Should we support universities that recruit students with "strange" combinations?

Recently, some universities have suddenly announced that they will enroll students in engineering, natural sciences, and medicine using the C block combination (Literature - History - Geography) in addition to the traditional A and B blocks. In contrast, some universities have announced that they will enroll students from the A block.

This announcement of enrollment has surprised many people, making them wonder about the quality of training at the schools.

Recruiting "strange" combinations is lowering the school's brand.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Head of Training Department of Thuyloi University, said that this recruitment method is not suitable. Technical blocks, especially construction engineering technology, electricity, electronics, information technology... require students to have a solid foundation in Math, even Physics. Students taking the C block exam, if they are good at Math, it is okay, but if they are weak, it will be very difficult to study engineering at university level.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, although admitted with group A, 1% of the university's engineering students are still warned every year because they do not meet the academic requirements. Universities that use the combination of Literature - History - Geography to select engineering majors will have difficulty recruiting students because few group C candidates are confident enough to register.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Minh Son, Principal of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, any university that sets a low standard score or announces a strange combination of students that is different from the training major is also lowering the brand of the school and its training major.

Be supportive but with control.

Besides the opposing opinions because they think that schools that recruit students with combinations that do not match their majors are "grabbing the little things", trying to recruit students at all costs without paying attention to training quality and the rights of candidates, there are also teachers who express their support for the method of recruiting students with combinations that are different from the major.

Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung, Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, said that the Ministry of Education and Training has allowed many universities to be autonomous in recruiting students. This year, the Ministry also removed the regulation on the minimum score for university admission.

In many countries around the world, high school graduates can be considered for admission to universities. However, universities are concerned with tightening the graduation process. This is also to manage the training of better quality students, meeting social demands.

Candidates need to carefully consider choosing a combination and major when applying for admission to universities and colleges. Illustrative photo

For example, the American SAT exam to select students for university includes all questions testing knowledge of natural sciences, social sciences and foreign languages. If anyone achieves enough scores according to the requirements of each university, they will be admitted. During the course of study, if any student cannot keep up with the program set by the school, they will be "eliminated".

According to Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung, up to now, many people still think that university admission should follow the traditional groups A, B, C, D. If now, some schools come up with a new idea of ​​admission based on a group of exam subjects that can be different from the major, we should support it.

In the 2017-2018 National High School Exam, nearly 860,000 candidates nationwide registered to take the exam. Illustrative photo

The reason why we should not refute the proposal of some schools is because reality has proven that students in many countries around the world, when entering university, do not need to be selected according to traditional combinations like in Vietnam, but when they graduate, they still have the qualifications and skills to meet the recruitment needs of businesses and society. That is, they are completely proactive learners, creative, equipped with knowledge, problem-solving skills, and teamwork.

Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung said that it is possible that schools that announce admission to strange subject combinations, different from the training major, are having difficulties with few students. However, students today are wise enough to choose subjects, schools, and careers so that when they graduate, they can find a job with the expected salary. Therefore, the number of candidates choosing subject combinations that are not suitable for the training major at university is certainly not much.

Schools that recruit students from different majors as a way to attract students at all costs will hardly survive in the long term. The important thing for a school to attract students or not is its reputation and training quality.

Expressing his opinion on the above issue, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Duc Trieu, Head of Training Department of National Economics University, according to the regulations, the selection of admission combinations is the autonomy of the schools, so it is also necessary to distinguish "blocks A, B, C" according to the old understanding with "Combination" according to current regulations.

If group C has Math, for example: C03 (Math, Literature, History), C04 (Math, Literature, Geography)... then choosing these groups is also acceptable for some majors that have traditionally recruited group A or C in the past.

Regarding the announcement of some schools recruiting "strange" combinations of students different from the training majors, the Ministry of Education and Training has commented that it will check and request explanations. This is a necessary step for candidates to carefully consider when choosing combinations and training majors suitable for their abilities as well as to limit schools that try to recruit students at all costs./.