Vietnam's State Scholarship Program for Postgraduate Study Abroad Explained
By Muntasir • Published Sep 18, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026 • Scholarships & Funding, Study in Southeast Asia
Vietnam funds master's and PhD study abroad for lecturers and prospective lecturers through Đề án 89 (Project 89), a state scheme approved in 2019 that replaced the earlier Đề án 911. The program pays tuition and living costs at partner universities overseas, in exchange for a set number of years working back at a Vietnamese public university after you finish.
🎓 Open mainly to lecturers, prospective lecturers and staff at Vietnamese public higher education institutions
💵 Funding covers tuition, a monthly stipend, health insurance and travel, matching the structure of its predecessor schemes
📩 You apply through your home institution, which nominates candidates to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
⏱️ You sign a bond to return and work at the sponsoring institution for a set period after your degree, with financial penalties for breaking it
What Đề án 89 is
Đề án 89, formally the scheme to raise the capacity of lecturers and managers at higher education institutions for 2019 to 2030, was approved by the Vietnamese Prime Minister under Decision 89/QĐ-TTg on January 18, 2019. It replaced Đề án 911, an earlier scheme running from 2010 that fell short of its target for producing PhD-qualified lecturers at Vietnamese universities.
The program funds doctoral and, in some tracks, master's study for lecturers and prospective lecturers, both at Vietnamese institutions and abroad, with the overseas track aimed at partner universities recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).
Why MOET replaced Đề án 911
Đề án 911 aimed to produce thousands of new PhD-qualified lecturers for Vietnamese universities by 2020, funded partly through overseas placements and partly through domestic doctoral training. Assessments of the scheme describe it falling well short of its numeric target, with slow disbursement, mismatched candidate pipelines and uneven placement success cited as contributing factors. Đề án 89 was built as a longer-horizon replacement, running to 2030, with an application and monitoring process meant to fix some of the earlier scheme's placement and completion problems.
Who can apply
Eligibility centers on people already working at, or formally recruited to work at, a Vietnamese public higher education institution. Typical candidates include current lecturers without a doctoral degree, staff earmarked by their university to become lecturers, and researchers at affiliated public research institutions. Your home institution nominates you rather than you applying to MOET directly, so the first step is registering interest with your university's personnel or international cooperation office.
What the funding covers
Overseas awards under this type of state scheme generally cover tuition at the host university, a monthly living stipend, health insurance, and international and settling-in travel costs, following the pattern of Vietnam's earlier overseas scholarship schemes managed through the Vietnam International Education Development (VIED) department at MOET. Exact stipend amounts and coverage details change with each implementing circular, so confirm the current terms with your institution or MOET before you plan your budget around a specific figure.
The service obligation after you return
Awardees sign a commitment to return to Vietnam and work at their sponsoring institution for a set period after finishing the funded degree, a standard condition across Vietnam's state-funded overseas scholarship schemes. If you leave the agreement early, do not return, or do not complete the required service period, you become liable to repay some or all of the funding received, plus applicable costs, under the terms of your signed contract.
Read your specific contract carefully rather than assuming terms from a different scheme apply, since bond length and repayment terms sit in the agreement you sign with your institution and MOET, not in general public information.
Typical application steps
Register interest with your university's personnel or international cooperation office during the institution's internal call for candidates.
Prepare academic records, a research or study plan, and language test results matching your target country's requirements.
Secure your institution's nomination and pass MOET's review and selection process for the relevant intake.
Apply to and receive admission from a partner or MOET-recognized overseas university in parallel with the scholarship process, since funding and admission get confirmed separately.
Sign the funding agreement, including the post-study service commitment, before your award is finalized.
How this differs from general overseas study scholarships
Đề án 89 targets people already inside, or committed to enter, Vietnam's higher education workforce, unlike broadly open postgraduate scholarships from foreign governments such as Chevening or the Chinese Government Scholarship. If you are not affiliated with a Vietnamese public university and have no interest in becoming a lecturer there, this scheme does not fit your situation, and a foreign government or university scholarship is a better route to funded postgraduate study.
Where to check current details
Implementing circulars, application windows and partner university lists under Đề án 89 get updated periodically by MOET and VIED. Check directly with your institution's international cooperation office or MOET's official channels for the current application cycle rather than relying on older program summaries, since specific quotas and deadlines shift from year to year.