Officially abolishing the minimum score, 10 points/3 subjects still pass university entrance exam
This is entirely possible, as starting from the 2018 admissions season, all universities and colleges across the country (except teacher training schools) will be autonomous in determining admission scores. The opportunity to enter university will be expanded to all candidates, but with that comes concerns about training quality.
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| In the coming time, the opportunity to enter university will be open to candidates, when universities will decide their own admission scores. Illustration photo: Hai Nguyen. |
The ability of the school to "grab the small fry"
In 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training officially removed the regulation on input quality assurance threshold (floor score) for non-teacher training majors. This is a completely new point in the enrollment regulations that the Ministry has just issued.
In recent years, the issue of whether to keep or remove the floor score has caused multi-dimensional debate. Non-public universities and colleges have requested the Ministry of Education and Training to remove the floor score limit because it will cause difficulties for the recruitment source for these schools. Meanwhile, many public schools still want to keep it, because they believe that the Ministry's floor score will be a necessary "barrier" to improve the quality of university training.
Although still controversial, the regulation has been passed, schools are officially responsible for their own admission decisions. And it is not impossible that in the near future, there will be schools that "grab the little things", regardless of the ability and background of candidates, to recruit students en masse to create revenue, turning the school into a degree selling machine. Candidates can easily choose a university for themselves, even if their exam score in one subject is only below average.
The abolition of the minimum score also makes the competition between schools become more intense. In case a school wants to maintain its brand and set high standards, it may face difficulties in recruiting students when similar schools lower their standards.
According to Mr. Tran Anh Tuan - Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training), the fact that schools are allowed to set their own admission scores does not rule out the possibility that some schools will set very low admission scores. However, lowering the admission scores also means lowering prestige, leading to society and candidates doubting the quality of training. He warned that schools should not recruit students at all costs.
The rate of student employment will determine the university brand.
According to the data just released by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the unemployment rate of trained workers is gradually decreasing. If in the third quarter of 2017, the whole country had more than 237,000 unemployed workers with university degrees or higher, then by the fourth quarter of 2017, the number decreased to 215,300 people.
With the prospect that schools will be able to determine their own admission thresholds, the number of unemployed graduates may increase again, as opportunities to enter university become more open.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Van Top - Vice Principal of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the reality of the recent admission season has proven that many universities have lowered their admission scores but still cannot recruit enough candidates. The reason is that students today no longer choose careers based on emotions, and no longer have the mentality of going to university at all costs.
Therefore, to compete, schools are forced to improve the quality of training, tighten output to ensure that graduates have skills, meeting the needs of employers. The rate of graduates with jobs will determine the brand and survival of a university.
