Eliminate procedures for recognizing diplomas and certificates of foreign vocational training institutions

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has just issued Circular No. 34/2017/TT-BLDTBXH regulating the recognition of equivalence for vocational education degrees and certificates issued by foreign vocational education institutions.

This Circular regulates the recognition of equivalence for vocational education degrees and certificates of Vietnamese people granted by foreign vocational education institutions compared to training levels of Vietnamese vocational education (primary, intermediate, college).

Illustration photo/Internet source

The highlight of this Circular is that diplomas and certificates of legally operating foreign vocational training institutions are recognized as equivalent in Vietnam and people do not need to go through the procedures for diploma and certificate recognition. The Circular clearly demonstrates the administrative reform viewpoint of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Specifically, degrees and certificates of learners issued by foreign vocational training institutions are recognized as equivalent in the following cases:

Degrees and certificates issued by foreign vocational training institutions are within the scope of application of the Agreement on equivalence of degrees and certificates or mutual recognition of degrees and certificates or international treaties related to degrees and certificates to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or is a member.

Degrees and certificates issued by foreign vocational education institutions legally operating in Vietnam, conducting vocational education activities as prescribed in the certificate of registration for vocational education activities issued by the competent authority of vocational education in Vietnam.

Degrees and certificates are issued by legally operating vocational training institutions abroad whose training programs have been recognized by the educational quality assessment agency or organization of that country or have been permitted to be established and are permitted to issue degrees and certificates by the competent educational agency or organization of that country.

The Circular also affirms that people with degrees and certificates in the above cases do not have to go through the procedure of diploma recognition. People with degrees and certificates issued by foreign educational institutions are responsible for collecting and providing evidence of the legality of the training program and the foreign vocational educational institution that issued the degrees and certificates when there is a legal request from the relevant parties.

The responsibility of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is to publicly announce information about foreign vocational training institutions operating legally and illegally on the website, and to respond to requests regarding the legality of foreign vocational training institutions.

The Ministry does not carry out procedures for recognizing diplomas for individuals. It is the responsibility of the diploma and certificate holder to provide evidence of the legality of the vocational training institution that issued the diploma to the employer upon request.

Deputy Minister Le Quan said that not requiring each citizen to complete the procedure for diploma recognition is in line with international practice, properly implementing the policy of administrative reform, reducing red tape and costs for the people.

However, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs still retains the authority to issue decisions not to recognize the equivalence of illegally operating vocational training institutions and illegally issued diplomas and certificates when necessary.