VNU-HCM sets degree-credit rules for shared online courses
Shared online teaching lets universities reuse courses across campuses. VNU-HCM plans 33 courses for 2026-2027, with member institutions deciding how they count towards degrees.
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) will bring its VNU-MOOC online learning system into operation in the 2026-2027 academic year. Member institutions will consider learning outcomes for recognition and transfer into undergraduate programmes.
The planned offering comprises 33 courses covering fields including political theory, information technology, basic sciences, social sciences and health. The system already contains nearly 5,000 lessons with interactive activities. That gives the group a substantial teaching inventory to share; its commercial value depends on how much recognised study it delivers.
Courses can supply supplementary materials, support blended learning or provide a route to accumulating credits. These uses have different economics. Supplementary content adds a resource alongside existing teaching, while credit-bearing study offers greater scope to reorganise how teaching is delivered.
Students can take a course developed by another member university and ask their own institution to recognise it. Shared development can spread the work of producing teaching materials across a wider student base. The return will be strongest where institutions can reuse a course without extensive local adaptation.
Recognition remains an institutional decision. A matching matrix connects the online course to modules in the degree programme, and each institution determines the credits awarded and announces its process before registration. For students, that makes the published recognition terms central to choosing a course.
Assessment adds a separate delivery cost
Students seeking recognition must formally register and complete the required online content. Those meeting the learning requirements can register for a final examination organised by VNU-HCM’s Center for Testing and Quality Assessment of Training.
Successful students receive an electronic completion certificate with an authentication code. They then request recognition from their university. The certificate therefore sits between course completion and the award of degree credits, leaving registries with an essential role in making shared delivery work.
Self-study and final examinations are separate stages. Exams can take place in person or online under supervision, using a question bank developed, validated and secured under the regulations. These safeguards support academic acceptance, but supervision and assessment remain part of the delivery bill.
The strongest economic case is therefore a shared course that attracts sustained enrolment, earns recognition across participating institutions and keeps assessment manageable. Extensive remapping or duplicated administration would absorb part of the benefit from reusing teaching materials.
Student savings also depend on the full charge for completing recognised study, including assessment and recognition. For universities, the useful comparison is the cost per credit successfully awarded, with course production and student support included. A large lesson catalogue is only the starting asset.
The next commercial milestone is repeatable recognition across campuses. Enrolment, examination passes and credits awarded will reveal how much teaching the shared catalogue actually carries; comparable student charges and delivery costs will determine the financial return.