Circular 34/2026/TT-BGDĐT · Admissions quantities
What this means for you
- Foreign-linked programs are included in Vietnam's admissions-capacity rules; a commercial enrollment target is not enough.
- Check the intake year, degree level, field and mode. Specified new criteria apply from the 2027 intake rather than automatically to 2026.
- Ask for the institution's capacity calculation and staff/resource evidence. Online delivery does not make intake unlimited.
Questions about how this applies to your institution? Talk it through with a USVN senior advisor.
The detail
1. The rule and its status
Institutions must determine admissions quantities from the applicable capacity criteria, including foreign-linked programs, with different provisions for2026 and 2027 intakes. In force with staged application: issued/effective April 19, 2026; specified substantive criteria apply from the 2027 intake. Official Gazette text/record, Articles 1,9–10.
2. Who it affects and what it means for a US school
Article 1 expressly includes foreign-linked programs, alongside undergraduate, master's, doctoral and preschool-college admissions. A partnership's commercial cohort target therefore needs to fit the Vietnamese institution's lawful admissions quantity and delivery capacity; a signed agreement or market-demand forecast is not enough.
The applicable rule depends on the intake year, level, field, mode and institution. Do not use one headline ratio or an institution's total headcount to certify capacity for a particular linked program. Use the full criteria and annexes to assess the proposed intake.
3. What to do, by partnership model
- Recruitment: confirm the approved/published admissions quantity and applicable intake year before promising places.
- 2+2/3+1: distinguish recruitment into a Vietnamese program from admission to a US completion component; check the Vietnamese component's quantity and how articulation learners are counted.
- Dual degree/joint program: document the foreign-linked program's intake basis, current staff/resources and the institutional allocation; the cooperation contract's cohort ceiling does not replace the legal calculation.
- Online/blended: verify the quantity rules for the actual mode and capacity; do not assume digital delivery makes intake unlimited.
- Branch campus: combine the licensed field/level/location scope with the applicable admissions-quantity rule. Establishment permission does not itself determine a student quota.
These are diligence actions derived from the circular's scope, not a new application checklist. Retain the institution's calculation and the evidence behind it, and distinguish the legal maximum from the financially sustainable cohort size.
4. Change history
Article 9 replaces Circular 03/2022 and 10/2023 subject to Article 10. Article 9(2) stages Article 3, Article 4(1), specified Article 5 provisions, Article 6 and Annexes I–II to the 2027 intake. Article 10 keeps the specified earlier criteria for2026 quantity determination, tied to capacity as of December 31, 2026, and maps older mode labels for reporting. Therefore “effective April 19” does not mean every new capacity formula governs the 2026 intake. The official September 17 admissions/program amendment draft proposes further changes; its general effective date is blank; confirm any enacted change before applying a proposal.
5. Sources and verification
Official Gazette issuer record · Official September 17 draft
Last verified: 2026-10-22. English explanation; the official Vietnamese text controls.
6. Related pages
Training programs · Articulation · Joint-program rules · University Atlas · Why partnerships stall.
7. Briefing and legal note
Not legal advice. Prepare a briefing with a USVN senior advisor with the proposed intake year, mode, field and institution's capacity calculation before using a cohort assumption in a partnership business case.
For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.