Hanoi (VNA) - A foreign project to establish a higher educationinstitution in Vietnam must secure total investment funds of at least 1trillion VND (44.5million USD), according to a draft decree on foreigninvestment in education newly issued by the Ministry of Education and Training(MoET).

The draft is set to replace Decree 73 issued in 2012, and change procedures andinvestment conditions to boost competitiveness and help foreign investors enterthe Vietnamese education sector, said Nguyen Xuan Vang, head of MoET’sInternational Cooperation Department.

The decree also eliminates regulations on the proportion of Vietnamese studentsat educational institutions.

Decree 73 regulates that foreign nursery schools cannot recruit Vietnamesestudents. Foreign primary and secondary schools can enroll Vietnamese studentsbut no more than 10 percent of the total number of students at primary level,and 20 percent at secondary and high school levels.

The new decree also states that educational facilities must teach “compulsorycontent” which will be determined by Minister of Education and Training insteadof “compulsory subjects” as in the previous decree. This means thatforeign-invested schools do not have to teach all subjects but joint contentfrom various subjects.

According to Vang, the new decree is much more open. For example, foreigninvestors can now use temporary infrastructure for five years beforeconstructing a school, whereas Decree 73 required investors to secure permanentinfrastructure before opening the school.

To improve teachers’ quality, teacher qualification requirements have beenstiffened. The minimum percentage of foreign university lecturers has increasedfrom 35 percent to 50 percent, the draft decree says.

“Degrees and certificates of foreign teachers must be recognised by authorisededucational agencies. International degrees of Vietnamese teachers must meetrequirements to be recognised in Vietnam,” Vang said.

The new decree also adds a regulation for suspending or ending a joint trainingprogramme. Investors of the programme will have to return tuition fees tostudents if the students do not transfer or do not want to transfer to anothereducational institution.

Nguyen Kim Dung, head of Legal and Governance Relations of BritishUniversity Vietnam told the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that thenew decree will aid the investment climate while ensuring investment quality.It reduces unnecessary administrative procedures and has practical requirementsfor teachers.

Decree 73 required joint training programmes’ teachers at foreign universitiesto have five-year experience and master’s degrees. The new decree requireslanguage teachers to have only a bachelor’s degree and foreign languagecertificates.

Lecturersin cuisine, art or hotel management majors must only be artists or experienced.

“The new decree will create a clear investment climate in education sector. Theministry plans to have specific regulations for specific majors,” Dung said,“We really hope the ministry will soon approve the decree”.-VNA