member."

5. Supplementing Point c of Clause 4 of Article 8 as follows:

"c) In cases where there is insufficient basis to clearly determine the suitable field of the faculty member, the training institution shall submit a report containing relevant information as specified in Point d of Clause 8 of this Article and request the Ministry of Education and Training to establish an Expert Advisory Board to review and confirm. The Expert Advisory Board shall consist of 3 to 5 members who are faculty members or experts with appropriate qualifications and experience in the relevant field or group of fields, representing reputable training institutions in the relevant field or group of fields."

6. Amending and supplementing Article 12 as follows:

"Article 12. Suspension of Training Program Activities

1. The training institution shall be suspended from admitting students for a training program in the following cases:

a) Has opened a program in accordance with regulations but has not maintained all the conditions for opening the program during its operation as stipulated in this Circular;

b) Violates other provisions of education laws to the extent that requires suspension of enrollment activities.

2. The training institution shall be suspended from conducting training activities for a program in the following cases:

a) Self-initiated opening of a training program or fraudulently obtaining permission to open a training program without ensuring the required conditions as prescribed;

b) Exceeding the suspension period for enrollment activities without rectifying the causes leading to the suspension of enrollment activities;

c) Violating other provisions of education laws to the extent that requires suspension of training activities.

3. The Minister of Education and Training shall decide to suspend enrollment activities or training activities for a program when there is a conclusion from the competent state management agency regarding violations as provided for in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article; the suspension period shall range from six months to twelve months based on the severity and nature of the violation. The suspension decision must clearly state the reasons, scope, duration of the suspension, and be publicly announced through mass media.

4. The training institution subject to suspension of enrollment activities or training activities for a program as provided for in Clause 3 of this Article must implement measures to ensure the rights and legitimate interests of students, lecturers, managers, and staff of the training institution.

5. During the suspension period for enrollment activities, if the training institution has rectified the causes leading to the suspension of enrollment activities and meets all the conditions for opening a program as stipulated in this Circular, the Minister of Education and Training will decide to allow resumption of enrollment activities for the program within thirty days from the end date of the suspension period.

6. During the suspension period for training activities, if the training institution has rectified the causes leading to the suspension of training activities and meets all the conditions for opening a program as stipulated in this Circular, the Minister of Education and Training will decide to allow resumption of training activities for the program within forty-five days from the end date of the suspension period. If the training institution fails to provide sufficient evidence of having rectified the causes leading to the suspension of training activities and meeting all the conditions for opening a program by the end of the suspension period, the decision to open the training program will become invalid.

7. For a training program that has been opened but where the training institution has not organized enrollment or has not enrolled any students for five consecutive years, the decision to open the training program will become invalid.

8. In the case where a decision to open a training program becomes invalid, if the training institution wishes to continue enrolling and training in this program, it must go through the procedures and formalities for opening a program as prescribed in this Circular and related laws.

Article 2. Supplement, replace, and abolish certain terms, phrases, and some provisions of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BGDĐT dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Minister of Education and Training, concerning the conditions, procedures, and formalities for opening training programs, and suspending activities of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral level training programs.

1. Add the following terms and phrases: "and" before "learning materials" at Point b Clause 2 Article 7; "university" after "ensuring educational quality" at Clause 3 Article 13.

2. Replace the phrase "professional certificate" with "professional license" at Point c Clause 2 Article 3; replace the phrase "school" with "training institution" at Point c Clause 3 Article 3; replace the phrase "If the program opening dossier" with "In the case of the program opening dossier" at Point c Clause 3 Article 11; rename Appendix 1, Appendix 2, and Appendix 3 to Appendix I, Appendix II, and Appendix III.

3. Replace Table 2 in Appendix 2.

4. Abolish Clauses 5, 6, and 10 of Article 2; abolish Clause 5 of Article 5.

Article 3. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular takes effect from January 5, 2025.

2. For training programs that have been opened and are operating before the effective date of this Circular, the training institutions shall continue to maintain and improve the conditions for opening programs according to the provisions of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BGDĐT dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Minister of Education and Training, or according to the provisions of this Circular, while ensuring that all programs enrolling students from June 1, 2026, meet all the conditions for opening programs as stipulated in this Circular.

3. The Director of the Office, Heads of the Higher Education Department, heads of relevant units under the Ministry of Education and Training; rectors of universities and academies; principals of university schools; directors of research institutes offering doctoral training; principals or directors of other educational institutions permitted to offer undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral training; and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular.