Joint-program rules · Decrees 86/2018 and 124/2024; Resolution 66.18/2026; Circulars 07/2025, 56/2026 and 65/2026
What this means for you
- The temporary joint-program rule replaces specified government approval procedures with university decisions, disclosure and database updates. Quality duties remain.
- Check the current decision-maker and legal route before recruitment. The relevant rule generally runs through February 28, 2027, but corresponding provisions can end earlier.
- Faculty already teaching the corresponding program at the US partner must lead and take responsibility for at least 25% of total program workload; this is not a staff-nationality quota.
- Agree who protects students, keeps records and funds completion if the partnership stops. A university decision does not guarantee recognition of the foreign degree.
Questions about how this applies to your institution? Talk it through with a USVN senior advisor.
The detail
Last verified: 2026-10-30. Not legal advice.
A joint training program is a regulated educational arrangement. Decree 86 defines it as cooperation between Vietnamese and foreign higher-education institutions to deliver a program leading to a degree or certificate without creating a new legal entity. Official consolidated decree, Article 2(5), page 2. Last verified: 2026-10-21.
Design the academic and operating model together
The decree's program provisions cover field and level authorization, admission conditions, teaching language, curriculum, facilities, staffing, assessment and awards. Teaching in Vietnam must occur at authorized headquarters or branches of the Vietnamese institution. Consolidated Decree 86/124, Articles 16–20, pages 12–16. Last verified: 2026-10-21.
Under Circular 07/2025, foreign-institution faculty already teaching the corresponding program must lead and take responsibility for delivering at least 25% of total joint-program workload. Do not translate this into a rule that 25% of staff must hold foreign passports. The same circular covers admissions coordination, language preparation, Vietnamese students' mandatory subjects, academic administration, awards and institutional oversight. Official Circular 07, Articles 3–7, especially 4(5), printed pages 4–6. Last verified: 2026-10-21.
Institutional decision and retained quality evidence
Approval-route update, checked October 30, 2026: Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP, Annex I.11 section 1.C.IV–VI, replaces the specified prior approval/extension/adjustment procedures with HEI decisions, disclosure, database updates and supervision, while retaining substantive quality conditions. Its relevant window generally runs July 1, 2026–February 28, 2027, subject to Article 7(4)'s intervening-instrument rule and the specific existing-approval/pending-file transitions. An old ministry dossier, five-year renewal period or autonomy label does not by itself establish the current route. Official resolution · Tracker and transition detail. Verify the institution's decision-maker and the actual program's current legal basis.
The former Article 21 approval dossier and Article 23 government appraisal period are historical for the procedures displaced by Resolution 66.18. Keep the cooperation agreement, program/faculty/facility/assessment evidence, learner protection and the institutional decision as the current compliance record. These retained documents are not a claim that the abolished government dossier must still be filed. Extensions/adjustments require website/database updates within five working days under section 1.C.V; earlier approvals have specific savings. Official resolution, PDF pp.382–385.
For undergraduate programs also apply Circular 56, Articles 2(7), 7 and 27, with the specific foreign-linked delivery provisions. It replaces 08/2021 and 28/2023 but preserves specified existing cohorts. An institutional decision does not waive Circular 07's delivery requirements or Circular 65's recognition conditions.
Recommended contract additions: assign quality-control owners, grievance handling, tuition protection, record custody and funded teach-out. Circular 65/2026 now governs foreign-degree recognition from September 26, subject to saved cases: lawful Vietnamese operation and cohort records matter. Circular 54/2026 expressly addresses foreign-issued programs' corresponding Vietnamese quality floor. Decree 91 repealed Decree 99 subject to transitions, so the older Article 22 cross-reference cannot establish current authority by itself. Last checked: 2026-10-22. Confirm the institution's current decision authority and applicable later rules.
Public example: Troy. Related: online/blended; branch campus.
Intake-year capacity check — verified 2026-10-22
Circular 34/2026 expressly includes foreign-linked programs in admissions-quantity rules. Separate 2026 criteria from the provisions staged to 2027. Circular 53/2026 applies its postgraduate framework to announced intakes from January 1, 2027; check the full criteria for the proposed program. Do not promise a cohort size from the partnership agreement alone.
For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.