Chương IV: Thông tư 17/2021/TT-BGDĐT Xây dựng, thẩm định và ban hành chương trình đào tạo

Chapter IV

FORMULATION, APPRAISAL AND PROMULGATION OF TRAINING PROGRAMS

Article 17. Formulation of training programs

1. Heads of training institutions have the power to decide establishment of councils for training program formulation (hereinafter referred to as “program formulating councils”) to formulate training programs. Every program formulating council shall include:

a) Lecturer representatives who are knowledgeable about the academic discipline or specialized area of the program, directly involved in teaching or training management of the training institution and capable of formulating and developing the training program;

b) Experts in training program development and higher education quality assurance;

c) Representatives of employers in relevant fields who are knowledgeable about recruitment requirements and job positions in relation to the field of training of the program.

2. Heads of training institutions shall decide standards, quantity, composition and members for program formulating councils; stipulate duties and powers of program formulating councils and members thereof.

3. Requirements for training programs:

a) Meet requirements of level-based program standards according to regulations in Chapter II of this Circular, discipline-based program standards, set-based program standards (if any) and the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework;

b) Present contributions to labor demand satisfaction according to sectorial, local and national socio - economic development plans and strategies and demand of the labor market;

c) Reflect requirements of relevant parties, including representatives of lecturers of specialized units, representatives of employers and professional associations, experts in specialized areas and alumni currently working in their fields of training;

d) Refer and be compared with accredited training programs of the same education level and academic discipline of reputable Vietnamese and foreign training institutions;

dd) Be designed based on expected learning outcomes of training programs; provide both skills and knowledge; have matrices for units of study with expected learning outcomes, ensure that expected learning outcomes of training programs are sufficiently distributed to and covered by expected learning outcomes of their units of study;

e) Teaching, learning and assessing activities must be made into plans and designed based on expected learning outcomes of units of study, ensuring provision of teaching activities that support achievement of expected learning outcomes;

g) Provide regulations and guidelines on adopting training programs, ensuring training quality;

h) Be approved by scientific and training councils of training institutions before promulgation.

Article 18. Appraisal and promulgation of training programs

1. Heads of training institutions have the power to decide establishment of councils for training program appraisal (hereinafter referred to as “program appraising councils”). Standards and structure of program appraising councils are as follows:

a) Every program appraising council shall include professors, associate professors and holders of doctorates in the program’s academic discipline or an academic discipline close to the program's discipline if it is a new discipline and experts in the discipline and specialized area of the program who are capable of formulating and developing the program and ensuring higher education quality. Members of program appraising councils may not join program formulating councils;

b) The council shall have an odd number of members and be composed of a chairperson, secretary, at least 02 reviewers from two different training institutions and other council members, with at least 01 member representing employers;

c) Heads of training institutions shall decide standards, quantity, composition, structure and members for program appraising councils in compliance with regulations in Points a and b Clause 1 herein.

2. Requirements for training program appraisal:

a) Evaluate compliance with regulations of program standards, existing regulations on training organization for corresponding education levels; other relevant regulations on training programs; requirements of academic disciplines and predetermined objectives and expected learning outcomes;

b) Give one of the following conclusions in a clear manner: the training program is approved by the council and does not require any revision; or the training program is approved by the council but requires some revision and specify such revision; or the training program is not approved by the council and provide the reason for such disapproval.

3. After program appraising councils give their conclusions, based on opinions of scientific and training councils of training institutions, heads of training institutions shall sign decisions to promulgate and adopt training programs.

4. Training programs of foreign higher education institutions must be appraised as per regulations of this Article before they may be adopted according to regulations in Point c Clause 1 Article 36 of the Law on Higher Education (amended in 2018).

Article 19. Assessment and improvement of training program quality

1. Training programs shall be reviewed, assessed and revised on a regular basis; training institutions must improve training quality based on review and assessment results.

2. Requirements for training program assessment:

a) Meet requirements of the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework, level-based program standards according to regulations in Chapter II of this Circular, discipline-based program standards, set-based program standards (if any);

b) Be made based on evaluation of achievement of expected learning outcomes of the program for each cohort and feedback from relevant parties (employers, learners, lecturers, professional organizations, etc.). Each expected learning outcome must be assessed at least twice during the program assessment cycle;

c) Clarify efficiency of the current program (suitability for predetermined objectives and expected learning outcomes; consistency and connection between content, assessment methods and resources for learning and teaching of the program);

d) Put forwards proposals for improving the program's quality and predict impact of changes made to the program; assessment and improvement results must be published on the website of the training institution.

3. A cycle for comprehensive assessment of a training program shall last for no more than 05 years; procedures for such comprehensive assessment shall be similar to procedures for new training program formulation. Heads of training institutions may announce assessed and revised training programs as new training programs or revised training programs.

4. Assessment of a training program’s quality prior to graduation of the first cohort made in accordance with regulations on new program offering in Clause 18 Article 1 of the Law on Amendment to the Law on Higher Education must meet requirements provided in this Article.