THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Regulation on management of general education, intermediate vocational education, tertiary education and postgraduate education diplomas and certificates.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing. All previous regulations contrary to this Decision are hereby annulled.

Article 3.- The director of the Office and the heads of the concerned units under the Ministry of Education and Training; the directors of provincial/municipal Education and Training Services; the directors of universities and academies; the principals of schools, and the heads of the concerned educational establishments shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Minister of Education and Training
Vice Minister
LE VU HUNG

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Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Scope of regulation

This document prescribes the contents of diplomas and certificates, the printing, issuance and withdrawal of general education, intermediate vocational education, tertiary education and postgraduate education diplomas and certificates.

Article 2.- Titles of diplomas and certificates

1. Diplomas prescribed in Article 7 of the Education Law include:

a/ Primary education diplomas,

b/ Junior secondary education diplomas,

c/ Senior secondary education diplomas,

d/ Intermediate vocational education diplomas,

e/ College diplomas,

f/ University diplomas,

g/ Master diplomas,

h/ Doctoral diplomas,

2. For diplomas mentioned at Points a, b, c, d, e, and f, Clause 1 of this Article, they shall be inscribed with the study forms corresponding to the modes thereby education has been provided.

3. Certificates of the national education system are awarded to learners to certify the study results after being trained or fostered to raise their educational or vocational levels according to the programs approved by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Article 3.- Management of diplomas and certificates

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall be the sole agency to prescribe and manage diploma and certificate forms, the printing, procedures for issuing or awarding, withdrawing and canceling diplomas and certificates.

2. Tertiary education establishments permitted by the Prime Minister or tertiary education establishments authorized by the Minister of Education and Training to print blank diplomas and certificates by themselves, the forms of such diplomas and certificates must comply with the provisions in Article 4 of this Regulation and be approved by the Ministry of Education and Training before they are printed.

Article 4.- Contents of diplomas and certificates

1. The general contents of diplomas and certificates mentioned in Article 2 of this Regulation include:

a/ Heading:

THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Independence - Freedom - Happiness

b/ Title of the diploma or certificate as prescribed in Article 2 of this Regulation;

c/ Name of the awarding agency;

d/ Full name, gender, birth date, native place, photo, training course, and year of graduation of the diploma or certificate holder;

e/ Number sign of the diploma or certificate;

f/ Place name (province or city where the awarding agency is headquartered), date of awarding; name, position and signature of the person competent to award the diploma or certificate, and the stamp as prescribed in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of this Regulation.

2. Apart from the general contents prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, diplomas and certificates of each educational grade or level or each training level shall also have such contents as:

a/ For primary education, junior secondary education and senior secondary education diplomas, they shall be additionally inscribed with: the student's school, examination round (if any), examination year, examination council, graduation grade.

b/ For intermediate vocational education, college and university diplomas, they shall be additionally inscribed with: the training discipline, training system, training form and graduation grade.

Training disciplines shall be inscribed according to the list of training disciplines in intermediate vocational, college and university education. For those not yet on this list, they shall be inscribed according to the Education and Training Ministry's documents permitting the training therein or to their names already registered by the national universities with the Ministry of Education and Training for experimental training therein.

c/ For master and doctoral diplomas, they shall be additionally inscribed with: name of the scientific branch, name of the training specialty according to the current training list (if any).

3. Diplomas and certificates shall be inscribed in Vietnamese. For a number of diplomas and certificates which need to be additionally inscribed in a foreign language and it is so consented by the Ministry of Education and Training, the foreign language inscribed thereon must be true in meaning to the Vietnamese language and in letter sizes smaller than the letter size of the Vietnamese language.

4. The size, color and design of the form of each diploma or certificate mentioned in Article 2 of this Regulation must be approved by the Ministry of Education and Training and their copyright registered by the agencies assigned to print blank diplomas and certificates at the competent agencies before they can be printed and issued.

5. Universities, academies and colleges may print on diplomas and certificates their own logos only after they report such to the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Public Security and register the copyright thereof at the competent agencies.

Chapter II

MANAGEMENT, ISSUANCE, AWARDING, AND USE OF DIPLOMAS AND CERTIFICATES

Article 5.- Management of blank diplomas and certificates

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall issue blank diplomas and certificates to the agencies competent to award diplomas and certificates, which are other than the subjects specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation in quantities registered by such agencies (on the basis of the number of graduating students within the training quotas assigned or permitted by competent authorities) with the Ministry.

2. Educational establishments specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation shall issue blank diplomas and certificates according to the regulations of their heads on the principle that the quantities of issued blank diplomas and certificates must not exceed the number of graduates within the assigned quota.

3. The agencies assigned to print and issue blank diplomas and certificates shall have to compile dossiers for managing the issuance, withdrawal and cancellation thereof; provide detailed guidance on the process and procedures for issuance and cancellation, the way of inscription for each type of diploma or certificate appropriate to each educational grade, level, or training level.

4. The agencies competent to award diplomas and certificates must fill in accurately and fully the contents of blank diplomas and certificates before awarding them to the learners who are recognized to be eligible for; open original registers of diploma and certificate awarding, record precisely, closely manage and archive them for a long time.

The form of original register for diploma and certificate awarding is in Appendix 1 to this Regulation (not printed herein).

5. For damaged, wrongly inscribed or poor-quality blank diplomas and certificates, the heads of the agencies competent to award such diplomas and certificates must set up disposal councils, make written records on the destruction thereof, clearly stating the quantity, number signs and conditions of such blank diplomas and certificates before their destruction. Such written records must be archived and reports thereon shall be sent within 15 days as from the date of destruction to the Ministry of Education and Training (for blank diplomas and certificates printed by the Ministry), or to the educational establishments permitted by the Prime Minister or to the educational establishments authorized by the Ministry of Education and Training to print blank diplomas and certificates, for monitoring and management.

6. Where blank diplomas or certificates are lost, the units that manage them must immediately report such to the nearest police offices and to the Ministry of Education and Training or the educational establishments that have printed blank diplomas or certificates for timely handling.

Article 6.- Competence to award diplomas

1. The heads of the district-level Education and Training Sections shall award primary education diplomas.

2. The directors of the provincial/municipal Education and Training Services shall award junior secondary education diplomas and senior secondary education diplomas.

3. The principals of the intermediate vocational education schools shall award intermediate vocational education diplomas.

4. The principals of colleges shall award college diplomas and intermediate vocational education diplomas (if they are permitted by competent authorities to organize intermediate vocational training).

5. The principals of universities, the directors of academies shall award master diplomas, university diplomas, college diplomas and intermediate vocational education diplomas corresponding to the training levels permitted by competent authorities.

6. The directors of national universities shall award diplomas and certificates according to the regulations of the Prime Minister.

The directors of other universities (other than national universities) shall award master diplomas and university diplomas to persons who have been trained at their universities' faculties; authorize the principals of member universities to award master diplomas, university diplomas, college diplomas and intermediate vocational education diplomas corresponding to the training levels which these universities are permitted by competent authorities to organize.

7. The Minister of Education and Training shall award doctoral diplomas.

The heads of the tertiary and postgraduate education establishments may award doctoral diplomas if they are so authorized by the Minister of Education and Training.

Article 7.- Competence to award certificates

The principals of universities, colleges and intermediate vocational schools; the directors of provincial/municipal Education and Training Services, the directors of regular education centers and the heads of educational establishments shall be entitled to award certificates according to the training programs or courses already approved by the Ministry of Education and Training and permitted by competent authorities.

Article 8.- Regulations on the signing and stamping of diplomas and certificates

1. Persons competent to award diplomas and certificates prescribed in Articles 6 and 7 of this Regulation must sign diplomas and certificates according to their specimen signatures already registered with the competent agencies; clearly inscribe their full names and positions. The signing for one's head must comply with the current administrative regulations and reported in writing to the Ministry of Education and Training before it is effected.

In case of extreme necessity, because of too many diplomas awaiting to be signed, the persons competent to award diplomas cannot directly sign them, the stamps of their signatures may be affixed on such diplomas only after the reports thereon have been submitted to the competent agencies and it is so permitted by the immediate superior education administration agencies.

2. Persons competent to award diplomas and certificates shall take personal responsibility to the superior administration agencies and before law for the accuracy of the contents of the signed diplomas and certificates.

3. The affixture of stamps onto the signatures of the persons competent to award diplomas or certificates and onto the photos of learners on diplomas or certificates shall comply with the current administrative regulations.

Article 9.- Time limits for awarding diplomas and certificates

The agencies awarding diplomas and/or certificates shall have to complete the procedures for awarding diplomas or certificates to learners after signing the decisions recognizing their graduation within three months for primary education diplomas, six months for junior and senior secondary education diplomas; 30 days for certificates, intermediate vocational education diplomas, college diplomas, university diplomas, master diplomas and doctoral diplomas.

Article 10.- Awarding of diploma and certificate copies

1. The original diplomas and certificates shall be awarded only once, not re-awarded.

2. Agencies competent to award diplomas and certificates shall have to award diploma or certificate copies to the holders of the originals under the provisions in the Government's Decree No. 75/2000/ND-CP of December 8, 2000 on notarization and authentication, and the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Article 11.- Use of diplomas and certificates

1. The diploma or certificate holders may use their diplomas or certificates (originals, copies or authenticated or notarized copies) for submission in dossiers at the requests of the education and training agencies or recruiting agencies (hereinafter referred to as employing agencies).

2. The employing agencies shall have to:

a/ Carefully check diplomas or certificates in terms of their contents, forms, signatures and stamps as prescribed by this document.

b/ In case of doubt, contact the agencies competent to award the diplomas or certificates in question to verify them. Within five days after receiving the employing agencies' requests, the agencies competent to award such diplomas or certificates shall have to issue official replies to them.

c/ In case of detecting unlawful diplomas or certificates, immediately report such to the nearest policy offices for timely handling.

Article 12.- Withdrawal of diplomas and certificates

1. Authorities competent to award diplomas and/or certificates shall be entitled to withdraw such diplomas and/or certificates.

2. The superior education administration agencies shall be entitled to withdraw diplomas and certificates when they have enough evidences to conclude that the subordinate agencies have awarded them in contravention of this Regulation.

3. Diplomas and certificates shall be withdrawn in the following cases:

a/ The diploma or certificate holders violate the enrollment, education and/or training regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training or competent bodies;

b/ When there are sufficient evidences to conclude that the diploma or certificate holders forge, erase or modify their diplomas or certificates or lend them to other persons for unlawful use.

c/ When there are sufficient grounds to conclude that the diplomas or certificates in question were awarded in contravention of law provisions.

4. The agencies which have issued withdrawing decisions shall have to force the persons having their diplomas or certificates withdrawn to submit their awarded diplomas or certificates for destruction.

5. The withdrawal of diplomas or certificates must be recorded by the agencies directly managing the original registers of diplomas and certificates into such registers.

Article 13.- Rights and obligations of diploma and certificate holders

1. The diploma or certificate holders shall have the rights currently prescribed for each type of diploma or certificate.

2. The diploma or certificate holders shall have to keep and preserve their diplomas and/or certificates and must not lend them to other persons for use; when their diplomas and/or certificates are lost, they must immediately report such to the agencies which have awarded such diplomas and/or certificates and the nearest police offices; upon receiving the decisions to withdraw their diplomas and/or certificates, they must hand over them to the withdrawing agencies within prescribed time limits.

Chapter III

SUPERVISION, INSPECTION AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

Article 14.- Supervision and inspection

1. The Ministry of Education and Training and the education administration agencies at all levels shall supervise and inspect the management, awarding and use of all types of diplomas and certificates within the national education system.

2. The supervision and inspection must be conducted according to the functions and tasks of each establishment and each level of education administration, in close coordination with the concerned agencies under the uniform guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training and the provincial/municipal People's Committees. Organizations and individuals responsible for managing, awarding or using diplomas and certificates shall have to coordinate in and create favorable conditions for the supervision and inspection work.

Article 15.- Handling of violations

Persons who violate this Regulation shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned or examined for penal liability.

Article 16.- Commendation and rewards

Organizations and individuals that record merits in the management and awarding of diplomas and certificates shall be commended and/or rewarded according to the State's common regimes.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 17.- Organization of implementation

1. Basing themselves on this Regulation, the concerned units under the ministries and the educational establishments specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation shall have to prepare diploma and certificate forms and submit them to the Ministry for promulgation before awarding to graduates as from the 2002-2003 school-year on.

2. The Office of the Ministry of Education and Training shall have to receive, and organize the evaluation of, diploma and certificate forms as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article; organize the printing and issuance of blank diplomas and certificates under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 5 of this Regulation.

For the Minister of Education and Training
Vice Minister
LE VU HUNG