Conditions for establishing a foreign-invested education company in Vietnam

Legal grounds:

• Law on Enterprises 2020;
• Law on Investment 2020;
• Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP;
• Schedule of commitments on services of Vietnam in WTO.

Conditions on investors

The investor must be a person with full civil act capacity, if an organization, must have a business registration certificate certified by a consular office and be a citizen of a WTO member country.

Conditions according to the schedule of commitments on services of Vietnam in WTO

Only in technical, natural sciences and technology, business administration and business studies, economics, accounting, international law, and language training fields.

With regard to Higher education services, adult education, and other education services (including foreign language training): The educational content must be approved by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training.

Conditions on capital:

• An investment project on the establishment of a preschool education institution must have an investment rate of at least VND 30 million/child (excluding land-use costs). The minimum total investment capital is calculated based on the time with the highest expected scale. The investment capital plan must be suitable to the expected scale of each period.
• Investment projects on the establishment of general education institutions must have an investment rate of at least VND 50 million/student (excluding land-use costs). The minimum total investment capital is calculated based on the time with the highest expected scale, but not less than VND 50 billion.
• Investment projects on the establishment of short-term training and retraining establishments must have an investment rate of at least 20 million VND/student (excluding land-use costs). The minimum total investment capital is calculated based on the time with the highest expected scale.
• Investment projects on the establishment of higher education institutions must have a total investment capital of at least 1,000 billion VND (excluding land-use costs). Foreign-invested economic organizations that are project investors shall demonstrate their financial capacity in accordance with the Law on Investment. By the time of appraisal to allow the establishment of the university, the investment value must be over 500 billion VND.
• Investment projects applying to establish a branch of a foreign-invested higher education institution in Vietnam must have a minimum investment capital of VND 250 billion (excluding land-use costs). By the time of appraisal to allow the establishment of a university branch, the investment value must be over VND 150 billion.
• For foreign-invested educational institutions that do not build new facilities but rent them out or contribute capital by the Vietnamese party with existing facilities to carry out their operations, the investment level must reach at least 70% of the levels specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article.

Facilities and equipment

For short-term training and retraining institutions:

• Having appropriate classrooms in terms of lighting, furniture, equipment and teaching aids;
• Having an area used for study and teaching to ensure an average of at least 2.5m²/learner, for short-term training and retraining institutions;
• There are offices of the board of directors, leaders, teachers’ rooms, libraries and other functional rooms.

For preschool educational institutions:

• The school is concentrated in one location with a good environment. The school construction site area is determined on the basis of the number of class groups and the number of children with an average of at least 08m2/child for urban areas and towns and 12m2/child for rural areas;
• Having classrooms, children’s bedrooms and functional rooms suitable in terms of area, light, tables and chairs, equipment and utensils for child care and education;
• Having the school office, administrative department, administrative office, medical room, security room, and staff room suitable in terms of area, equipment and utensils for the management of the school, care, nurture and educate children;
• Having an appropriate clean water system, drainage system, restrooms, and sanitary equipment to ensure safety and cleanliness, meeting all activities of the school;
• Having a kitchen organized according to a one-way operation process with suitable equipment and utensils, ensuring food hygiene and safety if the school organizes cooking for children;
• Having a playground, a wall surrounding the school area, a school gate with a school sign clearly stating the name of the school as prescribed in Article 29 of this Decree;
• All construction designs and equipment, utensils and toys of the school must ensure absolute safety for children.

For general education institutions:

• The school is concentrated in one location with a good environment. The school construction site area is determined on the basis of the number of classes, the number of students and the characteristics of the region, with an average of at least 06 m2 / student for the city, town and 10 m2/student for rural areas;
• Having an area used for learning and teaching to ensure an average level of at least 2.5 m 2 /student;
• Having appropriate school offices, administrators, teachers’ rooms, and meeting rooms;
• Having subject classrooms (for junior high schools and high schools), libraries, tables and chairs, equipment and teaching aids, ensuring the standards according to current regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOE);
• There is a multi-purpose gymnasium, art education room, information technology room, room to support the education of disabled students, inclusive learning, and school health room. There is a canteen, a room for lunch breaks if a boarding school is organized;
• Having a system of clean water and toilets suitable to the size of the educational institution, ensuring the conditions on standards according to current regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;
• There is a playground, training ground, and parking area with an area of ​​at least 30% of the total area of ​​the school grounds. There is a wall around the school area, a school gate with a school sign clearly stating the school’s name as prescribed in Article 29 of this Decree.

For higher education institutions and branches of foreign-invested higher education institutions in Vietnam

• The average area of ​​land for construction of the school is at least 25m2/ student at the time of having the highest training scale in the school development plan;
• The average building area is at least 09 m2/student, of which the study area is at least 06 m2 / student, and the student’s living and living area is at least 03 m2/student;
• Having a sufficient number of lecture halls, classrooms, and functional rooms that are suitable and meet training requirements by industry and method of training organization;
• Having enough working rooms, administrative areas and management boards to ensure that the organizational structure of departments, faculties and specialized subjects, with an area of ​​at least 08 m2/person;
• Having halls, libraries, experimental, practice and practice facilities and other physical facilities that meet the requirements of training programs and scientific and technological activities;
• Having canteens, construction works for entertainment, sports, cultural activities and medical and service works to serve daily activities for officials, lecturers and students;
• Having a technical work zone, garage for cars, motorbikes and bicycles.

Renting facilities:

Foreign-invested educational institutions are allowed to rent stable facilities for a period of at least 5 years and must ensure that the facilities meet the above regulations.

Personnel conditions

Foreign teachers who wish to work in foreign-invested schools shall have at least 5 years of teaching experience, and their qualifications shall be recognized by the competent authority.

For short-term training and retraining institutions:

• Teachers must have at least a college degree or equivalent, with a training discipline suitable to their assigned teaching expertise;
• The maximum converted student/teacher ratio is 25 students/teacher.

For preschool educational institutions:

• Teachers must have at least a college degree in preschool pedagogy or equivalent;
• The maximum number of children in a group or class is specified as follows:
• For children of preschool age:
  • Children 03 – 12 months old: 15 children/group;
  • Children 13 – 24 months old: 20 children/group;
  • Children 25 – 36 months old: 25 children/group.
• For children of preschool age:
  • Children 03 – 04 years old: 25 children/class;
  • Children 04 – 05 years old: 30 children/class;
  • Children 05 – 06 years old: 35 children/class.

The number of teachers in a group or class is specified as follows:

• For children of kindergarten age: 05 children/teacher;
• For children of preschool age: 10 – 12 children/teacher.

For general education institutions:

• Teachers must have at least a pedagogical university degree or equivalent;
• The minimum number of teachers must ensure the ratio: 1.5 teachers/class for primary schools, 1.95 teachers/class for junior high schools and 2.25 teachers/class for high school;
• The number of students/class does not exceed 30 students/class for primary school, 35 students/class for junior high school and high school.

For higher education institutions:

• Lecturers must have at least a master’s degree or higher, in which the proportion of lecturers holding a doctorate degree is not less than 50% of the total number of lecturers, except for specific training disciplines considered and decided by the Minister of Education and Training;
• The maximum student/faculty ratio is 10 students/lecturer for gifted training majors, 15 students/lecturer for science, engineering and technology training majors, 25 students /lecturer for social sciences, humanities and economics – business administration;
• The educational institution must have a sufficient number of permanent lecturers to undertake at least 60% of the program volume of each training discipline;
• Foreign lecturers teaching at foreign-invested higher education institutions must have university teaching experience in the same teaching field, except for the case specified at Point dd of this Clause;
• Lecturers who are native speakers of foreign languages ​​teaching foreign language skills at higher education institutions must have a university degree or higher and an appropriate foreign language teaching certificate.

Customers wishing to establish a foreign-invested education business company in Vietnam, please do not hesitate to contact Viet An Law Firm for detailed support!