IELTS 7.5 but still re-study English at school: Necessary or wasteful?

The university does not accept IELTS certificates, is it reasonable for students to be forced to study the English program organized by the school?

Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport does not accept exemption from English courses for students with IELTS certificates - Photo: TRAN HUYNH

As Tuoi Tre Online reported, many parents and students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport were upset that students with international language certificates such as IELTS were not accepted by the school, and were forced to take exams and pay for English classes at the school.

The incident attracted the attention of many readers with many mixed opinions.

IELTS 7.0 is not enough to understand technical English, need to study more?

According to reader Tu, in reality, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport still allows students from the 22nd class and earlier to submit international English certificates to be exempted from English courses. But from the 23rd class onwards, the school requires students to pay tens of millions to study English at the school.

"In fact, those with IELTS 7.0 or higher are able to communicate and even research documents in English quite well, so they will do well in their major. Learning English at school is like learning high school content, only learning grammar and vocabulary. If you can't listen or speak, how can you go to work?

Regarding specialized English, I think the school should stipulate that if students want to, they can register to study, otherwise they can study outside. Is it necessary to spend 6 million VND to study specialized English if you only learn vocabulary?", a reader wondered.

Reader Tinh commented: "According to the school's announcement, most of the classes are general English, only one last class can be specialized English.

Students with high IELTS certificates still have to retake English at school, which is a waste of time and money.

When students' English level is good, they can learn more specialized vocabulary on their own because a course at school won't solve anything.

Reader Huynh Chuong asked: Has the general English program of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport been quality-accredited by the Ministry of Education and Training? Is the English UTH certificate issued by the school legally valid? Does the Ministry allow the school to issue this certificate itself?

Meanwhile, the school's leaders explained that "teaching the English program at the school is to ensure quality, avoiding cases where students are scammed by outside groups and given fake certificates."

Regarding this opinion, reader Xuan Phuong stated: "Whether the scam is real or fake depends on the management. Do all the school's teaching staff have IELTS 7.5 or not that they force students like that?"

It is reasonable to learn specialized English.

However, many readers also think that it is reasonable for schools to organize specialized English teaching in schools.

Reader Minh Khang commented: "I support specialized English for university students. We are integrating deeply with the world so it is necessary.

In fact, IELTS certificates are general in nature, not specialized in each narrow field of expertise. If students do not study specialized English, they will have difficulty accessing specialized documents during their studies and research.

Sharing the same opinion, reader Gia Bao shared that learning specialized English will help a lot in your future work. In an environment where people communicate with each other using specialized terms and language, it is very important for you to understand exactly what the other person is trying to convey.

"English at school is specialized English, so it is reasonable to require students to learn it. For example, Bridge is a bridge, a connecting bridge, but in the maritime field it is a ship's cockpit.

"If you don't learn specialized English, you will have difficulty communicating professionally after graduation," reader Johny commented.

Reader Hoang Dan also affirmed: "People with IELTS 7.0 may not necessarily understand and master specialized technical terms, especially specialized machine language."

However, reader Migu said: "I study specialized English but the school does not divide specialized English for each different major. I study automation but still have to learn English for logistics. After I graduate, that specialized English will not be useful in my job."

The English tuition at the school is too high.

Introducing himself as a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, reader Hoai Nam commented: "Honestly, the quality of English teachers at the school is average. The tuition fee is 5 million VND per level, but I only received 4-5 direct lessons, the rest were online and only finished in a month."

According to reader Vy: "The school teaches a total of five levels of English, but only one level is specialized English. We do not object to specialized English because every school has it. And we also do not object to the school teaching basic English.

The issue we disagree with is the English tuition fee. For specialized English, 6 million VND is still acceptable. But for basic English, this fee is too high.

We even have to study online and e-learning (self-study - teachers give homework to learn and do by ourselves, or not). What's more noteworthy is that e-learning takes up quite a lot of time, and it also counts as a class period."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ielts-7-5-van-hoc-lai-tieng-anh-o-truong-can-thiet-hay-lang-phi-2024120710242137.htm