Officially cancel early admission

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has just issued Circular 06/2025 amending and supplementing the regulations on university and college admissions for preschool education, effective from 2025.

Chính thức bỏ xét tuyển sớm trong tuyển sinh đại học

Officially abolishing early admission in university admissions. (Source: VNE)

One of the most notable changes is the elimination of early admission. Instead of limiting early admission to no more than 20% of the target as in the draft, all methods will be considered in one round. Direct admission will still be carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

In addition, if admission is based on high school academic results, schools are required to use the results of the entire 12th grade year, and at the same time stipulate a minimum weight of 25% of the admission score from these results.

In addition, schools with multiple admission methods must develop rules for converting equivalent admission scores between methods and publicly announce them according to the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training. This is to avoid too large a gap between admission methods, especially the situation where the transcript score is significantly lower than the high school exam score.

This rule must be announced at the same time as the input quality assurance threshold, helping candidates have enough information to choose their wishes.

Another important new point is that candidates do not need to choose a method code or admission combination. The general admission system of the Ministry of Education and Training will automatically consider the method with the highest result of the candidate, helping to reduce the load and increase the chance of admission.

From 2025, due to many changes in the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training will remove the limit on the number of admission combinations for each major and training program. Previously, each major could only use a maximum of 4 admission combinations.

However, to ensure input quality, the regulations require that the admission combination must have at least 3 suitable subjects, of which Math or Literature accounts for at least 25% of the weight. In particular, from 2026, the number of common subjects between the combinations must account for at least 50% of the admission weight, ensuring uniformity in assessing candidates' abilities.

Regarding foreign language certificates in admissions, in recent years, the use of foreign language certificates in admissions has had many shortcomings, especially the abuse of foreign language certificates as a deciding factor for admission. This is disadvantageous for candidates in remote areas due to different conditions of access to certificates.

Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that schools can still convert foreign language certificates into admission scores, but the weight of the scores cannot exceed 50%. This regulation ensures that candidates can take advantage of foreign language skills, but does not cause an imbalance compared to other candidates.

In addition to foreign language certificates, to ensure fairness, from 2025, the total bonus points will not exceed 10% of the admission score (including priority points, bonus points, and incentive points).

For example, on a 30-point scale, the maximum bonus point is 3 points. Schools can still apply bonus points to consider the specifics of the training program, but must not exceed this limit. This Circular takes effect from May 25, 2025.

To date, about 140 universities have announced expected enrollment information, basically recruiting by many methods but have not announced the time and quota. Some schools have issued official plans with some changes to comply with the draft enrollment regulations that the Ministry released at the end of last year.

Many parents and students are confused by new regulations such as converting methods to a common scale and adding priority points. However, schools are waiting for the Ministry's official regulations before providing detailed information.

Last year, the whole country had 733,600 candidates applying for university entrance exams. The number of successful candidates in the first round was nearly 673,600.

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