The Ministry of Education and Training is seeking public opinions on the draft Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the regulations on university and college admissions for Preschool Education, including the content on early admission quotas set by training institutions but not exceeding 20% ​​of the quotas of each training major and group of majors.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training held a discussion with experts, representatives of higher education institutions, and the Department of Education and Training to listen to opinions in the process of completing the draft.

_DSC9991.JPG
Ms. Vuong Huong Giang, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Education and Training. Photo: Tran Hiep

Ms. Vuong Huong Giang, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, said that the Department of Education and Training agrees with the regulations on early admission quotas of universities and the regulations on early admission benchmark scores (after equivalent conversion) not being lower than the benchmark scores of the general planned admission round.

The reason, according to Ms. Giang, in recent years, when implementing support for candidates to participate in early admission, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training has found some shortcomings. Specifically, to be considered for early admission to universities and colleges, many candidates register multiple profiles at training institutions, leading to high schools spending time and effort to copy transcripts and confirm profiles, while this is the peak time of the high school graduation exam.

Moreover, after the admission results are out, candidates do not have the mentality to continue studying, because they only need to graduate from high school. This affects the overall quality of the exam and the review mentality of other candidates.

"We believe that the regulation of early admission quotas and admission benchmarks ensures fairness among candidates in the admission rounds and reduces the above-mentioned problems," said Ms. Giang.

The representative of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training also agreed with the regulation that the examination of transcripts must use the results of the candidates' entire 12th grade study year. "This ensures a comprehensive assessment of the candidates' knowledge throughout high school and avoids the phenomenon of lopsided learning or not studying some subjects in the second semester of 12th grade, when students only focus on studying subjects for the graduation exam," said Ms. Giang.

_DSC9923.JPG
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dao Tung, Director of the Academy of Finance. Photo: Tran Hiep

Also related to the issue of early admission, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Dao Tung, Director of the Academy of Finance, said that all universities and academies conducting early admission will cause chaos in high schools, because of the large number of confirmations. In addition, when eligible for early admission, students do not care about studying in the second semester of grade 12. The Academy of Finance does not implement early admission.

Representatives of the Academy of Finance also support the admission based on transcripts, which must use the academic results of the entire 12th grade year.

“There are schools that ‘compete’ in admissions by only considering students’ academic results in 5 semesters (the entire year of grades 10, 11 and semester 1 of grade 12), so there are stories of students not focusing on studying in semester 2 after Tet. Through the admissions consulting process, going to localities and schools, I have noticed and discussed this problem. We believe that competition at university should not cause disruption at the high school level,” said Mr. Tung.

_DSC9846.JPG
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son shared at the seminar. Photo: Tran Hiep

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said that it is necessary to recognize and adjust "early admission" to ensure fairness for all candidates.

“This is a competition. Is it okay if we only consider admission once? It is also difficult to consider admission early because each school has a different way of submitting applications, requirements, and procedures. We make people and students suffer. We think that this is good for schools because they are proactive, students who have the opportunity to be admitted early will feel secure, but in fact, students always have to think and worry about the time and documents for admission. This is a very inappropriate problem. Because the pressure on students does not decrease, it even increases,” said Mr. Son.

Affirming that university and college admissions have a great impact on the learning process at the high school level, Mr. Son said that having stricter regulations (if using transcripts for admission, the learning results of the entire 12th grade year are required) is also aimed at ensuring fairness for candidates. If only considering 5 semesters at the high school level, ignoring the second semester of 12th grade, many students will be subjective and not focus on studying well in all subjects. This will be very difficult for them when entering university later.

“In addition, we need to measure the candidates’ capacity and learning ability to suit and meet the requirements of each industry/training program. We need to determine the viewpoint on how to simplify the enrollment process, making it most convenient for schools without violating the general principles of education, which are fairness, equality, and quality,” said Deputy Minister Son.

According to the Deputy Minister of Education and Training, the draft is not final but has new points to overcome some shortcomings. Spending too much time and resources on early admission will have a negative impact on general education.

Ministry of Education: 'Tighten' early admission to create fairness for candidates

Ministry of Education: 'Tighten' early admission to create fairness for candidates

A representative of the Ministry of Education and Training said that it is expected that the early admission quota will not exceed 20% of the quota for each training major and group of majors to ensure fairness for candidates.