The Prime Minister has issued a new regulation which will tighten the affiliation in education and training between Vietnamese and foreign organisations.

 Rules tighten on affiliated education programmes

The affiliated programmes will be allowed to include those which use foreign curricula or curricula built in co-operation between foreign and domestic partners, the programmes that let students study in Vietnam only, or students can study in Vietnam then overseas later.

The degrees would be issued according to the organisations' own regulations and the courses would not be valid for more than five years from the day it is licensed.

Before starting an affiliated programme, an organisation must meet all of the requirements, including proficient teaching staff, equipment, curricula and language courses. The regulation stated, "Teachers must use foreign languages in affiliated programmes, and cannot use Vietnamese or interpreters. Interpreters can only appear in programmes that will grant Vietnamese degrees."

Education affiliation programmes must not only be recognised in Vietnam but also be qualified in the partners' own countries.

Student wishing to join affiliated programmes must fullfill certain requirements. If they study to get Vietnamese degrees, they must meet Vietnamese requirements for their respective degrees, be it bachelor, master or doctoral. Or if they want degrees recognised in another country, they also must meet those countries' requirements for their type of degree.

If the programmes grant degrees from both sides, the students must meet the requirements of both Vietnam and the affiliated countries.

In order to prevent students who are weak in foreign language skills from graduating, the regulation stated that only students who have at least a level of B2 in the common European framework of reference for languages skills or equivalent degrees are allowed to apply for bachelor's, masters or doctoral degrees.

Students who wish to study for college or vocational training must have at least a level of B1 or an equivalent degree.

Based on the learners' needs, the organisations can set up pre-training classes for the learners before the official courses begin.

The regulation which will go into effect on November 15 said that foreign invested education facilities can be a nursery for foreign children, or vocational schools or universities. Primary, secondary or high schools will also be allowed to establish affiliation programmes, but the number of Vietnamese students must be less than 10% of the total number of students.