Guidelines for procedures for granting licenses to establish foreign-owned foreign language training centers

Legal basis: Decree 86/2018/ND-CP regulates foreign cooperation and investment in the field of education. This article will provide an overview and details of the prerequisites, step-by-step process, necessary documents and specific procedures for establishing a foreign-invested foreign language training center. 

1. Procedures for establishing a foreign-invested foreign language training center

According to the provisions of Article 2.2 of Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, a foreign-invested foreign language training center is defined as a “Short-term training and development facility”. 

Accordingly, the permission to establish short-term training and development facilities with foreign investment is carried out in accordance with the procedures in Article 31.1 of Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, including 02 steps as follows : 

Step 1: Granting investment registration certificate; 

Step 2: Issue a decision to permit educational activities and post a notice on the licensing authority’s website. 

This article will clarify the procedures to be followed in Step 2. 

2/ Conditions for establishing a foreign-invested foreign language training center

To establish a foreign language training center, foreign investors must meet the following conditions: 

1. Name of the center

– The name of the center must be arranged in the following order: “Education or training center”, “Main training sector or group of sectors” and proper name; 

Note: The name of the center must not be the same or confusing with the name of a registered educational institution or the name of the enterprise implementing the investment project; must not use words or symbols that violate the historical traditions, culture, ethics and customs of the Vietnamese people. 

2. Students 

– Students studying at the center can be foreigners or Vietnamese. 

3. Investment capital

• In case of building a headquarters: the minimum investment must be 20 million VND/student (excluding land use costs). The total minimum investment capital is calculated based on the time when the expected scale is highest . 

• In case of renting a head office: the investment level must reach at least 70% of the prescribed investment capital levels in case of building a head office . By the time of appraisal for permission to operate education, the investment value must be over 50% of the total investment capital and the investor must commit to investing enough capital within 5 years from the date of the decision to allow operation . 

4. Facilities, materials, equipment

• Ensure lighting, tables, chairs, equipment, and teaching aids according to the requirements of the educational program; 

• The area used for learning and teaching must be at least 2.5 m2/student on average; 

• There are offices of the board of directors, leaders, teachers’ room, library and other functional rooms. 

Note: In case of renting facilities: Foreign-invested educational institutions are allowed to rent stable facilities for a period of at least 05 years. 

5. Education program

Can teach: 

• Vietnamese education program according to Vietnamese law. 

• Short-term foreign language training and development programs within the framework of training partnerships with foreign countries. 

6. About the staff

The center’s organizational structure includes: 

• Manager 

• Deputy Director (if any). 

• Professional and technical departments. 

• Advisory boards (if any). 

• Party organizations (if any) and mass organizations. 

7. Teaching staff

• Teachers of a foreign language center are those responsible for teaching and guiding practice, including permanent teachers, contract teachers, Vietnamese teachers, native teachers (for each specific case), and foreigners; 

• Teachers must have a college degree in foreign languages or equivalent, with training appropriate to the assigned teaching specialty; 

• The student to teacher ratio is 25 students/teacher. 

8. Have regulations on organization and operation of educational institutions.

9. About teaching form

• Teaching activities are flexibly organized in the form of direct or online teaching or direct combined with online; 

• Students are organized and managed by class. Each class has a staff member or teacher to monitor and manage. 

10. About exams, tests and assessments

• For foreign language training and development programs to grant certificates of the national education system, the center organizes exams and grants certificates when it meets the conditions for organizing exams and granting foreign language certificates, according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. 

• For other foreign language training and development programs, the center organizes testing, evaluation and issues certificates of completion. 

11. About admission conditions

• Every year, the center develops an enrollment plan and publicly announces information about the course including the program, teaching materials, output standards, learning conditions, teachers, assessment methods, confirmation of learning results, opening time, tuition fees and other necessary information. 

• For the enrollment plan of courses designed according to the individual needs of learners, the course information is agreed upon by the center with the learners and publicly announced before the course opening date. 

12. Certificates, degrees

• The center must register the certificate sample with the competent State agency to be recognized throughout Vietnam. 

3. Application for a License to operate a foreign language center 

Application for a license to operate a foreign language center includes: 

• Application for educational activities 

• Certified copy or copy with original for comparison of the decision permitting the establishment of a foreign-invested educational institution; certified copy or copy with original for comparison of the investment registration certificate and business registration certificate for a foreign-invested short-term training and development institution. In case the competent authority can exploit this information from the specialized database or from a state agency, the organization or individual does not need to provide this document . 

• Regulations on organization and operation of educational institutions. 

• Report on investment project progress, capital contribution and borrowing status, total investment capital implemented. 

• Report explaining whether the educational institution or branch of the higher education institution has met the contents specified in Articles 35, 36, 37 and 38 of this Decree, and enclose: 

• • List of principals (directors), vice principals (vice directors), heads of faculties, departments, divisions and chief accountant. For the application for a license to operate education of a branch of a higher education institution, it is necessary to supplement the list of officers in charge of the branch and the structure and organizational apparatus of the branch; 

• • List and personal resumes of staff, teachers, lecturers (full-time and guest lecturers); 

• • Description of education level, training level, training major; 

• • Curriculum, teaching plans, learning materials, textbook lists and key references; 

• • Admission subjects, regulations and time of admission; 

• • Training regulations; 

• • Training scale (students, students, trainees); 

• • Regulations on tuition fees and related fees; 

• • Regulations on testing, evaluation, and recognition of completion of subject programs, modules, and training levels; 

• • Sample of diplomas and certificates to be used. 

4. Procedures for licensing educational activities

• Investors submit 01 set of registration documents to the Department of Education and Training. 

• Within 20 days from the date of receiving complete documents, the Department of Education and Training shall preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies and units to appraise the conditions according to regulations to submit to competent authorities for consideration and issuance of a decision permitting operation. 

• In case the dossier is invalid , within 05 working days from the date of receiving the dossier, the dossier receiving agency shall notify the investor in writing directly or via postal service or email. 

• In case the educational institution does not meet the conditions for operation, within 05 working days from the date of receiving the opinion of the competent authority, the dossier receiving agency shall respond in writing to the investor, stating the reasons . 

Related articles:

1/ Service for obtaining an operating license for foreign language centers

2/ Legal barriers for foreign investors opening language centers in Vietnam

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