Education policies coming into effect from May 2025

Regulations on university and college admissions for Early Childhood Education

The Minister of Education and Training issued Circular 06/2025/TT-BGDDT amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations on university and college admissions for Preschool Education issued together with Circular 08/2022/TT-BGDDT dated June 6, 2022. This Circular takes effect from May 5, 2025.

Circular 06 has the following notable adjustments:

According to the new Regulations, there will be no more early admissions. The new Regulations also stipulate that when using high school academic results for admissions, candidates must use their entire 12th grade academic results. In addition, to ensure that the contribution of the entire 12th grade academic results is not too low when calculating the admission score, the Regulations stipulate that the weight of the 12th grade academic results for admissions must not be less than 25%.

The new regulations stipulate that training institutions using multiple admission methods must determine the equivalent conversion rules for the input threshold and admission scores of the admission methods, admission methods, and admission combinations according to the general instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training.

In addition, to ensure that candidates have full information during the application process, the Regulations stipulate that the equivalence conversion rules must be publicly announced at the latest at the same time as the admission quality assurance threshold is announced.

Candidates do not need to choose a method code, combination code... they just need to clearly identify the program, major, training group and training institution they want to study to decide to register. The general enrollment support system of the Ministry of Education and Training will use the method with the highest result of the candidate for admission consideration.

To ensure admission opportunities for students from different regions, the Regulations remove the requirement for training programs, each major and each program has a maximum of 4 admission combinations; there is no limit on the number of admission combinations.

However, in order to ensure the quality and knowledge foundation necessary for university study, the Regulation stipulates that the subject combination used for admission includes at least 3 suitable subjects, including Mathematics or Literature with a weighted score of not less than 25%. From 2026, the common subjects of the combination must contribute at least 50% of the weighted score.

Another new point is that the Regulation stipulates that schools can convert foreign language certificates into foreign language subject scores to include in the admission subject group, but the foreign language subject scores converted from foreign language certificates have a weighted score that cannot exceed 50%.

The new regulations also limit the total bonus points to no more than 10% of the maximum score on the admission scale (for example, on a 30-point scale, the maximum is 3 points) to create a fairer opportunity in admission. However, training institutions still have bonus points based on the characteristics of the training institution, the input requirements and the maximum exploitation of the candidates' individual strengths.

Each candidate has the opportunity to achieve the maximum score on the scoring scale, but no candidate has a score (all types of bonus points and priority points) exceeding this maximum score.

Regulations on training cooperation between Vietnamese and foreign higher education institutions

The Minister of Education and Training issued Circular 07/2025/TT-BGDDT regulating training cooperation between Vietnamese higher education institutions and foreign higher education institutions at undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels.

This Circular takes effect from May 5, 2025 and replaces Circular 38/2020/TT-BGDDT dated October 6, 2020 of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Some new points of Circular 07 are related to the scope of application, training forms, foreign language requirements, program transfer, teaching and foreign lecturer ratio, and protection of learners' rights.

Specifically, scope of application: Update regulations on joint training programs between Vietnamese and foreign higher education institutions, clarifying the scope and level of training.

Training Format: Improve the proportion of online training in joint training programs (up to 50% for online blending).

Language Requirements: Provide detailed requirements for valid language certificates, helping to make the admissions process transparent.

Program transfer: Clarifies regulations on program transfer and recognition of up to 50% of credits.

Teaching and foreign faculty ratio: The Circular requires foreign faculty to preside over at least 25% of the total program volume.

The Circular also provides clear regulations on protecting rights when training programs are interrupted or terminated ahead of schedule.

Policy for children and students in ethnic minority and mountainous areas

The Government issued Decree 66/2025/ND-CP stipulating policies for nursery children, students and trainees in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, coastal and island areas and educational institutions with nursery children and students enjoying policies. The Decree takes effect on May 1, 2025.

Decree 66 expands the support objects, adding more groups of students who are entitled to the support regime, applicable to nursery school children, boarding students, and students at preschool, general education and continuing education institutions.

Educational institutions that organize centralized meals and accommodation or carry out the task of educating ethnic boarding students are also entitled to the policy.

Regarding the level of support, boarding students and day students are supported with meals up to 936,000 VND/month, an increase compared to previous policies. Housing support for students who provide their own accommodation is 360,000 VND/month, applied for 9 months/school year.

Boarding students in grade 1 who are ethnic minorities and learn Vietnamese before entering grade 1 will receive an additional month of the above policies. A higher subsidy level will ensure better learning and living conditions for students who benefit from the policy.

Decree 66/2025/ND-CP allows ethnic minority boarding schools and ethnic minority preparatory schools to be flexible in using support funds, in accordance with the actual conditions of each locality.

The Decree also clearly stipulates funding sources from the state budget, while encouraging the participation of organizations, individuals and businesses to mobilize more social resources for education./.