Concerns about the impact on training quality

According to the 2025 university admission regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, this year schools are not limited to the combination of admissions to a major as before. The above admission method creates conditions for candidates to have more opportunities to pursue their favorite majors, and universities are also more autonomous in developing admission plans suitable for the 2025 high school graduation exam.

However, the appearance of some strange combinations, with no subjects directly related to the training major in this year's enrollment season, has made many people worry that it will cause difficulties in training, affecting the quality of human resources in the future.

Many combinations lack fundamental subjects directly related to the major.

According to the 2025 enrollment plan of Hoa Binh University, in addition to the traditional combinations of Math, Chemistry, Biology and Math, Physics, Chemistry, this year the school also enrolls 4 health majors: Pharmacy, Nursing, Traditional Medicine and Medicine with new combinations such as A01 (Math, Physics, English), C04 (Literature, Math, Geography), D01 (Math, Literature, English). These are all strange, non-traditional combinations because they do not include Chemistry or Biology, which have been familiar, basic subjects in medical enrollment for many years.

Universities need to demonstrate responsibility to learners in building admission combinations. Illustrative photo

Buon Ma Thuot University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Dak Lak) also announced recruitment for the majors of Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Preventive Medicine, Pharmacy, Laboratory Technology, Nursing and Public Health with many combinations. In particular, besides the traditional combinations of Math, Chemistry, Biology, candidates can register for admission with three subjects: Math, Physics, Technology or Math, Physics, Literature.

For the pedagogical sector, many universities also include new combinations, without subjects directly related to the major. For example, Dong Thap University recruits Physics and Chemistry Pedagogy majors using block D01 and some combinations without Physics or Chemistry. Similarly, at Khanh Hoa University, candidates can use the D07 (Math, Chemistry, English) and B00 scores to apply for Physics Pedagogy. History Pedagogy at Hanoi Capital University also considers both D01 and C04 (Literature, Mathematics, Geography) and C14 (Literature, Mathematics, Economic and Legal Education) combinations. English and Physics Pedagogy majors also use three combinations without corresponding subjects.

At the University of Education, Thai Nguyen University, the History Education major recruits both D01 and C20 (Literature, Geography, Economic and Legal Education) degrees. The Geography Education major of Hai Duong University also recruits the combination of Math - Literature - English. The Physics Education major of Pham Van Dong University, in addition to the three combinations with Physics, also recruits the combination of Math - Literature - English. The Physics Education major of Khanh Hoa University recruits the combinations of Math - Chemistry - English and Math - Chemistry - Biology in addition to the two combinations with Physics.

The trend of expanding the admission combination without subjects directly related to the major is also applied to some language and information technology majors. For example, Hoa Binh University plans to enroll students in English and Chinese Language majors using the combination C00 (Literature, History, Geography), C01 (Literature, Mathematics, Physics).

Similarly, these two majors at Hanoi Capital University also consider the C03 (Literature, Mathematics, History), C04 (Literature, Mathematics, Geography) and C14 blocks including Literature, Mathematics, Economic Education and Law. Some majors such as information technology, data science and artificial intelligence of Vietnam National University of Agriculture this year also use the Math, Literature, History or Math, Literature, Geography combinations. Biotechnology also uses an admission combination that does not include Biology.

Need to review to eliminate inappropriate admission combinations

2025 is the first year that students will take the high school graduation exam according to the new general education program issued in 2018. In this exam, candidates will only take 4 subjects, including 2 compulsory subjects: Math, Literature and 2 elective subjects out of 9 subjects, including: Foreign Language, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, Technology. In theory, the number of subjects and the selection method as above will create 36 combinations of graduation exam subjects and more than 80 combinations of 3 subjects for university admission.

And to facilitate candidates and universities in admission based on the results of the 2025 high school graduation exam, the university admission regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training have been adjusted in the direction of not requiring schools to limit 4 admission combinations for each major as before.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, with the 2025 high school graduation exam method, if the limit of 4 admission combinations for each major is still applied as in 2024, it may limit candidates' chances of being admitted to university. Therefore, removing the regulation that each major and program only has a maximum of 4 admission combinations will help candidates who choose multiple exams or study in different groups still have the chance to be admitted to majors and training programs.

Sharing with CAND Newspaper reporters on this issue, Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, said that expanding the admission combinations will help universities attract more candidates, especially candidates with strengths in different subjects, not being too limited in a fixed group of subjects. However, the combinations must accurately reflect the required capacity of the field of study, especially for fields that require solid foundational knowledge such as Pedagogy, Medicine, Information Technology, etc. If too many combinations are expanded without clear criteria and lacking basic subjects directly related to the training major, it will lead to inconsistent and unsecured input quality.

According to Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, core subjects often reflect the basic abilities of candidates. Therefore, if the History Education major does not require History, the Physics Education major does not require Physics, the English Language major does not require English, or the Medicine major does not require Chemistry or Biology, it will be very easy for students to not have a suitable knowledge base, causing difficulties in the learning process, affecting the quality of training later.

Therefore, as a State management agency in educational quality assessment, the Ministry of Education and Training is responsible for requiring universities to review and adjust inappropriate admission criteria and admission combinations that are criticized by public opinion in order to focus on learners and ensure the rights of learners. Expanding and not limiting admission combinations must have accompanying conditions. For example, admission combinations for majors must have at least 1-2 compulsory subjects directly related to the training major.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/giao-duc/lo-ngai-anh-huong-den-chat-luong-dao-tao-i763784/