Ministry of Education and Training decentralizes the authority to grant foreign language certificate exams to localities

From October 12, the Chairman of the Provincial and Municipal People's Committee will directly approve joint activities to organize foreign language proficiency exams instead of the Ministry of Education and Training as before.

This is one of the notable new points in Circular 16/2025/TT-BGDDT on joint organization of foreign language proficiency certification exams recently issued by the Ministry, effective from October 12.

Specifically, Circular No. 16/2025 emphasizes the requirement for the People's Committees of provinces and cities to manage the activities of organizing foreign language proficiency exams in the locality according to the Government 's regulations; publicly announce and update on the electronic information page the list of units approved, adjusted, extended, and terminated to organize foreign language proficiency exams in the locality.

From October 12, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or city directly approves joint activities to organize foreign language proficiency exams instead of the Ministry of Education and Training as before. (Illustration photo)

The Ministry of Education and Training affirms that foreign language proficiency certificates are not certificates of the national education system, but are a form of document confirming results issued by foreign language proficiency assessment agencies and organizations.

Foreign language proficiency certificates are legally recognized in the host country when the competent authority of that country allows the organization of the certificate examination; or are used to review immigration applications, naturalization, and grant entry visas to citizens of countries who want to settle, work, research, study, and recognize the achievement of input and output standards in training programs for international students in the country where the language used for the certificate examination is the official language.

Currently, Vietnam has many international language certificates licensed to organize exams (English, French, Chinese, Japanese, German...). For English, the most popular certificates include IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC.

These certificates are allowed by the Ministry of Education and Training to be used to exempt the high school graduation exam in English, as well as to convert equivalent English test scores for university admission. Many universities allow candidates with international language certificates to apply for admission or exit.

Kim Nhung

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/bo-gd-dt-phan-quyen-cap-phep-thi-chung-chi-ngoai-ngu-cho-dia-phuong-ar963914.html