The Ministry of Education and Training’s Circular No. 34/2014/TT-BGDDT will come into effect from 01 December 2014 as a guidance for the implementation of the Government Decree 73/2012/ND-CP in the respects of quality assessment of joint training programmes and foreign-invested educational institutions, compulsory education programme and subjects required by Vietnamese students studying at foreign-invested educational institutions.

The key points that could be of interest of foreign investors in the area include:

• The circular requires Vietnamese and international joint training providers to comply with the regulations on quality inspection by MOET or international quality assurance organisation recognised by Vietnamese relevant authority.
• Foreign-invested multi-level general schools are allowed to enrol Vietnamese students as stipulated in Article 24 of Decree 73, i.e. up to 10% of the total number of primary and lower secondary students and up to 20% of upper secondary students. 
• The compulsory subjects for Vietnamese students at foreign-invested institutions include Vietnamese language and Vietnamese studies covering basic knowledge about Vietnamese history, geography, culture, traditions, customs and practices.
• Law is the compulsory subject for Vietnamese students attending foreign-invested further and higher education institutions. In case the degree of the joint training programme is awarded by the foreign partner, this compulsory subject is exempted.
• MOET takes the responsibility to approve a joint training programme based on the relevance and need of Vietnam’s human resource and social-economics development.