(kontumtv.vn) – Starting from the 2025 university and college admissions season, instead of requiring schools to only have a maximum of 4 admission combinations based on high school graduation exam scores for each major as before, the Ministry of Education and Training allows schools to have unlimited admission combinations.

This is one of the notable new points of the Regulations on university and college admissions for Preschool Education recently issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, aiming to increase opportunities and ensure fairness for candidates in different regions.

Photo caption
Candidates take the capacity assessment test at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Hutech) exam site in 2024. Photo: Thu Hoai/VNA

Many new admission groups appear

2025 is the first year that students studying under the new 2018 General Education Program will take the High School Graduation Exam. Candidates will take 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, and Technology.

With the above number of subjects, 36 combinations will be created that can be used for university admission. On that basis, training institutions have been adjusting the admission combination to suit and adapt to the number of subjects in the 2025 High School Graduation Exam. Many subjects are included in the admission subject combination for the first time, such as: Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, Technology.

According to representatives of higher education institutions, the above regulation is favorable for candidates as it increases their chances of admission, and at the same time helps schools promote their autonomy in building admission combinations.

This year, in addition to the traditional admission combinations used in previous years such as A00 (Math, Physics, Chemistry), A01 (Math, Physics, English), D01 (Math, Literature, English), B00 (Math, Chemistry, Biology), Hanoi University of Science and Technology announced the addition of admission combination K01 (Math, Literature, combined with one of the four subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics) and combination D04 (Math, Literature, Chinese).

In 2025, the University of Technology (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) will add two groups: Math, English, Informatics and Math, Physics, Informatics.

Hanoi University of Industry plans to recruit 5 new groups with subjects of Technology, Information Technology, Economic and Legal Education including: A0C (Math, Physics, Technology), A0T (Math, Physics, Information Technology), B0C (Math, Chemistry, Technology), D0C (Math, English, Technology), D0G (Math, English, Economic and Legal Education). These groups will be used to recruit for majors such as Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering Technology and Information Security...

The University of Transport also added a new group GT1 (Mathematics, Physics, Informatics) with a number of majors such as Computer Science, Information Technology, Electrical Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Control and Automation Engineering...

However, the issue that still causes concern in public opinion, causing concern about quality, is that schools build "strange" admission combinations that are not suitable for the training industry, which tends to appear more in this year's admission season.

Specifically, there is a school that recruits students for the Physics Pedagogy major with 4 groups, but only 1 group has Physics as a subject, which is Literature, Mathematics, Physics; the remaining 3 groups do not have this subject, including the groups: Mathematics, Literature, English; Literature, Mathematics, Chemistry; Literature, Mathematics, Geography. Or like the History Pedagogy major, it recruits three groups without History, including: Mathematics, Literature, English; Literature, Mathematics, Geography; Literature, Mathematics, Economic and Legal Education.

In addition, some training institutions enroll students in the Agriculture - Forestry - Fisheries and Medicine sectors, but many admission combinations do not include Biology. According to many experts, from a training perspective, using unrelated subjects for admission will affect the quality of input and the suitability of students for the field of study.

Need to ensure quality and suitability

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said: Although there is no limit on the number of admission combinations, to ensure the quality and necessary knowledge foundation at the university level, the Admission Regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training stipulate that the subject combinations used for admission include at least 3 suitable subjects, including Math or Literature with a weighted score of not less than 25%. From 2026, the total number of subjects in the combinations must contribute at least 50% of the weighted score.

Sharing about the construction of admission combinations, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son informed: Higher education institutions will have to enroll students according to combinations suitable for the training major and requirements. The Ministry of Education and Training also sets out specific requirements for each school and training major. For each major, schools will choose the admission method as well as the admission exam combinations suitable for the requirements of that major, to ensure that qualified candidates can choose to study and succeed in this program.

The Ministry of Education and Training is expected to have specific regulations. For example, for each major, there will be common parts between the admission combinations. The common part is the mandatory requirement for candidates to study the program, while the decision on which subjects to choose is the right of the schools to ensure autonomy.

Regarding training institutions, explaining the expansion of admission combinations, representatives of many schools said that students can choose their exam subjects, so the formation of new combinations aims to expand the recruitment source and create more diverse opportunities for candidates.

Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, said that it is undeniable that expanding the admission combination helps universities attract more candidates, especially candidates with strengths in different subjects. For candidates, they have many options for combination, not limited to a fixed group of subjects.

However, according to Master Pham Thai Son, it is also necessary to pay attention when expanding the combination. The combinations must accurately reflect the required capacity of the field of study, especially for fields that require solid foundational knowledge such as medicine, architecture, engineering, etc. If too many combinations are expanded without clear criteria, it can lead to uneven input quality.

Viet Ha (Vietnam News Agency)