DECISION

PROMULGATING REGULATIONS ON CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE EDUCATION QUALITY OF UNIVERSITIES

THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP dated November 05, 2002 on defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of Ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 85/2003/ND-CP dated July 18, 2003 on defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP dated August 02, 2006, elaborating and providing guidance on the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Education; At the request of the Director of Department of Examination and Education Quality Assessment,

HEREBY DECIDES

Article 1. Promulgating regulations on criteria for assessing the education quality of universities, enclosed herewith this Decision.

Article 2. This Decision shall come into force after 15 days from the date on which this Decision is posted on the Official Gazette and shall replace chapter II of the temporary regulations on assessment of the educational quality of universities, issued together with the Decision No. 38/2004/QD-BGD&DT of the Minister of Education and Training dated December 02, 2004.

Article 3. The Chief Officer, the Director of Department of Examination and Education Quality Assessment, the Director of Department of University and Higher Education, the Head of relevant affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training; the Director of universities, institutes and the President of universities shall be responsible for implementing this Decision./.

REGULATION

ON ASSESSING THE EDUCATIONAL QUALITY OF UNIVERSITIES
(Issued together with the Decision No. 65 /2007/QD-BGDDT of the Minister of Education and Training dated November 01, 2007)

Chapter 1:

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Governing scope and applicable entities

1. This document shall provide regulations on criteria for assessing the education quality of universities.

2. This Regulation shall be applied to colleges, universities, academic institutions (hereinafter referred to as university) organized in public or private form in the national education system.

Article 2. Education quality and criteria for assessing the education quality of universities.

1. The education quality of a university means the fulfillment of stated objectives of this university, the compliance with requirements for fulfillment of higher education objectives defined in the Law on Education, and the relevance to demands for human resource training with the intention of developing socio-economic conditions at local areas and across the country.

2. Criteria for assessing the education quality of a university means the degree of requirements and conditions that this university have to meet in order to be accredited for conformity to education quality standards.

Article 3. Rationale behind the promulgation of criteria for assessing the education quality of universities

Criteria for assessing the education quality of universities are promulgated as an instrument for such universities' self-assessment which serves the purpose of incessantly improving the training quality and explaining the current status of the training quality to competent authorities and society; helping competent authorities assess and accredit these universities for conformity to education quality standards; providing the basis for students for choosing proper universities and recruiters for their selection of appropriate employees.

Chapter 2:

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE EDUCATION QUALITY OF UNIVERSITIES

Article 4. 1^st criteria set: Mission and objective of universities

1. Mission of a university shall be determined on condition that it conforms to functions, tasks, resources and developmental orientation of such university; matches and stays connected with the strategy for socio-economic development at local areas and throughout the country.

2. Objective of a university shall be determined on condition that it conforms to the training objective of higher education training as stipulated in the Education Law and the stated mission of this university; is periodically reviewed, supplemented, adjusted and implemented.

Article 5. 2^nd criteria set: Organization and management

1. Organization structure of a university shall be established under the regulation enshrined in the University Charter and specified in the statutes on organization and operation of that university.

2. A document system must be in place for effective organization and management of a university's operating activities.

3. Functions, responsibilities and powers of departments, administrative officers, lecturers and employees shall be clearly defined.

4. Communist Party organizations and associations of a university must operate in an effective manner and achieve positive annual assessment reports; operating activities of Communist Party organizations and associations shall be required to comply with laws.

5. There is an organization in charge of university education quality assurance, including specialized centers or departments; competent staff in charge of arranging assessment activities must be available to maintain or improve the quality of a university's operations.

6. Strategies and plans for short-term, medium-term and long-term development must be devised on condition that these conforms to developmental orientation and missions of a university; policies and approaches to be adopted to supervise and assess the implementation of such university's plans must be provided.

7. Periodic reporting requirements must be fully followed so that governing bodies and regulatory agencies shall receive periodic reports on a university’s operations, and such university's reports must be retained in full.

Article 6. 3^rd criteria set: Educational program

1. The educational program of a university must be developed on the basis of curriculum frameworks introduced by the Ministry of Education and Training. The educational program shall be developed with the participation of lecturers, administrative officers, representatives of organizations, trade unions and recruiters as stipulated by legal regulations.

2. The educational program must encompass explicit and detailed objectives, logical structure, systematic design, and meet requirements concerning benchmark knowledge and skills outlined in the university curriculum framework as well as cope with changing demands for human resources in labor markets.

3. Formal and continuing educational programs shall be designed in accordance with legal regulations, and shall conform to the rigorous education quality.

4. The educational program shall be periodically amended and adjusted with reference to international advanced programs and constructive advice from recruiters, graduates, educational institutes and other organizations in order to meet the demand for human resources necessary for socio-economic growth at local areas or across the nation.

5. The educational program shall be designed to ensure that students can be transferred to other training degrees and educational programs.

6. The quality of educational programs shall be periodically evaluated and improved on the basis of evaluation results.

Article 7. 4^th criteria set: Educational activities

1. Academic types must be diversified to meet the learning demand of students in accordance with relevant regulations.

2. The learning outcome of students who take part in academic year and credit-based programs must be recognized; the plan for transition from the academic year-based program to credit-based program must be drawn up in a flexible and proper manner, which can provide favorable conditions for students.

3. The suitable plan and method for assessment of lecturer's teaching activities must be set up; the innovation in teaching and learning methods, method for evaluating the learning outcome of students in the direction of developing student's ability, self-study and teamwork must be emphasized.

4. Method and process for conducting examination and assessment must be diversified, ensure that this will prove serious, unbiased, accurate, equitable and suitable for educational and learning types, subject objectives, and different training types will have the same accepted standard; student’s acquisition of professional knowledge, practical, problem-finding and problem-solving skills must be measured.

5. The learning outcome must be punctually provided for students, and retained in an adequate, accurate and safe manner. Diplomas and certificates shall be conferred in accordance with legal regulations and publicly posted on a university's website.

6. Database of information about a university’s training activities, graduate students, post-graduate employments and incomes must be ready for use.

7. The plan to assess the quality of graduate students and the plan to adjust training activities to meet the social demand must be prepared.

Article 8. 5^th criteria set: Administrative officers, lecturers and employees

1. There are the plan to recruit, nurture and develop teaching staff and employees; the planning to designate administrative officers eligible to fulfill objectives, functions, tasks, and conform to specific conditions in a university; the clear and transparent process and criteria for recruitment and designation.

2. Administrative officers, lecturers and staff shall be vested with the democratic right in a university.

3. There are policies and measures to be applied to facilitate participation of administrative officers and lecturers in domestic and overseas professional activities.

4. Administrative officers must have moral behaviors, professional managerial capability and complete assigned tasks.

5. There are enough lecturers who are qualified to run educational programs and conduct scientific researches; the objectives specified in the educational development strategy must be achieved in order to reduce the average student-to-lecturer ratio.

6. Teaching staff must conform to the teaching quality standard that a lecturer is required to meet. A university’s lecturers must give their lectures as to what they have been trained for; ensure that they conform to professional structure and academic degree as stipulated by legal regulations; have a good command of foreign languages and computer science to meet the requirement for the task of training and scientific researches.

7. Lecturer’s teaching experience and the ratio of older to younger lecturers must adhere to relevant regulation.

8. A sufficient number of technical staff and employees must be available, and have required professional capability, take periodic refresher courses and improve the efficiency in lecturing, learning and scientific researches.

Article 9. 6^th criteria set: Students

1. Students must receive sufficient guides about educational programs, examination, assessment and provisions specified in the training regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training

2. Students shall have access to social policies and health examination as stipulated in the student healthcare regulations; shall be provided with best learning conditions and extra curriculum activities such as art performance, sports, physical exercise as well as shall be safely protected within the precinct of a university.

3. The work of educating students on politics, ideology, ethics and lifestyle shall be carried out in an effective manner.

4. Events or activities held by the Communist Party members and associations must create the positive influence on the education about politics, ideology, ethics and lifestyle that students have access to.

5. Specific measures must be taken to give necessary support for learning and daily life activities to students.

6. Regular propagation and education in terms of ethical values, healthy lifestyle, responsibility assumption, respect for the law, intentions, guidelines and policies of the Communist Party, State and a university's rules must be aimed at students.

7. Effective support must be provided in order to increase the rate of graduate employments that graduate students have learned in their universities.

8. Students will be able to find employments and run their own business after graduation. In the first year after graduation, more than 50% of graduates can find their expected employments.

9. Students shall be entitled to participate in the assessment of the teaching quality of lecturers upon completion of each subject of study as well as the training quality of their universities before graduation.

Article 10. 7^th criteria set: Scientific research, application, development and technology transfer

1. The plan for scientific and technological activities must be prepared and put forward so that it conforms to the research and development missions of a university.

2. There must be theses and projects that have been implemented and have passed the acceptance testing as planned.

3. The number of articles published on domestic and international periodicals must be equivalent to the number of scientific research topics and in conformity with the research and development orientation of a university.

4. Scientific research and technology development activities of a university must make new contribution to the science field and can be brought into practice for the purpose of dealing with any issue relating the socio-economic development at local areas and throughout the country.

5. Revenues earned from scientific researches and technology transfers shall not be permitted to be lower than the expenditures that a university distributes on these activities.

6. Scientific research and technology development activities of a university must be connected with training activities, scientific research institutes, other universities and enterprises. The outcome of science and technology activities must make contribution towards developing different resources of a university.

7. There must be specific provisions on competence and ethical standards required for science and technology activities; measures to be taken to reserve intellectual property rights.

Article 11. 8^th criteria set: International cooperation

1. International cooperation activities must comply with the State regulations.

2. International cooperation in performing training activities must be effective and must be shown through training cooperation and academic exchange programs; lecturer and student exchange programs, visits, field study, support and upgradation of infrastructure facilities, equipment of a university.

3. International cooperation in conducting scientific researches must be effective and must be shown through project execution, plan for cooperation in conducting scientific researches, technology development, programs for applying the result of scientific and technological researches to the real life, organization of general science conferences and workshops and publication of general science projects.

Article 12. 9^th criteria set: Library, learning equipment and facilities

1. The library of a university must have the sufficient number of books, teaching course books, reference books written in Vietnamese and foreign languages, which must meet the demand of administrative officers, lecturers and students. There must be the e-library that has internet connections and serve the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness in teaching, learning and scientific research activities.

2. There must be the sufficient number of classrooms, lecture halls and laboratory rooms used for supporting teaching, learning and scientific research activities that each major require to meet its training requirements.

3. Learning and teaching equipment and facilities must be sufficiently provided to serve the training and scientific research purposes, which must meet the quality standard and must be used in an efficient manner as well as conform to requirements of each major.

4. Computer equipment must be sufficiently provided in order to effectively support teaching, learning and scientific research activities and managerial work.

5. Space for classrooms must be large enough for teaching and learning activities; there must be dormitories where boarding students can have enough space for their learning and daily activities; equipment and playgrounds must be available for cultural, art performance, sport competition events in accordance with relevant regulations.

6. There must be the sufficient number of office rooms where tenured officers, lecturers and employees work in accordance with relevant regulations.

7. Land acreage must be sufficient in accordance with regulations enshrined in TCVN 3981-85. General ground of a university must cover a minimum regulated area.

8. There must be a master plan to use and develop infrastructural facilities incorporated in the university's strategic planning.

9. Effective measures must be applied to protect property, social order and safety of administrative officers, lecturers, employees and students.

Article 13. 10^th criteria set: Finance and financial management

1. Measures and plans for exercising financial autonomy, generating legal financial sources, conforming to requirements of training, scientific research activities and others of a university must be prepared.

2. The work of setting up the plan for budget and financial management in a university must be standardized, publicized and prove transparent and conform to relevant regulations.

3. Distribution and use of finance for operating activities of departments and the whole university must be reasonable, transparent and effective.

Chapter 3:

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 14. Responsibility of Ministries, agencies and People’s Committee of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces

Ministries, agencies and People’s Committee of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces where universities are located shall be responsible for providing necessary conditions in order for these universities to strive to achieve the education quality standard.

Article 15. Responsibility of universities

Given their specific conditions, universities shall draw up the plan to strive to achieve the education quality standard in each period and apply measures to implement the proposed plan./.