CIRCULAR

PROMULGATION OF TRAINING PROGRAM FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING ACCREDITORS

Pursuant to Decree No.36/2012/ND-CP dated April 18, 2012 of the Government providing for functions, missions, rights and the organizational structure of the Ministry and ministerial agencies;

Pursuant to Decree No.32/2008/ND-CP dated March 19, 2008 of the Government providing for functions, missions, rights and the organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training.;

Pursuant to the Law on Education dated June 14, 2005; amendment to some articles of the above-mentioned law dated November 25, 2009 and Tertiary Education dated June 18, 2012;

Pursuant to Decree No.75/2006/NDCP dated August 02, 2006 of the Government providing for details and guidelines for some articles of the Law on Education; Decree No.31/2011/ND-CP dated May 11, 2011 of the Government on the amendment to some articles of the former Decree; Decree No.07/2013/ND-CP dated January 09, 2013 of the Government to the amendment to point b of clause 13 in Article 1 of the of the latter Decree.

Pursuant to the Minutes dated March 15, 2013 of the Appraisal Council of the Training program for higher education and vocational training accreditors;

At the request of the Director of Department of Education Testing and Accreditation;

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Article 1. The training program for higher education and vocational training accreditors is issued together with this Circular.

Article 2. This circular comes into force from June 28, 2013.

Article 3. The chief office, Director of Department of Education Testing and Accreditation, relevant entities affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Training; Chairperson of People's Committees of centrally-affiliated provinces and cities; Director of department of education and training; national and regional universities, institution; Rector of universities, colleges and vocational colleges and Director of education accreditation organizations shall take responsibility to implement this Circular./.

PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Bui Van Ga

PROGRAM

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I. OBJECTIVES

General objective

The training program for higher education and vocational training accreditors aims at providing learners with knowledge, skills and attitude to perfectly carry out the responsibility and mission of higher education and vocational training accreditors.

2. Particular objectives

a) In terms of knowledge

Learners shall be provided with:

- General knowledge of education quality assurance and accreditation;

- The understanding of organizational structure and operation of higher education and vocational training quality assurance and accreditation by Vietnamese, international and regional organizations;

- The understanding of the standard system and procedure for the evaluation of higher education and vocational training quality assurance and accreditation;

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b) In terms of skills

Learners shall be provided with the following skills:

- Analysis, consolidation, evaluation of self-assessment report by educational facilities or training programs and relevant documents;

- Interview, observation, information collection and processing during the process of peer-assessment;

- Self-motivation and critical thinking;

- Design and implementation of plans for peer-assessment;

- Teamwork and leadership; organization, operation and combination among peer-assessment activities;

- Analysis, evaluation, comparison of all parts of educational facilities’ activities or training programs complying with standards and criteria for evaluation of education quality; preparation of peer-assessment report according to allocated criteria and completion of the entire peer-assessment report.

c) In terms of attitude

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II. ELIGIBLE LEARNERS

Eligible learners are those who wish to be the education accreditor and meet requirements as prescribed at point b of clause 2 and point b of clause 3, 6 and 7 in Article 4 of Circular No.60/2012/TT-BGDDT. To be specific, an eligible learner must:

1. have at least a master degree;

2. have worked as a teacher, lecturer, and educational manager of a higher education institution or vocational college for at least 10 years;

3. at least obtain an IT Certificate Level B;

4. at least achieve a Foreign Language Certificate Level B1 or 3 in the six-point scale in accordance with the Common European Framework of Foreign Language

III. CONTENTS OF THE PROGRAM

1. Unit of measurement of learning volume

The training program applies the academic credit system. The period and credit are used as the measurement unit of learning volume. Each period is claimed to last for 50 minutes of a theory class or equivalent. Each credit shall be earned through 15 periods of a theory class, 30 - 45 periods of practice, self-research, discussion or 45 - 60 hours of exercises.

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Total minimum volume of learning consists of 6 credits, in particular:

- General knowledge of education accreditation and quality assurance: 2 credits

- Higher education and vocational training accreditation: 3 credits

- Practice at the end of the course: 1 credit

3. Contents and minimum volume of learning

No.

Topic

Number of credit

Number of period

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Discussion, practice, self-studying

Module A: General knowledge of education accreditation and quality assurance

2

15

30-45

I

Overview of education accreditation and quality assurance

12

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1

Notions of education quality and models of quality management.

3

6-9

2

The system of education quality assurance and accreditation in the world.

2

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3

The model and elements of the system of education quality assurance

2

2-3

4

The internal quality assurance and self-assessment

2

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5

The external quality assurance and peer- assessment

3

8-12

II.

The system of education quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam

3

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1

The policy on education quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam and development orientation

1

2-3

2

Vietnam’s system of legislative documents on education quality assurance and accreditation

1

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3

The results of creation and development of education quality assurance and accreditation system of Vietnam

1

2-3

Module B: Higher education and vocational training accreditation

3

16

58-87

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The procedure, cycle, evaluation standard and guidelines for implementation

8

14-21

1

The procedure, cycle of higher education and vocational training quality assurance and accreditation

1

2-3

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 Standards for evaluation of quality of higher education and vocational training

2

4-6

3

Guidelines for applying standards for evaluation of quality of higher education and vocational training

3

4-6

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Guidelines for self- assessment

1

2-3

5

Guidelines for peer-assessment

1

2-3

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Methods of survey, analysis, evaluation and peer-assessment report making

8

44-66

1

Required skills for survey, analysis, evaluation and peer-assessment report making

3

12-18

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Exercise 1: Analyzing self-assessment report

2

10-15

3

Exercise 2: Making plan for peer- assessment

1

6-9

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Exercise 3: Playing the role of peer-assessment delegation for the purpose of surveying educational facilities or training programs and making the peer-assessment report

2

16-24

Module C: Practice at the end of the course

1

0

45-60

Total

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31

133-192

IV. DISCRIPTION OF MODULE CONTENTS

MODULE A: GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ACCREDITATION

I. Overview of education accreditation and quality assurance

1. Notions of education quality and models of quality management (6 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand general notions of education quality and management models of education quality; be able to classify, explain, illustrate the difference among the educational models of quality management and apply that knowledge in the process of involving in education accreditation.

b) Contents

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- Notions of education quality;

- Requirements for education quality management;

- Models of quality management: quality control, assurance and overall quality management;

- The internal and external quality assurance; connections and challenges; forms of external quality assurance such as quality evaluation and audit and education accreditation;

- The roles of parties concerning education quality assurance (e.g. The Government, schools, learners, employers and etc)

2. The system of education quality assurance and accreditation in the world (5 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand basic contents of the system, development trends of education quality assurance and accreditation in the world depending on geographical areas, organizations, regional and international networks; be able to apply that knowledge in the process of involving in the education accreditation.

b) Contents

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+ International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education –INQAAHE;

+Asia-Pacific Quality Network –APQN;

ASEAN University Network (AUN;

+ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN);

+ Other education quality assurance agencies;

- Education quality assurance and accreditation of some countries and areas in the world:

+ The education quality assurance and accreditation of The United State and North America: Overview of process of development of education quality assurance and accreditation in the United State; The system of School Accreditation Agencies and the training program of the United State; The accreditation of training programs of ABET, AACSB, TEAC agencies and so forth

+ The education quality assurance and accreditation of Europe: The process of development of education quality assurance and accreditation in Europe; the Bologna Agreement and impacts on education quality assurance and accreditation in Europe; The standard code of guidelines for education quality assurance and accreditation in Europe and so on.

+ The education quality assurance and accreditation of Asian-Pacific Oceanian countries: Quality assurance and accreditation in schools and training programs in some Asian-Pacific Oceanian countries such as Australia, the Philippines, Japan, India, China, Southeast Asian countries and so forth.

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a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand fundamental notions of models and elements of the system of education quality assurance; be able to analyze and select appropriate models in pursuit of designing and developing the system of education quality assurance and apply that knowledge in the process of involving in education accreditation.

b) Contents

- Models of education quality assurance;

- Roles of the employer and other relevant entities;

- Standards of quality assurance;

- Notions of standards, criteria, index and benchmarks;

- Quality measurement;

- Quality Assurance in reality;

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4. The internal quality assurance and self-assessment (3 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand objectives, general information and particular activities of the internal quality assurance, self-assessment of education facilities and training programs; be able to present the procedure for self-assessment and quality improvement, apply that knowledge in the process of involving in education quality assurance and accreditation, conduct a research, analyze the self-assessment report, consolidate and make specific decision.

b) Contents

- The purpose of internal quality assurance and self-assessment;

- The model of education quality;

- The model of education quality;

- The process of education quality;

- Internal quality assurance and self-assessment process;

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- Impacts of self-assessment on quality improvement of the schools;

- The consistency of education quality assurance.

5. The external quality assurance and peer-assessment (7 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand the importance of external quality assurance and peer-assessment; be able to apply fundamental rules of the external quality assurance and peer-assessment in the process of education quality assurance and accreditation; present basic contents of field research, analyze, consolidate, come to decisions, make research report, apply necessary skills for field research and prepare the report to accomplish the mission of peer- assessment.

b) Contents

- The importance of external quality assurance and peer assessment;

- Accreditor management;

- Accreditor Training;

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- Criteria for accreditor selection;

- The purpose of field research;

- Making plans for research;

- Preliminary and official research;

- Document research, interview and observation skills;

- Notes during the process and end of research;

- Preparation of peer-assessment report;

- Notes when making the peer- assessment report

II. The system of education quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam

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a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand fundamental contents of education quality assurance and accreditation which have been done so far in Vietnam over the years; present experiences of peer-assessment organizations in some schools, training programs and development trends of education quality assurance and accreditation of Vietnam in the future.

b) Contents

- The process of development of education quality assurance and accreditation system in Vietnam;

- Accumulation of experiences in education quality assurance and accreditation inVietnam;

- The experience report of some peer-assessment delegations;

- Development trends of education quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam;

2. Vietnam’s system of legislative documents on education quality assurance and accreditation (2 periods)

a) Objectives

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b) Contents

- Requirements for education quality assurance and accreditation prescribed in the Law on Education (2005), amendments to some articles of the Education Law (2009), Tertiary Education (2012) and Education Development Strategy (2010);

- Legislative documents concerning higher education and vocational training quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam

3. The results of creation and development of education quality assurance and accreditation system in Vietnam (2 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand the creation process and development orientation of education quality assurance and accreditation system in Vietnam and be able to apply that knowledge in the process of involving in the education accreditation.

b) Contents

- The process of creation and development of education quality assurance and accreditation system in Vietnam;

- Main outcomes, unsettled issues and challenges of education quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam

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III. The procedure, cycle, evaluation standard and guidelines for implementation

1. The procedure, cycle of higher education and vocational training accreditation (2 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand steps in the procedure for education accreditation, quality assurance and accreditation which are required to be carried out in education facilities and training programs in a cycle of education accreditation and apply that knowledge in the process of involving in the education accreditation.

b) Contents

- The procedure, cycle of higher education and vocational training accreditation

- Steps and notes in the procedure for the higher education and vocational training accreditation

2. Standards for evaluation of quality of higher education and vocational training (4 periods)

a) Objectives

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b) Contents

- Standard codes for evaluation of quality of higher education and vocational training

- Standard codes for evaluation of quality of training programs at tertiary level

3. Guidelines for applying standards for evaluation of quality of higher education and vocational training (5 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners understand the description of standards, criteria for quality evaluation, be able to analyze the content, search information and evidences for standards, criteria for evaluation of quality of education facilities and training programs promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training and apply that knowledge in the process of involving in the education accreditation.

b) Contents

- Description of each criterion in the standard code;

- Searching information and evidences for the criteria in standard code for education quality evaluation

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a) Objectives

Make sure learners get access to the design and launch of the plan for self-assessment in accordance with the standard code for education quality evaluation promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training; apply the knowledge in drafting and completing the criteria and self-assessment report; be able to give educational facilities and training programs advice about self-assessment

b) Contents

- Guidelines for self-assessment of higher education institutions and vocational colleges;

- Guidelines for self-assessment of training programs in higher education;

- Experiences and notes during the process of carrying out self-assessment

5. Guidelines for peer-assessment (2 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners get access to the design and launch of the plan for peer-assessment in accordance with the standard code for education quality evaluation promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training; apply the knowledge and skills for peer-assessment in the process of involving in the education accreditation.

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- Guidelines for peer-assessment by Vietnamese

- Guidelines for peer-assessment by some international peer-assessment organizations;

- The role of each member in peer- assessment;

Regulations and requirements regarding occupational moral and responsibility of education accreditors

IV. Methods of survey, analysis, evaluation and peer-assessment report making

1. a) Objectives

Make sure learners get access to required skills for survey, analysis, evaluation and peer assessment report making; know how to apply these skills in the process of involving in education accreditation.

b) Contents

- Analysis and judgment skills for self-assessment in educational facilities;

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- Teamwork and decision-making skills;

- Problem solving skills;

- Leadership skills for peer-assessment delegations;

- Plan-making and coordination of peer-assessment skills;

- Peer-assessment report making skills

2. Exercise 1: Analyzing self- assessment report (7 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners broaden their knowledge and skills through the analysis of self-assessment report and apply them in the process of involving in education accreditation.

b) Contents

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- In-depth analysis of evaluation criteria skills;

- Teamwork skill for analyzing self-assessment report;

- Skills for making evaluation report of self-assessment report

3. Exercise 2: Making plan for peer-assessment (4 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners broaden their knowledge and skills through designing the plan for peer-assessment of educational facilities or training programs and apply them in the process of involving in education accreditation.

b) Contents

- Special skills for designing and launching the plan for preliminary and official survey of peer-assessment;

- Practice in group in preparing and launching the plan for preliminary survey;

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4. Exercise 3: Playing the role of peer-assessment delegation for the purpose of surveying educational facilities or training programs and making the peer-assessment report (8 periods)

a) Objectives

Make sure learners broaden their knowledge and skills through playing different roles in the peer-assessment delegation when conducting the survey in educational facilities or training programs and apply them in the process of involving in education accreditation.

b) Contents

- Skills for judgment and evaluation of self-assessment report of educational facilities or training programs, reaching a consensus on comments and making peer-assessment report;

- Practice in group in judging, evaluating, reaching a consensus on practical comments on educational facilities or training programs according to the self-assessment report of educational facilities and the official survey results.

- Practice in group in preparing the peer-assessment report including criteria, standard and overall reports.

MODULE C: PRACTICE AT THE END OF THE COURSE

1. Objectives

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2. Contents

Prepare a peer-assessment report of an educational facility or a training program in compliance with assigned standards or criteria.

V. GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1. Training facilities

The National University of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and other educational facilities are eligible to undertake the mission of training higher education and vocational training accreditors if they:

a) have at least 5 lecturers including 3 full-time lecturers who gained a master degree and used to enroll on training courses in education quality assurance and accreditation run by accredited international organizations and received the certificate of accreditor training.

b) have adequate resources of infrastructure, equipments (e.g. learning rooms, the library, website, etc) to implement the training program for accreditors;

c) have experiences in providing training and launching activities of self-or peer-assessment and involve in the evaluation of educational facilities and training programs;

d) have detailed training programs with learning volume not less than the minimum one in accordance with regulations of this Program; in-depth outlines for each topic which specify vital conditions, contents, compulsory reading document and references, the interaction between trainers and trainees, testing and evaluating methods of each topic; appropriate documents for the organization of training. The detailed training program and outline for each topic as well as references must be approved by the Ministry of Education and Training in consideration of inspection of experts.

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a) Training facilities shall review and amend relevant legislative and guiding documents, appropriate references and put them into the detailed program each year.

b) Training facilities shall develop the plan for class-holding, regulations on admission dossier, fees and tuition fee and make them publicly available on the website of training facilities and other media, have specific training program for each course and introduce the course regulation.

The course regulation shall include requirements for people who involve in the organization of the course, lecturers, learners; organization of examination, marking and processing of examination appeals; conditions and procedures for issuance and revocation of the certificate of training.

The course regulation and detailed training program for each course shall be made publicly available on the website of training facilities and informed learners in prior to the starting date.

c) Combine training models between self-studying with guidance (online correspondence course) and full-time courses in training facilities, employ methods of quality assurance and improve the training efficiency; Module A is presented by learners’ self-studying with guidance while Module B provides full-time courses and Module C means learners’ self-actualization with guidance. Training facilities shall allocate the guides to advise learners on the practice at the end of the course.

d) For Module A which is combined by the theory class and self-studying with guidance: Training facilities shall reasonably arrange the time for the theory class and self-studying of learners under the guidance of the lecturer in charge. Lecturers shall take responsibility to answer all questions of learners during the self-studying process.

d) For Module B which provides full-time courses: combine the presentation of lecturers and the organization of activities for learners; lecturers shall shoulder responsibility to advise learners on participating in group activities and there is no more than 07 members in a group.

e) Teaching materials (online) shall be sent to learners after they enroll for the course and before the starting date.

3. Examination and evaluation

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- Exercises (constructed response assignment) shall be prepared depending on each topic which requires learners to show their understanding after studying each topic. Learners shall take responsibility to finish all the exercises and hand them in to the lecturer. The lecturer shall mark the exercises and send the results as well as feedbacks to learners on schedule.

- Learners shall seat an exam after finishing Module A at the training facility before starting Module B.

- Learners are eligible to take the final exam of Module A if they complete all constructed response exercises and earn an average results of at least 60 points on a scale from 0 to 100 for these exercises

- Learners are eligible to pass Module A if they gain the results of at least 60 points on a scale from 0 to 100 for the final exam of Module A.

- Only people who pass Module A are allowed to enroll on the Module B.

b) Module B: Higher education and vocational training accreditation

- Learners shall take 3 exercises in group including:

Exercise 1: Analyzing the self-assessment report

Exercise 2: Making plans for peer-assessment

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- Learners are eligible to pass Module B if they earn 80% of class hours and complete all 3 exercises.

- Only people who pass Module B are eligible to do the practice at the end of the course according to Module C.

c) Model C: Practice at the end of the course

- Requirement: Prepare a peer-assessment report of an educational facility or a training program complying with assigned standards or criteria under the guidance of the training facility.

- Time for completing the practice: no more than 15 days

- Training facilities shall give mark to the practice at the end of the course. There are at least 2 examiners for each practice (the mark is given on a scale from 0 to 100)

- Learners are eligible to pass Module C if they earn at least 50 points on a scale from 0 to 100 for the practice.

d) Retention of Module records

Learners are required to re-take the Module that they failed. Learners who fail Module C may be entitled to have their academic records of Module A and B retained for one year from the day starting the course.

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a) Learners are eligible to receive the certificate if they pass all 3 Modules.

b) The evaluation results and mark of Module A (General knowledge), B (Higher education and vocational training accreditation) and C (Practice at the end of the course) shall be written in the mark statement and issued together with the certificate of accreditor training.

c) The Director of the training facility shall issue the certificate of accreditor training to people who finish the course. The certificate template shall comply with regulations in force of the Ministry of Education and Training on the certificate template of the national education system used for training programs with printable certificate.