Update conditions for education investment in Vietnam under Decree 125/2024/ND-CP

On October 5, 2024, the Government issued Decree 125/2024/ND-CP regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education sector. This Decree replaces Decree 46/2017/ND-CP dated April 21, 2024, of the Government regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education and training sector (as amended and supplemented by Decree 135/2018/ND-CP dated October 4, 2018). Decree 125/2024/ND-CP has several new contents, fundamentally changing compared to Decree 46/2017/ND-CP and Decree 135/2018/ND-CP, which will be presented by Viet An Law in the following article.

Overview of Decree 125/2024/ND-CP regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education sector

Basic information about Decree 125/2024/ND-CP

Basic information about Decree 125/2024/ND-CP amending Decree 46/2017/ND-CP regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education sector includes:

• Date of issue: October 5, 2024
• Effective date: 20-11-2024

Simplify regulations on business activities under the management of the Ministry of Education and Training

Decree 125/2024/ND-CP amends, supplements, replaces, or abolishes unnecessary, unreasonable, illegal regulations that are barriers and cause difficulties for individuals and organizations.

In particular, focus on amending, supplementing, replacing, or abolishing regulations on business conditions for 8 business lines including:

• Activities of preschool education facilities;
• Activities of general education institutions;
• Activities of continuing education institutions;
• Special school activities;
• Activities of higher education institutions;
• Activities of vocational training institutions;
• Education quality assessment;
• Study abroad consulting services.

The regulation specifies the implementation sequence of 6 administrative procedures that are still stuck in actual implementation; adds forms to the dossier of 68/198 administrative procedures under the state management of the Ministry of Education and Training (reaching 34.3%) and adds regulations on the form of online dossier submission to promptly implement the entire online public service.

For example, removing the regulation on registration of kindergarten activities according to Article 6 of Decree 46/2017/ND-CP

Recognition of regional and national universities

Decree 125/2024/ND-CP supplements regulations on conditions, competence, and procedures for recognizing regional universities and national universities. The group of conditions for recognizing regional universities and national universities includes:

• The University and its member universities (if any) meet all standards and criteria of the Higher Education Institution Standards for doctoral training institutions and are recognized as meeting educational quality standards according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.
• The University and its member universities (if any) are training up to the doctoral level in all fields: Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Engineering, Computer and Information Technology, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Humanities, Business and Management.
• Universities and member universities (if any) have a project to develop into a regional university or national university that has been approved by the Prime Minister and implemented by the planning of the network of higher education and pedagogical institutions and regional planning.

The addition of regulations on recognition of regional universities and national universities to Decree 125/2024/ND-CP aims to implement the Resolutions of the Politburo, as well as to be consistent with the role, position and function of regional universities and national universities; forming regional universities and national universities based on recognizing universities as regional universities or national universities (these universities have been established and are operating according to regulations, so raising the issue of re-establishment is inappropriate).

Regarding educational quality assessment organization

• The establishment, permission to establish; and registration of educational quality assessment activities; registration of additional educational quality assessment activities; suspension of educational quality assessment activities; dissolution of educational quality assessment organizations; and recognition of foreign educational quality assessment organizations operating in Vietnam are regulated in Chapter VII of Decree 46/2017/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Decree 135) which has been implemented for more than 6 years.
• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP, the conditions for establishment and permission for establishment of domestic accreditation organizations have been amended and supplemented following the provisions of the Law on Education and Decree 46/2017/ND-CP in the direction of clearly and specifically regulating the conditions, ensuring feasibility and conformity with the public and private organization model according to the provisions of Vietnamese law as follows:
  • Agree on the “independence” of public inspection organizations, not to create complicated situations when having to build special mechanisms for public organizations. Public inspection organizations operate according to the model of independent, autonomous public service units at level 1 according to general regulations.
  • Regulations on conditions for domestic inspection organizations and conditions for foreign inspection organizations to operate in Vietnam have been amended in a more specific and stricter direction to ensure fairness between domestic and foreign inspection organizations, with clear and transparent regulations on conditions contributing to reducing the time for explaining documents due to cultural and language differences for a foreign organization wishing to operate in Vietnam.
  • Regulations on procedures for permitting inspection activities are also clearly defined, reducing the time for carrying out procedures and providing specific form instructions on the order of carrying out administrative procedures.

For preschools and general education facilities

• Regarding the conditions for establishing preschools and general education facilities, Decree 125/2024/ND-CP has amended this condition in the direction that the school establishment project must be “consistent with the provincial planning and relevant local planning” to comply with the provisions of the Law on Planning.
• Regarding the conditions for preschool and general education establishments to operate, the Decree stipulates the basic conditions for land, facilities, equipment; educational programs; teaching staff, and management staff. Specific standards and requirements of a professional and technical nature will be implemented according to specialized documents in the field of education.
• Supplementing the regulation: “For the inner-city areas of special urban areas, the school construction land area can be replaced by the construction floor area and must ensure that the construction floor area is not lower than the minimum average land area for one child/student according to regulations”.
• Specific regulations on capital levels to ensure school operations aim to ensure that educational institutions have sufficient financial resources to organize educational activities as well as maintain and develop school operations.

For continuing education facilities

• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP stipulates the conditions, authority, and procedures for establishing several new types of continuing education institutions according to the provisions of the 2019 Law on Education, including:
  • Center for vocational education – continuing education,
  • Other centers perform continuing education tasks.
• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP has clarified some other types of centers performing continuing education tasks as follows:
  • Foreign language and information technology center;
  • Language and Cultural Center;
  • Focus on life skills education;
  • Center for cultural and artistic knowledge training
  • Other centers implement programs, train, foster, and improve working capacity, and update and supplement knowledge and skills necessary in life to meet learners’ needs.
• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP has simplified the process of establishing a center to support the development of inclusive education (transforming the process of establishing a center in 02 steps of establishment and permission for educational activities into a 01-step process to comply with the provisions of Clause 3, Article 65 of the Law on Education.
• Specialized schools, the Decree supplements specific provisions on conditions and procedures for establishment and permission for educational activities, suspension of operations, division, separation, merger, and dissolution of preparatory schools for university students; schools for gifted artists, and schools for the disabled to be consistent with the provisions of the Law on Education (Articles 61 to 63).

College of Education, Higher Education Institution

• For pedagogical colleges: Decree 125/2024/ND-CP adjusts regulations on the land area for the construction of pedagogical colleges to be consistent with the conditions on the land area for the construction of colleges in the field of vocational education.
• For private schools, to ensure the capital source of investors when registering to establish a school, Decree 125/2024/ND-CP adds the provision: ” Investment capital for the construction of private schools must be confirmed by competent agencies and organizations”.
• Regarding the regulations on conditions for schools to be granted a certificate of registration for vocational education activities for the group of majors training teachers at the college level, Decree 125/2024/ND-CP stipulates in the direction
  • Facilities, permanent teaching staff, and management staff must meet the operational requirements for the industry, field of training planned, and expected enrollment scale according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;
  • There is a training program that meets the requirements on the minimum amount of knowledge and capacity that learners achieve after graduation; the curriculum, teaching, and learning materials meet the requirements of the training program.
• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP supplements regulations on the authority and procedures for merging colleges into universities to meet requirements.
• For universities, Decree 125/2024/ND-CP stipulates the conditions for universities to conduct training activities in the direction of conditions on facilities, equipment, training programs, textbooks, documents, permanent teaching staff, and management staff must meet the operational requirements for the expected training sectors and fields, and the expected enrollment scale according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. This regulation is consistent with the provisions of Articles 104 and 105 of the Law on Education on the content and authority of state management of education.
• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP has added 02 more cases of suspension of operation to enhance the responsibility of higher education institutions in ensuring the training quality of the institution and its branches.

Study abroad consulting service business

• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP adds the subject of business that is allowed to provide study abroad consulting services as a branch of an enterprise to comply with the provisions of the Law on Enterprises, which is a branch of an enterprise with the task of performing all or part of the functions of the enterprise.
• Decree 125/2024/ND-CP specifically stipulates the validity period of the certificate of registration for business in study abroad consulting services (5 years) to enhance the responsibility and quality of organizations providing study abroad consulting services and extend the decision to permit the business of study abroad consulting services.

Above is an update from Viet An Law on Decree 125/2024/ND-CP regulating conditions for investment and operation in the education sector. If you have any other legal issues related to this Decree or education conditional bussiness in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law for more specific and detailed advice. Sincerely thank you!