Under the draft, students permanently residing in Ho Chi Minh City who study at educational institutions in the city and commit to working there after graduation would be eligible for tuition support for up to 40 months for undergraduate programs, up to 30 months for college programs, and 10–20 months for other levels of education.
The policy is included in a draft resolution on measures to encourage and support education and research and provide tuition assistance in key fields and occupations in Ho Chi Minh City, which is currently being put out for consultation by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council.
A key provision of the draft concerns tuition support for students pursuing key fields and occupations, as well as fields and occupations aligned with advanced regional and global standards.
Applicable to key fields and occupations
Under the draft, the policy would apply to students permanently residing in Ho Chi Minh City who study at educational institutions in the city, have graduated from high school or obtained an equivalent qualification, and enroll in intermediate-level, college-level, or undergraduate programs in key fields and occupations, as well as fields and occupations approaching advanced regional and global standards. Eligible students must also commit to working in Ho Chi Minh City after graduation.
The policy is also expected to apply to students permanently residing in Ho Chi Minh City who study at educational institutions in the city, have graduated from intermediate-level programs and pursue articulation programs leading to college-level qualifications, or have graduated from college-level programs and pursue articulation programs leading to undergraduate qualifications in key fields and occupations, as well as fields and occupations approaching advanced regional and global standards. These students must also commit to working in Ho Chi Minh City after graduation.
The tuition support would cover the actual tuition fees for intermediate-level, college-level, and undergraduate programs in key fields and occupations. However, the support would not exceed the tuition fee ceilings prescribed by the Government for public vocational education institutions and public higher education institutions that are not financially autonomous in terms of recurrent expenditure, corresponding to each level of training and each group of fields and occupations.
For fields and occupations approaching advanced regional and global standards, the tuition support would cover actual tuition fees but would not exceed twice the tuition fee ceilings prescribed by the Government for public educational institutions that are not financially autonomous in terms of recurrent expenditure, corresponding to each level of training and each group of fields and occupations.
Tuition support to be paid at the end of each semester through commune-level people’s committees
Tuition support would be provided on a semester basis, with each support period not exceeding five months and the total support not exceeding 10 months per year. For educational institutions that charge tuition on a credit basis, the fees must be converted into the equivalent annualized tuition rate.
Students would receive tuition support at the end of each semester through the commune-level People’s Committee of their place of permanent residence. Educational institutions would be responsible for certifying and submitting lists of eligible students to the commune-level People’s Committee where the students are permanently registered. The local authorities would then review the applications and provide the tuition support directly to eligible students in accordance with regulations.
The duration of tuition support would vary depending on the level and program of study: up to 20 months for intermediate-level training programs; up to 30 months for college-level training programs; up to 10 months for articulation programs from intermediate to college level; up to 40 months for undergraduate programs; and up to 20 months for articulation programs from college to undergraduate level.
Cases requiring repayment of tuition support
Students receiving tuition support would be required to commit to and fully complete their training programs within the prescribed period, meet the required learning outcomes, and graduate in the field or occupation for which they received support.
Students would be required to repay in full the tuition support provided from the state budget in cases where they commit fraud, provide false information, or use unlawful documents or records to qualify for the policy; voluntarily drop out, are expelled; or fail to complete the training program due to subjective reasons, among other cases.
The determination, recovery, and repayment of tuition support would be carried out in accordance with laws on the state budget and regulations issued by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.
Funding for the tuition support policy would be secured by the city budget in accordance with the state budget decentralization framework, along with other lawful sources of revenue.
After the resolution is promulgated, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee would issue a list of key fields and occupations, as well as fields and occupations approaching advanced regional and global standards, in accordance with the resolution.
