Training Partnerships with Foreign Educational Institutions in Vietnam — Procedures

What is a training partnership with a foreign institution?

Under Government Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP dated 6 June 2018 on foreign cooperation and investment in education (effective from 1 August 2018, as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 124/2024/ND-CP dated 5 October 2024), a “training partnership with a foreign party” is cooperation between a Vietnamese educational institution and a foreign educational institution to organize training, where the foreign training program is delivered in Vietnam and learners may receive foreign (or joint) diplomas and certificates.

Distinguish: education partnerships (for preschool and general education — Articles 7 to 11) and training partnerships (for higher and vocational education — Articles 12 to 21). This article focuses on higher-education training partnerships.

Conditions for a training partnership

• Legal standing: both the Vietnamese and the foreign educational institutions must be lawfully established and licensed to train in the intended partnership field;
• Training program: the foreign training program must hold an education quality accreditation certificate or quality recognition documents from a competent authority;
• Partnership proposal: the parties develop an implementation proposal covering necessity, objectives, contents, disciplines and training levels, facilities, curriculum, teaching staff, admission criteria, training scale, assessment methods, diplomas/certificates to be granted, quality assurance and learner rights, tuition fees and financial management.

Dossier for training partnership approval

Under Article 21(1) of Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, the dossier for approval of a training partnership with a foreign party includes:

1. The joint application for training partnership approval (Form No. 06 in the Appendix);
2. The cooperation agreement or contract between the parties, detailing party information and responsibilities for commitments on programs, teaching materials, lecturers, facilities, testing, assessment, diplomas and finance;
3. Documents proving the legal standing of the parties (certified copies, or copies with originals for comparison, of establishment decisions or equivalent documents);
4. Documents proving the Vietnamese higher education institution and the foreign higher education institution are licensed to train in the intended partnership field;
5. The education quality accreditation certificate for the foreign training program or quality recognition documents from a competent authority;
6. The written policy approval for the foreign training partnership from the governing body of the Vietnamese institution (if any);
7. The training partnership implementation proposal developed by the parties (Form No. 07 in the Appendix).

Competent authority and approval procedure

For general-education partnerships, Article 10 of Decree 86/2018/ND-CP provides: the Director of the provincial Department of Education and Training approves the foreign education partnership; the parties file one dossier set with the Department; within 10 working days of receiving a complete dossier, the receiving body appraises it and submits it to the Minister of Education and Training for approval of the integrated education program; if the dossier is incomplete, the Department notifies within 5 working days; within 5 working days of receiving the program appraisal results, the Department issues the approval decision.

For higher-education training partnerships, approval of the partnership proposal falls under the Ministry of Education and Training. Parties should prepare a complete dossier under Article 21 and file with the competent authority under the current delegation.

Partnership term and extension

Under Article 11 of Decree 86/2018/ND-CP (on education partnerships, applied by analogy in principle), a partnership term may not exceed 5 years from approval and may be extended, each extension not exceeding 5 years. Extension must be requested within 6 months before expiry, on condition that the parties have complied with the approval decision and have not violated Vietnamese or foreign law.

What is new in Decree 124/2024/ND-CP

Decree 124/2024/ND-CP amends Decree 86/2018/ND-CP toward simplification: where the competent authority can retrieve data from local or state databases, individuals and organizations need not resubmit those dossier components. This is a significant advantage, shortening training-partnership dossier preparation.

Recommendations

• Choose a foreign partner whose program is already quality-accredited to reduce dossier rejection risk;
• Prepare a detailed partnership proposal, especially on diplomas, diploma equivalence and learner rights;
• Factor approval timelines into admission planning — do not commit to admissions before approval;
• Track the partnership term and proactively request extension 6 months ahead.

This article was prepared with review by the FLAW AI Legal Council and is pending QA Council review before submission to the owner for approval. It is not the opinion of a licensed human lawyer and does not replace legal advice for a specific case.