Decree 91/2026/NĐ-CP · Higher-education institutional status
What this means for you
- Check the exact Vietnamese legal entity and its recognition or conversion decision; the English word university can hide different structures.
- Identify which parent, member school or unit makes academic and contractual decisions and keeps student records.
- A new university status or nonprofit label does not authorize a particular foreign-linked degree or expand its delivery modes.
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 higher-education institutions must meet the new rules for institutional names, recognition of university status, nonprofit conversion and specified governance processes. In force: issued/effective March 30, 2026; Article 3(5)–(8) took effect July 1. Official decree, Articles 1 and 13.
2. Who it affects and what it means for a US school
This matters when identifying a partner and understanding a change from trường đại học to đại học, regional/national-university recognition, or private-to-nonprofit status. A new institutional label is not evidence that a particular foreign program is approved. The English word “university” can obscure legally different Vietnamese categories; use the exact Vietnamese legal name and decision.
Articles 4–9 govern recognition of university, regional-university and national-university status and associated authority/procedures. Article 10 concerns private nonprofit conversion. Article 11 addresses treaty-established institutions, and Article 12 specified personnel procedures. This decree does not establish a universal self-approval right for foreign-linked degrees.
3. What to do, by partnership model
- Recruitment: verify the exact entity and current name before using a Vietnamese institution's logo or claiming a relationship.
- 2+2/3+1: specify which member school, parent university and unit make admissions, credit and award decisions; identify who retains student records after reorganization.
- Dual degree/joint program: obtain the recognition/conversion decision if the entity has changed, its current charter and delegations, and the separate program authorization. Do not replace program evidence with a system-level university recognition decision.
- Online/blended: confirm the legal entity responsible for delivery and student support. Institutional status does not expand permitted delivery modes.
- Branch campus: distinguish an institution's domestic branch from a foreign institution's Vietnamese branch. Establishment/operation conditions now require Decree 361 analysis.
These are practical diligence steps derived from the decree's institutional subjects; they do not add a separate regulatory application for each partnership model.
4. Change history
Article 13 ends Decrees 141/2013 and 99/2019, and Articles 104–105 of Decree 125/2024, subject to Article 14. Official final clauses, pages 15–16. Existing names may continue or be adjusted. Valid name-change files submitted before July 1 retain the earlier route; specified establishment, conversion and recognition files received before this decree have saved procedures. Institutions previously converted to đại học must plan to meet Articles 4–5 within five years, subject to the stated approved roadmap. Consequently, current use of a name does not prove immediate compliance with every new recognition threshold.
5. Sources and verification
Official signed Vietnamese decree · Government register
Last verified: 2026-10-21. English explanation; the official Vietnamese text controls.
6. Related pages
Organization rules · University Atlas · VNU Hanoi · VNU HCMC · Why partnerships stall.
7. Briefing and legal note
Not legal advice. Prepare a briefing with a USVN senior advisor to distinguish institutional status, contracting authority and approval of the actual program.
For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.