Over 120,000 applications were submitted for teacher training programs.

On April 27th, the Ministry of Education and Training held a press conference to provide information about the 2018 national high school graduation exam and university, college, and teacher training college admissions. This year, the number of candidates taking the national high school graduation exam is nearly 926,000, an increase of 60,000 compared to the previous year. Of these, more than 237,000 candidates are taking the exam for graduation purposes, and more than 688,000 are taking the exam for university and college admissions.

"The total number of applications for teacher training programs is 125,260, a decrease of 29% compared to 2017; of which over 43,000 are first-choice applications, a decrease of 26.9%," said Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, Director of Higher Education.

To address the long-standing problem of teacher surplus, in 2018 the Ministry reduced the total enrollment quota for this major by 38% compared to 2017 (the total quota this year is 35,590). The Ministry also set a minimum quality standard for admission to teacher training programs.

Specifically, for university admissions based on academic transcripts, candidates must have achieved an excellent grade in 12th grade. For Music, Fine Arts, and Physical Education teacher training programs, a grade of "good" or higher is required. For college and vocational programs, the 12th-grade academic requirement for teacher training programs is at least "good," except for the three specialized programs mentioned above and Physical Education (vocational level), which accept students with an average grade in 12th grade.

In the context of reduced enrollment quotas and raised entrance standards for teacher training programs, the fact that the number of applications remains 89,000 higher than the quota, according to Director Phung, is encouraging."This shows that the field of teacher training is still receiving attention. Candidates who are willing to face the increased entrance standards and reduced enrollment quotas for teacher training programs may be those who are academically strong and truly passionate about teaching," Ms. Phung said.

The 2018 enrollment targets for teacher training programs were determined based on statistics of teacher staffing needs in various localities and research on the number of unemployed graduates in this field. Specifically, by 2021-2022, provinces and cities nationwide will need 59,000 teachers. Meanwhile, approximately 50% of the 40,000 teacher training students who have graduated or are expected to graduate between now and 2021 are unemployed and want to work in their field of study.

"We expect to attract 20,000 graduates, so we're only recruiting an additional 35,000 students this year. Of these, six major teacher training colleges have been assigned specific quotas by the Ministry, totaling approximately 8,000. The remaining number will be determined by local teacher training colleges to match their local teacher staffing needs. This addresses the current problem of localized surpluses and shortages," Ms. Phung explained.

According to the Director of Education, the vocational teacher training sector is recruiting 5,000 new students this year to meet the large and urgent need for preschool teachers in localities. Of the 59,000 new teachers recruited to meet the needs of the provinces, 40,000 are for primary and preschool levels.