Circular No. 14/2019/TT-BGDĐT guiding the construction, examination, issuance of economic-technical norms and methods for establishing education and training service prices applicable in the field of education and training.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for establishing, reviewing, promulgating economic and technical norms and

methods for constructing service education and training prices applicable

in the field of education and training

Pursuant to Decree No. 69/2017/NĐ-CP dated May 25, 2017 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to Decree No. 16/2015/NĐ-CP dated February 14, 2015 of the Government stipulating the self-management mechanism of public service units;

Pursuant to Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP dated October 2, 2015 of the Government on mechanisms for collecting and managing tuition fees for educational institutions under the national education system and policies on exemption, reduction of tuition fees, and support for learning expenses from the 2015-2016 academic year to the 2020-2021 academic year; Decree No. 145/2018/ND-CP dated October 16, 2018 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Planning and Finance;

The Minister of Education and Training issues this Circular guiding the establishment, review, and promulgation of economic and technical norms and methods for constructing service education and training prices applicable in the field of education and training.toeducation and training.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

1. This Circular guides the establishment, review, and promulgation of economic and technical norms and methods for constructing service education and training prices applicable in the field of education and training.

2. This Circular applies to:

a) Public educational institutions under the national education system, including: preschool education institutions, general education institutions, higher education institutions, continuing education centers, teacher colleges, and secondary teacher training schools (hereinafter referred to as educational institutions) and related agencies, organizations, and individuals;

b) Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities (hereinafter referred to as provincial People's Committees) establish, review, and promulgate economic and technical norms for training programs and education services organized through public bidding, ordering, and assigning tasks from state budget funds;

c) Other entities participating in bidding, ordering, and assigning tasks for education and training services from state budget funds.

3. For public educational institutions directly subordinate to the people's armed forces, they shall implement according to specific regulations of each field and relevant laws.

Article 2. Interpretation of Terms

In this Circular, certain terms are understood as follows:

1. Economic and technical norms applied in the field of education and training (hereinafter referred to as economic and technical norms) are the quantities of consumption of labor, equipment, materials required to complete education and training for one student to meet the criteria and standards issued by competent authorities. Economic and technical norms include three basic component norms: Labor norms, equipment norms, and material norms.

2. Labor norm is the amount of labor consumption necessary for workers according to their expertise and profession to complete education and training for one student to meet the criteria and standards issued by competent authorities.

3. Equipment norms are the values consumed for each type of machinery and equipment necessary to complete training for one student to meet the criteria and standards issued by competent authorities.

4. Material norms are the amounts consumed for each type of raw materials, materials, and fuel necessary to complete training for one student to meet the criteria and standards issued by competent authorities.

5. Service education and training price includes all costs of salaries, material costs, management costs, depreciation/amortization of fixed assets (accumulated investment), and other costs and funds serving directly and indirectly the activities of education and training.

Article 3. Objectives for establishing and promulgating economic and technical norms

1. Economic and technical norms serve as the basis for competent authorities to establish and approve unit prices, service fees for education and training, budget estimates for providing state-funded education services, and economic management in educational activities in accordance with the law.

2. Publicly funded educational institutions shall establish, review, and promulgate economic and technical norms to support their professional activities; they shall also set service fees for education and training provided by these institutions.

Chapter II

ESTABLISHING, REVIEWING AND PROMULGATING ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL NORMS

IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Article 4. Classification of economic and technical norms

1. Ministry-level economic and technical norms are those established, reviewed, and promulgated by ministries and ministerial-level agencies for higher education services to be applied to educational institutions under their national management.

2. Local-level economic and technical norms are those established, reviewed, and promulgated by provincial People's Committees for preschool and general education services, secondary teacher education services, and continuing education services within the scope of local agencies, organizations, and educational institutions.

3. Institutional-level economic and technical norms are those established, reviewed, and promulgated by educational institutions to support their professional activities.

Article 5. Basis for establishing economic and technical norms

1. Regulations on educational programs, training programs, knowledge standards, and output competency standards corresponding to each level of education and training.

2. Regulations on the charter of kindergartens; the charter of primary schools; the charter of junior high schools, senior high schools, and multi-grade schools; the charter of secondary teacher colleges, college-level teacher training institutes, and universities; work norms and conditions for teachers, administrative staff, and service staff; equipment norms for teaching and learning.

3. Actual operational conditions of educational institutions concerning infrastructure, including construction works, workshops, machinery, equipment, textbooks, and materials.

4. Standards and norms for equipment and working tools of state agencies, civil servants, and public officials.

5. Annual statistical data and related documents.

Article 6. Methods for establishing economic and technical norms

1. Standard method: Based on existing standards and regulations to determine consumption rates for each task, serving as the foundation for calculating and establishing economic and technical norms.

2. Practical calculation method based on training programs: Based on the actual implementation of training programs at educational institutions to calculate and determine each component of the norm. Guidelines for calculating the cost of training a regular university class according to the training program attached as an appendix to the Circular.

Article 7. Content of economic and technical norms

Apply one or more methods stipulated in Article 6 of this Circular to establish the following component norms:

1. Labor Standard

Labor norm = Direct labor norm (lecturing; guiding practical sessions; guiding term papers, dissertations, theses...) + Indirect labor norm (management costs; services...).

The indirect labor norm is calculated as a percentage of direct labor.

2. Equipment Quotas

Equipment norm = Initial equipment price x Percentage rate of depreciation as prescribed.

(This is the fixed asset depreciation/maintenance value as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance).

3. Material norm

Is the consumption rate of raw materials, materials, fuel, and is determined according to type and quantity/volume.

Article 8. Construction, review, and issuance of economic-technical norms

1. Based on the provisions of Article 3 of this Circular, Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial People's Committees, and educational institutions shall decide to establish a leading department or assign the task of leading the research and construction of economic-technical norms within their management scope according to the methods and contents stipulated in Articles 6 and 7 of this Circular.

2. Based on actual conditions regarding human resources, organizational structure, and assigned functions and tasks, Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial People's Committees, and educational institutions shall organize reviews or assign tasks to specialized agencies to lead the review of economic-technical norms within their management scope for submission to the Minister, head of a ministerial-level agency, Chairman of a provincial People's Committee, or head of an educational institution to issue economic-technical norms within their authority.

3. In cases where issued economic-technical norms are no longer suitable with new conditions regarding implementation organization and technical standards, quality prescribed by competent state agencies, Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial People's Committees, and educational institutions shall adjust and supplement economic-technical norms according to the procedures stipulated in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article to ensure compliance with legal regulations.

Chapter III

METHODS FOR BUILDING EDUCATION AND TRAINING SERVICE PRICES

Article 9. Principles for calculating education and training service prices

1. Education and training service prices must accurately reflect all component costs including salary costs, material costs, management costs, depreciation/amortization costs of fixed assets (accumulated investment), and other costs and funds.

2. Education and training service prices are differentiated based on educational levels, industry groups, and training programs.

3. Education and training service prices are adjusted when factors forming education and training service prices change.

Article 10. Determining education and training service prices

1. Education and training service prices are determined according to the following formula:

2. Salary cost

a) Salary cost includes amounts payable to teachers, lecturers, managers, and directly involved workers in providing education and training services, including salaries, wages, and allowances with the nature of salaries, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, trade union fees, and other expenses required to be paid under current laws.

- Labor norm: Established according to the guidance provided in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Circular;

- The unit salary rate is implemented in accordance with current laws on salaries; wage costs are expenses paid to workers based on labor contracts or collective labor agreements.

b) Based on actual conditions and requirements, salary costs are determined based on the salary fund or revenue sources of educational institutions to ensure effective operations and must be detailed in internal expenditure regulations of the institution.

2. Material costs are expenses serving teaching, learning, practical activities, internship, scientific research, and service provision activities, including office supplies, tools, electricity, water, raw materials, fuel, materials, and other costs determined based on material consumption rates and unit material prices:

a) Material consumption rates are determined based on economic-technical norms as follows:

- For products with economic-technical norms prescribed by competent state agencies, apply the economic-technical norms;

- For products without economic-technical norms prescribed by competent state agencies, apply norms established by the Rector or Head of the unit and bear responsibility under the law for the accuracy of the applied economic-technical norms, ensuring principles of thrift and efficiency.

b) Unit material prices are determined as follows:

Unit material prices used to calculate education and training service prices include value-added tax and are determined in accordance with the standards, types, and quality of materials used. Specifically:

- For materials priced by the State: calculated according to the State-prescribed price plus reasonable circulation costs (if applicable);

- For materials purchased externally:

If there are insufficient invoices and receipts as prescribed, calculate based on the lowest price from sources such as market prices provided by organizations with the function of supply or manufacturer quotations, supplier information;

If there are complete invoices and receipts as prescribed, calculate based on the purchase price recorded on the sales invoice; or the winning bid price, auction price, listed price plus reasonable costs to bring the materials to the educational institution (if applicable);

- For directly imported materials put into use: calculated based on the import cost price according to the regulations of the competent authority plus actual reasonable costs to bring the materials to the educational institution (if applicable);

- For self-manufactured materials: calculated based on the actual warehouse exit price plus actual costs incurred during the process of bringing the materials to the educational institution (if applicable);

- For materials processed on consignment: calculated based on the actual warehouse exit price for processing plus processing costs plus reasonable costs to bring the materials to the educational institution (if applicable);

Prices of various materials and costs related to processing, transportation, storage, procurement, etc., must be recorded on invoices and receipts in accordance with the law.

3. Management costs are expenses serving departments and offices within the management unit of educational institutions, including:

a) Admission costs;

b) Costs of external services supporting management work; amounts spent on purchasing and using technical documents, patents... (not meeting criteria for recording as fixed assets) are allocated gradually into management costs; rental costs for fixed assets; costs paid to contractors (if any);

c) Other monetary expenses under common management, excluding those mentioned above, such as conference costs, reception costs, travel expenses, transportation fees, expenses for female workers, research, training, membership fee payments, and other reasonable expenses;

Management costs shall be determined based on the average statistical data of management expense items over the three consecutive years (as per the state budget classification) of the educational institution to ensure the effective operation of the unit. The total management cost must not exceed 10% of the total costs constituting the service training price and must be detailed in the internal expenditure regulations of the unit.

4. Depreciation or amortization costs of fixed assets are the depreciation or amortization costs of buildings, structures, machinery, equipment, and other fixed assets used in the provision of education and training services, calculated according to the provisions of the Ministry of Finance and the schedule for incorporating depreciation or amortization costs of fixed assets into the education and training service price as prescribed by the competent authority.

5. Other costs include business license tax, land rental fees, and other charges and fees.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 11. Responsibilities of Ministries, agencies at the ministerial level, provincial People's Committees, and public educational institutions

1. Based on the provisions of this Circular, establish and promulgate economic and technical norms applicable in the field of education and training according to the分级制度。

2. Regularly review, adjust, and supplement the economic and technical norms applicable in the field of education and training according to the分级制度that have been issued to ensure they are consistent with actual conditions and current regulations. Guide the construction and examination of economic and technical norms of subordinate educational institutions according to the provisions of this Circular and based on the economic and technical norms of the sector.

3. Monitor, compile, and implement regular reporting systems on the implementation of economic and technical norms at subordinate educational institutions, submitting reports to the Ministry of Education and Training before December 20 each year.

Article 12. Responsibilities of Educational Institutions

1. Based on the provisions of Article 7 of this Circular and the economic and technical norms of the direct supervisory agency stipulated in Article 11 of this Circular, establish and promulgate the economic and technical norms of the educational institution.

2. Implement regular reporting systems on the implementation of economic and technical norms to the direct supervisory agencies and local state management agencies for education and training before December 15 each year.

Article 13. Funding for the Construction, Examination, Issuance of Economic and Technical Norms, and Establishment of Education and Training Service Prices

Agencies, organizations, and educational institutions shall use their own funding to carry out the construction, examination, issuance of economic and technical norms, and establishment of education and training service prices in accordance with the State Budget Law and guiding documents.

Article 14. Effective Date

1. This Circular takes effect from October 15, 2019.

2. The Director of the Office, Heads of the Planning and Finance Department, Heads of units under the Ministry of Education and Training; Directors of Departments of Education and Training; Rectors of universities; Principals of teacher training colleges; Principals of secondary teacher training colleges; and related organizations, units, and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular./.