No more limits, Australia's top university admits students from all Vietnamese schools

Campus of an Australian National University

Expanding admission opportunities

ANU recently announced to its partners that it will expand its admissions to Vietnamese students from February 2025, continuing the "open door" policies welcoming Vietnamese people that the university has issued in recent years. This decision was also made in the context that the Australian government may cancel the proposal to cap admissions due to opposition from the opposition.

Accordingly, instead of only directly recruiting Vietnamese students from 92 specialized schools and key schools based on their 12th grade transcripts, ANU will directly recruit students from all high schools outside the list of 92 schools mentioned above or international schools that teach bilingual programs, based on SAT or ACT scores (two standardized tests commonly used for admission to American schools).

According to ANU, admission scores depend on the major, from 1,170-1,470/1,600 SAT and 23-35/36 ACT. In addition, Vietnamese students also need to submit their grade 12 transcripts in their application, but this is only a "sufficient condition" for ANU to confirm that the candidate has completed 12 years of school in Vietnam and the school will not consider admission based on this score.

Mr. Andy Pham, ANU’s Senior Manager for the Mekong region, also noted that with the regulation of direct admission of students from 92 specialized schools and key schools based on their grade 12 academic records, ANU will require students to have a score in chemistry in 3 subjects if they want to apply for majors related to medicine and science. Similarly, the school requires students to have a score in math if they want to study majors related to engineering and commerce, but this is not a barrier because math is a compulsory subject in the new general education program.

"The decision to expand admissions comes from the fact that the school currently does not have a university preparation program, certificate program or other pathways for candidates to enter the regular program. Therefore, in previous years, only students from 92 Vietnamese schools on the list were able to study at ANU. Now, the opportunity has opened up for everyone," Mr. Andy Pham explained to Thanh Nien .

Another reason, according to Mr. Andy, is that the school's academic department has just decided to expand enrollment in the Vietnamese market. This decision comes from the fact that the first batch of students admitted directly in 2023 all achieved good results. "Regarding the 2025 scholarship, the school only has scholarships worth 25% of tuition fees, and will automatically consider eligible students," the ANU representative shared.

ANU is a member of the Group of Eight, an alliance of eight leading Australian universities, ranked 30th in the world according to the QS World University Rankings 2025. The school is also ranked 4th in Australia, according to this ranking.

Vietnamese students listen to advice on admission methods to Australian schools

Another school also adjusted its admissions policy.

Another public university that has adjusted its admissions policy during this time is the Australian Catholic University (ACU). In September, the university decided to stop accepting international students for 2025 after reaching the Australian government’s proposed admissions limit. But when it was reported that the proposal might be revoked, ACU reopened its admissions portal at the end of November, according to The Koala .

As such, international students can now apply to study at ACU in most training programs except for the bachelor of nursing and a few postgraduate programs in health sciences "which have met their enrollment targets in 2025", according to Mr. Chris Riley, ACU Vice-Chancellor.

Previously, in an exchange with Thanh Nien , some Australian universities such as Macquarie and New South Wales said that despite having to deal with the ceiling regulations, the schools still maintain their admission policies for Vietnamese students to ensure diversity of nationalities, which is based on academic records and English proficiency. However, representatives of the schools also advised candidates to accept early admission as soon as they receive an invitation letter to avoid risks.

Also in the current context, many leading Australian universities have decided to increase tuition fees by 3-7% for international students from 2025. Not only increasing tuition fees for international students, some universities also intend or have completed plans to cut staff to save costs and make up for last year's deficit.

According to the Australian Department of Education, as of August, there were 803,639 international students studying in Australia. Of these, 36,490 were Vietnamese, ranking 5th. At leading universities, the number of Vietnamese students and researchers accounts for a significant proportion, such as about 600 at the University of Melbourne, 400 at the University of Adelaide, or in the top 10 in terms of quantity at the University of Queensland... Of which, Victoria is the state with the largest concentration of Vietnamese students with 14,994 people.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/khong-con-gioi-han-dh-hang-dau-uc-xet-tuyen-hoc-sinh-tu-tat-ca-truong-viet-185241205100246764.htm