Decree 86/2018/NĐ-CP · Foreign education cooperation
What this means for you
- A joint degree delivered with a Vietnamese university is different from opening your own foreign branch.
- Use the surviving quality and delivery requirements together with later instruments; the older compilation is not a complete current checklist.
- Check the temporary institutional-decision route for joint programs and the newer branch rules before relying on an old dossier or approval term.
Questions about how this applies to your institution? Talk it through with a USVN senior advisor.
The detail
1. The rule and its status
Foreign cooperation in education remains governed by the surviving provisions of Decree 86, its amendments and later instruments; the older consolidated file is not a complete October 2026 restatement. Partly in force, amended: issued June 6, 2018; effective August 1, 2018. Decree 124/2024 amended it; Resolution 30/2026 continued specified rules, and Decree 361 removed listed foreign-HEI/branch provisions from September 17. Official consolidation.
2. Who it affects and what it means for a US school
The decree distinguishes educational linkage from establishment/investment. Article 2(5) defines higher-education linkage as Vietnamese/foreign institutional cooperation leading to a degree or certificate without forming a new legal entity. A foreign branch is a separate route. Do not read all 175 pages of the older consolidation as current merely because the official file remains online.
For linked programs, Articles 16–25 address authorization, admissions, curriculum, location, facilities, academic staffing, assessment, dossier, authority and approval term. Read them with the new Higher Education Law and Circulars 07/2025,54/2026 and 65/2026. 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.
3. What to do, by partnership model
- Recruitment: classify recruitment to a US campus separately from recruitment into Vietnam-based linked delivery. Study-abroad consultancy has a later procedural track under Resolution 23 Annex VI.
- 2+2/3+1: determine whether this is individual mobility/credit recognition or a linked program delivered partly in Vietnam/abroad under Article 17. Document entry, curriculum and issuer conditions; the shorthand ratio is not an approval category.
- Dual degree: establish the actual issuers and program approvals; two awards do not remove the linkage requirements.
- Joint program: retain the agreement and substantive quality/learner-protection evidence, but apply Resolution 66.18 to the institutional decision, disclosure and data obligations where its provisions remain operative. Do not demand the old Article 21 government dossier as a current blanket requirement.
- Online/blended: check Article 20(3)'s in-person Vietnam-partner assessment requirement and specified force-majeure exception, with the newer technology rules. Circular 07's workload classification is not an exemption from all assessment conditions.
- Branch campus: use Decree 361 for the new establishment/operating regime. Article 41(2)(đ) of 361 removes precisely listed86/124 provisions; an older500-billion capital rule must not be presented as the new-application baseline.
Historical procedure: Article 23's 20-working-day government appraisal period and Articles 24–25's fixed-term approval/renewal process must not be described as the current default for procedures displaced by Resolution 66.18. Check the resolution's specific approval savings, pending-file transitions and later-instrument clause.
4. Change history
Read 124's amendments, Resolution 30 Annex II and 361 Articles 41–42. Decree 361 preserves specified prior files/permits and the remaining transition for some existing foreign providers. The draft reported September 19 is not enacted authority. Check the specific article, later changes and transition before relying on an older rule.
5. Sources and verification
Official Vietnamese consolidation · later signed361
Last verified: 2026-10-30. English explanation; the official Vietnamese text controls.
6. Related pages
Joint programs · Online/blended · Branch campuses · Troy · University Atlas.
7. Briefing and legal note
Not legal advice. Prepare a briefing with a USVN senior advisor to classify the activity and reconcile the applicable articles, filing history and approval authority with Vietnamese counsel.
For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.