The Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) Circular 08/2021 on the regulation on university training says that the maximum duration for students to fulfill training courses is determined by training establishments, but must not be two times longer than the standard time applied for each kind of training.

Students whose maximum study time is running out but  have not fulfilled credits on national defence education and physical education, or have not satisfied requirements on foreign language skills and information technology will have three more years to fulfill credits to graduate.

As such, the majors with the standard study time of 3.5 years will have a maximum training time of seven years, while majors with the standard study time of four years will have the maximum time of 8 years.

The five-year majors will have the maximum training time of 10 years, and the six-year majors 12 years.

This is the framework for schools' training regulations.

Nguyen Ngoc Khoi, head of the training division of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of HCM City, said under the school’s training regulations, students have 12 years to fulfill courses to become doctors, while they only have eight years to obtain a bachelor’s degree.

In addition, students also have three more years to satisfy other conditions on foreign language skills, national defence education and physical education. As such, the maximum time that students have to graduate from school is 11-15 years, depending on their major.

Khoi said no student has graduated from the school ahead of schedule. Also,  \no student has used the allowed maximum time of 12 years and additional time of 3 years.

As for the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, the standard training time is 4-5-6 years for different training modes, and the maximum training time is 8, 10 or 12 years.

Meanwhile, according to Bui Hoai Thang, head of the training division of the HCM City University of Technology, the program for  bachelor’s degree has four standard study years and two extended years, while the training program to produce engineers has five standard years and two extended years.

He said only one or two students can finish the school ahead of schedule in each course. About 50-60 percent of students will finish studying on schedule and 15-20 percent of students will have to extend study time.

Le Huyen