Circular 07/2025/TT-BGDĐT · Foreign-linked programs
What this means for you
- These rules govern admissions, delivery and academic responsibilities for foreign-linked bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs.
- Online workload limits depend on degree level. Check the actual study plan rather than counting calendar weeks.
- Faculty already teaching the corresponding program at the foreign partner must lead and take responsibility for at least 25% of total program workload.
- Check the applicable institutional decision route and foreign-degree recognition separately; the delivery rules do not guarantee either.
Questions about how this applies to your institution? Talk it through with a USVN senior advisor.
The detail
1. The rule and its status
Vietnamese and foreign higher-education institutions must organize foreign-linked bachelor, master and doctoral programs under the circular's admission, delivery, academic-management and award rules. In force from May 5, 2025, replacing Circular 38/2020 under Article 8. Issued March 20, 2025. Official Gazette, all five pages.
2. Who it affects and what it means for a US school
This is the current identified circular for linked delivery with a Vietnamese university. A foreign degree, dual award and transfer agreement require classification by their actual design. The workload thresholds are not an independent program license, and a program approval does not guarantee recognition of a graduate's foreign award.
Article 2 classifies in-person programs as at most 30% online workload at all three levels; blended as more than 30% and at most 50% at bachelor/master level; online as more than 50% at bachelor level. Exactly 30% is in person and exactly 50% is blended. Measure workload, not the percentage of calendar weeks or faculty holding foreign passports.
3. What to do, by partnership model
- Recruitment: where recruiting for a linked program, use the approved issuer, intake and admission conditions; Article 3 coordinates admissions and language preparation. Pure recruitment to a US campus needs separate classification.
- 2+2/3+1: publish the study plan before the course starts and specify each component and issuer. Article 5 addresses movement out of/among qualifying programs and recognized accumulated learning; its credit rule is not a universal guarantee of US transfer admission.
- Dual degree: specify who issues each qualification and the requirements students must meet for it. Article 6's rights and award-information provisions do not merge two different issuers into one.
- Joint program: Article 4(5) requires faculty of the foreign institution who teach the corresponding program to lead and take responsibility for at least 25% of total workload. This is foreign-institution academic responsibility, not a foreign-nationality staffing quota.
- Online/blended: apply the Article 2 level/mode limits and Article 4 technology/academic requirements; check assessment-site conditions in the amended decree and the later technology and recognition circulars.
- Branch campus: establish whether the activity is a linked program within this circular or delivery by the licensed branch itself. A branch investment/operation license follows a different regulatory track.
Articles 4–7 address academic administration, mandatory Vietnamese-student subjects, plans, awards, disclosure and oversight. Recommended contracts should assign academic control, records, student complaints, teach-out and financial responsibilities; these recommendations do not substitute for the applicable institutional decision and legal requirements.
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.
For undergraduate foreign-issued programs, also read Circular 56/2026, Articles 2(7), 7 and 27. Its domestic form/method rules do not replace this circular's foreign-linked mode/level categories. Recognition now follows Circular 65/2026; the old reference to Circular 13/2021 in Circular 07 Article 7(1)(d) does not preserve a blanket joint-program recognition exemption.
4. Change history
Article 8(2) allows programs approved before May 5 to continue under their published provisions through the approval's stated term; later approvals/extensions follow current applicable law. Earlier Circular 38 official status: fully expired. Circular 47/2026 does not list 07/2025 in its repeal schedule; check other applicable later instruments as well. The 2026 law, program, investment, technology and recognition instruments must be read alongside this circular.
5. Sources and verification
Official Vietnamese Gazette PDF
Last verified: 2026-10-21. English explanation; the official Vietnamese text controls.
6. Related pages
Online/blended rules · Joint programs · Recognition · Troy · Keuka · University Atlas.
7. Briefing and legal note
Not legal advice. Prepare a briefing with a USVN senior advisor using the approved mode, workload calculation and cohort dates before changing or extending a program.
For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.