Checking the quality of a proposed degree program

Circular 04/2025/TT-BGDĐT · Program accreditation

The detail

1. The rule and its status

Circular 04 establishes standards, review procedures and cycles for higher-education program accreditation. Issued February 17, 2025; effective April 4, 2025, subject to transition and later changes requiring reconciliation. Official record · Signed Vietnamese text, Article 45, page 32.

Its scope includes training institutions, authorized domestic accreditors and related organizations. Article 1(4) separately addresses a Vietnamese institution choosing a foreign accreditor recognized by MOET: the standards, procedures and cycle follow that organization's registered operating scope. Do not apply the domestic review cycle mechanically to every foreign certificate.

2. Who it affects and what it means for a US school

This is a program-level quality framework, distinct from institutional accreditation under Circular 20/2026 and distinct from permission to run a foreign-linked program. A Vietnamese partner's institutional certificate does not tell you whether the proposed program has been reviewed, by whom or for which period/mode. Official text, Articles 1–2.

The framework covers learning outcomes, curriculum, teaching/learning, assessment, academic personnel, learner support, facilities and program results. Article 12 describes self-evaluation, external evaluation, appraisal and recognition. It sets a five-year cycle for achieved status, conditional improvement within at most 24 months, and a seven-year subsequent cycle only when the stated prior-cycle improvement conditions are met. It is not a universal seven-year certificate rule. Articles 4–13, especially pages 9–10.

Article 13 distinguishes achieved, conditionally achieved and not achieved status and identifies mandatory criteria. A conditional result must not be advertised as unqualified full accreditation. Ask for the actual decision/certificate, evaluation report, conditions, improvements and any later action, matched to the exact program and award.

3. What to do, by partnership model

• Recruitment: use the precise current program/accreditor/status/date in any quality claim. A badge on a university website is insufficient evidence of scope.
• 2+2/3+1: review both the Vietnamese study component and the receiving program's standards. Accreditation does not require a US institution to accept particular credits.
• Dual degree/joint program: identify each award/program and applicable quality route. For a foreign accreditor, verify MOET recognition and registered scope rather than assuming home-country recognition covers activity in Vietnam.
• Online/blended: match evaluation evidence to the actual mode and teaching/support systems. Circular 04 replaces the earlier separate distance-program standard identified in Article 45; this does not itself permit a new delivery mode.
• Branch campus: check branch operation and parent/program quality evidence separately. An authorized provider still needs the applicable quality process.

Article 17 requires traceable, accurate, coded/digitized evidence. Articles 42–43 assign institutions/accreditors publication, reporting, improvement and record duties. Institutions publish the stated review results and improvement material; accreditors publish their stated reports/decisions/certificates within the specified windows. Verify those publications rather than relying only on a launch announcement. Official text, pages 13 and 31–32.

4. Change history

Article 45 replaces 38/2013, 04/2016, 39/2020, 49/2012 and 23/2011/TT-BGDĐT, plus the higher-education part of 33/2014. Read the scoped repeal instead of marking the whole of 33/2014 expired. Article 44 allows institutions/accreditors that had performed the specified earlier self/external evaluations to finish under the earlier process by December 31, 2025. Final clauses, pages 32–33.

Do not apply proposed exemptions or new discretion from a news report. Official proposal report.

5. Sources and verification

Official record · Official signed PDF, 115 pages including forms

Last verified: 2026-10-22. English explanation; the official Vietnamese text controls.

6. Related rules, Atlas profiles and cases

Institutional accreditation · Accreditor operating conditions · Training programs · UEH profile · Why partnerships stall. These are diligence starting points, not a finding that the linked institution's every program meets this circular.

7. Not legal advice and briefing

Request a 30-minute Vietnam Partnership Briefing at no cost with the exact certificate, program, issuer, mode and proposed partnership to identify the quality-evidence questions that remain.

For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.