Students are upset because even with IELTS 7.5, they still have to pay for English classes at school

Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport does not accept IELTS certificates, all students must 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

Many parents and students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport are upset that students who have international language certificates such as IELTS are not accepted by the school, and are forced to take exams and pay for English classes at the school.

IELTS 7.5 still have to pay for English classes at school

According to feedback from students of the 2024 class of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, the school requires students to study the general English program taught by the school with high tuition fees.

Students said that many of them had IELTS certificates since grade 12, recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training and exempted from the English exam in the high school graduation exam (10 points for English), so they thought they did not need to study English anymore when going to university.

"The school requires all students to take an English entrance exam. Even though we submitted our IELTS certificate, the school still did not accept it and required us to retake the exam.

It is unclear how the school conducts an English proficiency test that no student can escape. Many students with IELTS above 7.0 are still not exempted, but must register to study to get at least 1-2 English certificates issued by the school. So everyone is 'crying to heaven' about studying English at school," student N. reflected.

According to students, the school said that if students fully study the school's general English program, they will be awarded an English UTH certificate issued by the school.

However, students are wondering whether after graduation, when applying for a job with the English certificate issued by the school, other units will accept it like the IELTS certificate.

While parents wonder: "Major universities now allow students to be exempted from English if they have an IELTS certificate that meets the required output standards.

My child just got IELTS 7.5 but after taking the test at school still has to study 2 certificates for 12 million VND.

The school requires students to study to accumulate 6-8 English certificates of the school with tuition fees of 2.4 - 6 million VND/certificate. I wonder what the school bases its determination on to determine such a high level?".

Notice of general English tuition fees of the school with different tuition fees for each certificate. Students must accumulate all the above certificates to meet the foreign language output standards according to the school's regulations.

English proficiency required

On the morning of December 6, speaking with Tuoi Tre Online about the school's English program, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport - explained that students must achieve a level of specialized English to serve their major in order to study.

Many of the school's specific majors require specialized English proficiency such as maritime, transportation logistics... In particular, the school's training program integrates international certificates FIATA, IATA, so these organizations require very high specialized English.

For the automotive engineering industry, the school is affiliated with VINFAST, THACO ... so it requires very high specialized English to be able to access new technology when participating in the business semester.

In case students have international certificates, they will present them to the school to assess their level of specialized English. And all students are assessed by the school for their English proficiency level, from which they will be placed in classes corresponding to their level.

For example, in 2024, the entrance assessment results show that many students have achieved the general English level (level 4/5). Therefore, students only study the last part, English for the transport industry (UTH English).

All regulations are publicly announced by the school and disseminated to the school's students.

Teaching English at school 'helps students avoid fake certificate scams'

Also according to Mr. Tuan, from the 2024 course, the school adjusted the English program to include 5 levels for both the standard and advanced systems, instead of the previous 8 levels for the standard system and 6 levels for the advanced system.

In fact, the total tuition fee remains unchanged, in order to create conditions for students to complete the English program faster to access professional knowledge early, as well as to shorten the study time at school.

However, for specific majors such as maritime; traffic construction engineering; environmental engineering (under the standard system), tuition fees are lower than those of the advanced system, due to differences in facilities, lecturers, programs, etc. and are subsidized by the school to meet the urgent needs of the transportation industry as well as the national development strategy for these fields.

The school commits that this fee will not change for 3 consecutive years as the tuition fee applied to each enrollment course.

Mr. Tuan added: "The teaching of English programs at the school aims to ensure quality, avoiding cases where students are scammed by outside groups to receive fake certificates, which has been happening for many years. The tuition fee for each English course at the school is also much lower than outside, the school always applies the lowest fee possible to create the best possible conditions for students."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sinh-vien-buc-xuc-vi-ielts-7-5-van-phai-dong-tien-hoc-tieng-anh-tai-truong-202412061535497.htm