Vietnamese high school diploma is recognized internationally

With a Vietnamese high school diploma, students are admitted directly to many foreign universities and have the opportunity to receive scholarships of up to full tuition, something 'unimaginable' compared to previous decades.

CONFIDENTLY "MADE IN VN" TRANSCRIPT

Vietnamese students' study abroad activities began to "take shape" around the late 1990s and began to explode from 2006 onwards. During that time, according to experts, Vietnamese degrees were hardly respected and foreign schools even made a list of Vietnamese schools that accepted their degrees, although the curriculum was the same throughout the country. "That was a very disadvantageous time for Vietnamese people," said Dr. Le Bao Thang, Director of the international education consulting company OSI Vietnam. However, the discrimination has almost disappeared in the past 5 years. Not only accepting admission based on high school graduation certificates from all, some units also directly admit students and award scholarships based on their GPA and foreign language proficiency, instead of requiring students to take a number of standardized exams or study a year of university preparation.

Vietnamese students listen to advice from Australian school representatives at a study abroad seminar.

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

"With a "made in Vietnam" GPA, I can apply to study in many countries without any difficulty, just need to prepare early in the context of many countries "tightening" student visas like now", Nguyen Thi Thanh My, a student at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School (HCMC), shared. Among them, the top 8 universities in Australia (Group of Eight) are having a policy of directly recruiting Vietnamese students, each school has different criteria. For example, the Australian National University accepts direct recruitment of students from 92 specialized schools and key schools based on their 12th grade GPA. This is a new regulation implemented since last year and has recorded many positive marks, according to Dr. Amanda Barry, Director of the school's international student department. Ms. Barry said that accepting admission based on a degree from another country is not simple, due to the differences between the two educational systems. This process takes place in many steps, starting with the admissions department preparing a proposal to submit to the committee in charge of academic quality. After the committee approved the proposal, it was submitted to the university's academic council, which includes more than 100 senior lecturers, for consideration and decision. "We are very pleased that the Vietnamese education system has met the admission standards," the doctor confided. "The Australian National University is not concerned about the quality of Vietnamese students. The Vietnamese education system has developed remarkably over the past 10 years, and we are very impressed with the investment in English language learning as well as the improvements and developments throughout the system. Vietnam is a regional success story and we have been discussing with Vietnamese partners about collaborative research projects and doctoral training programs," said Ms. Barry.

Vietnamese students enjoy many benefits

Specializing in international education, Dr. Tran Thi Ly, professor at the Faculty of Education, Deakin University (Australia), said that Vietnamese people are increasingly successful in applying for short-term and full-time programs at many foreign universities. This comes from a number of main factors, such as Vietnam's potential in providing students, the need to diversify the nationality of schools, increasing diplomatic relations, and cooperation at both the national and school levels between Vietnam and some countries with developed education systems... "The position of the Vietnamese high school diploma is also one of the influencing factors," Dr. Ly commented. According to Ms. Ly, the position of the Vietnamese high school diploma combined with other factors such as the quality of the country's general education system, the capacity of Vietnamese students... has encouraged many leading universities to consider direct admission. "In particular, the above change comes from the fact that major universities around the world have more and more data showing that many high school graduates in Vietnam are ready both academically and in English to directly enter their university's undergraduate program," Dr. Ly analyzed. Dr. Le Bao Thang commented that the increasingly "opening up" of foreign countries creates opportunities for many families without good financial conditions to still access international education. "Having many excellent students from Vietnam to study also helps to improve the school's position and ranking, so this is a mutually beneficial relationship," Mr. Thang commented, adding that at the world's top schools, because the competition rate is extremely high, in addition to GPA, students must meet many other criteria such as standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, essays, recommendation letters or go through additional interviews... to prove their potential to be superior to other candidates. In addition to the undergraduate level, the trend of welcoming Vietnamese international students also occurs similarly at the master's level. For example, when wanting to study in the US, candidates previously had to take standardized tests such as GRE and GMAT, but now they can apply freely. "The only mandatory requirement is your English proficiency, usually 6.5 to 7.0 IELTS. However, in some specific fields such as law or medicine, Vietnamese people still need to complete related exams," said Dr. Thang.

Vietnamese students in New Zealand

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

TO BE WIDELY RECOGNIZED…

In New Zealand, since 2021, all universities in the country have accepted direct admission of Vietnamese students based on GPA and high school graduation exam results. And in early August, some schools issued new, more open regulations, only considering GPA in grade 12 instead of having to wait until graduation results. In both cases, the required GPA is 8 or higher, regardless of whether the school is specialized or general. Mr. Ben Burrows, Director of New Zealand Education Agency in Asia, said the new mechanisms reflect the flexibility of the schools. But this was not a decision made lightly or quickly, but was carefully considered based on many years of comparing the actual academic performance of students in Vietnam and after studying in New Zealand. "You have performed so well that we decided to make the decision to directly admit students," Mr. Burrows shared. Agreeing, Dr. Mark A. Ashwill, co-founder and CEO of Capstone VN, former Director of the Institute of International Education in Vietnam, said that most post-secondary schools have positive experiences with Vietnamese international students. "You have proven that you can succeed at foreign colleges and universities. This is the reason why Vietnamese high school students and their high school diplomas are generally highly regarded," Mr. Ashwill affirmed.

Vietnamese students studying in the US

PHOTO: NVCC

According to Mr. Ashwill, the Vietnamese Government is on the right track in enhancing the value of Vietnamese high school diplomas internationally, helping Vietnamese degrees to be widely recognized. In particular, the innovation of the general education program from 2018 is a positive change and will be welcomed by foreign schools, because students have the opportunity to learn what they like early, are not overloaded as before and the education system as above is similar to many traditional study abroad countries, according to Dr. Ashwill. However, this path still has many steps to go, according to experts. That is because currently many universities in some countries such as the UK and Singapore still require Vietnamese students to complete a preparatory program before entering the university program, or study some international programs such as A-level, IB to be considered for direct admission to the first year. That is because the general education system of these countries lasts up to 13 years, quite different in duration compared to Vietnam. "However, the positive news is that Vietnam is gradually making English the second language in schools. This is a very good basis for the above countries to promote research and evaluation, and move towards direct admission based on our country's high school graduation certificate," said Dr. Le Bao Thang.

OVER 230,000 Vietnamese people study abroad globally

According to Thanh Nien data compiled from official sources, it is estimated that there will be 230,827 Vietnamese studying abroad in countries and territories in the 2022-2023 school year, the majority at the undergraduate level. Of which, Vietnamese international students ranked first in number in Taiwan (27,491 people), second in Korea (43,361), third in Japan (36,339), tied for sixth in Australia (32,948) and the US (31,310). In addition, Vietnamese international students also account for a significant proportion in the following countries: China (23,500), Canada (17,175), France (5,254), Germany (5,844), UK (3,240), New Zealand (1,736), Netherlands (1,289), Malaysia (740) and Hungary (600).

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bang-tot-nghiep-thpt-vn-duoc-khang-dinh-tren-truong-quoc-te-185240901222118002.htm