The Vietnamese-German Medical Program suddenly stopped, leaving students of Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine in confusion.

The Vietnam - Germany Medical Program is a joint training program in European standard medicine between Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany), implemented since 2013. Students are expected to receive a medical doctor degree issued by Germany, qualifying them to continue studying or working in Europe.

An opening ceremony of the Vietnamese-German Medical Program of Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine. Photo courtesy

At Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, the Vietnamese-German Medicine program has tuition fees of up to hundreds of millions of VND per year. According to the announcement on tuition and training fees for the university system in 2025 - 2026, the tuition fee of the program is 115 million VND/semester, equivalent to 230 million VND/year. In 2024, the tuition fee is 229.9 million VND/year (not including accommodation, transportation and other expenses).

The duration of the course is 6 years and 3 months, including 5 years in Vietnam and 1 year and 3 months of internship at hospitals in Germany. Up to now, hundreds of students have studied this program.

However, on October 18, many students received a notice that the program was temporarily suspended because “the German partner could not continue to cooperate.” This notice made many parents worried that their children’s educational and financial rights would be affected.

A student (who asked to remain anonymous) said: "We have been studying a German standard program, the tuition is many times higher than the domestic program, now we hear the news of the sudden stop, we don't know what the future holds."

In response to the reactions from students and parents, a representative of Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine said that they are working with German partners and relevant authorities to find a suitable solution, ensuring maximum benefits for students. The school representative affirmed that an official announcement will be made when the final results are available.

According to the school representative, the incident has been reported to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. At the same time, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine will also have a dialogue with students to discuss the reasons for ending the training cooperation, study plans for students in the courses they are studying, financial plans and handling of paid tuition fees, training plans, recognition of learning results and support during the transition period.