Positive signs ahead of the 2026 university admissions season.
Ahead of this year's admissions season, a series of new policies and preferential programs implemented by universities have opened up more opportunities for candidates in the process of choosing majors and applying for admission.
Expanding opportunities for the teaching profession.m
In 2026, the teacher training sector continues to attract the attention of many candidates due to high demand for human resources and attractive support policies. At the Teacher Training College of Vinh University, this year's admissions season sees the History Teacher Training program recruiting 45 students, an increase of 15 compared to 2025; the History-Geography Teacher Training program recruiting 83 students, double the number from the previous year.
Previously, for the past three consecutive years, History Education and History-Geography Education were among the majors with the highest entrance exam scores at Vinh University, exceeding 28 points, with only slightly more than 10% of applicants successfully admitted. Therefore, with the significant increase in enrollment quotas, opportunities this year will be much wider for candidates wishing to pursue a career in education.
Dr. Le The Cuong, Head of the History Department at the Faculty of Education, Vinh University, believes that the admission cutoff scores for the History Department's majors this year will likely be more manageable than in previous years.
According to him, in 2026, the Faculty will only use two admission combinations: C00 (Literature, History, Geography) and D14 (Literature, History, English), and will not include the subject of Economic and Legal Education in the admission combinations. This subject usually has a high score range, so not using the results of this subject could affect the overall admission score.
In addition, the university has also adjusted the priority points awarded to students who win provincial-level excellent student awards, reducing them from 1-2.5 points to 0.5-1.25 points compared to the previous year. These changes are expected to contribute to bringing the admission scores to a more appropriate level, creating more opportunities for candidates wishing to study History and History-Geography teacher training programs at Vinh University in this year's admission season.
Teacher training is a unique field of study where students receive significant support from the government. According to Government Decree 116, each teacher training student receives a monthly living allowance of 3.63 million VND and is exempt from tuition fees throughout their studies.
Therefore, the training quotas for teacher training programs are not determined based on the enrollment needs of each school, but are assigned by the Ministry of Education and Training based on the teacher needs of localities, the training capacity of higher education institutions, and the orientation of human resource development in the education sector in each period.
At Vinh University, according to a decision issued by the Ministry of Education and Training at the end of May 2026, the university has been allocated 1,517 training quotas for teacher training programs, an increase of nearly 300 quotas compared to the previous year. Many programs have seen significant increases, such as History Education, Literature Education, Mathematics Education, and English Education, thereby expanding admission opportunities for candidates.
Discussing this year's admissions process, Associate Professor Dr. Le Tien Hung - Rector of the School of Education, Vinh University, said that university admissions in 2026 in general, and for the education sector in particular, will undergo many changes according to Circular 06/2026/TT-BGDĐT. One of the notable new points is that candidates must achieve a minimum of 15 points in the admission test combination to be eligible to participate in university admissions.
Furthermore, although candidates can register for a maximum of 15 preferences for undergraduate programs and college-level Early Childhood Education programs, only preferences from 1st to 5th place are considered for teacher training programs. The new regulations also tighten the admission requirements based on academic transcripts and limit the number of admission methods that training institutions can apply. Specifically at Vinh University, teacher training programs will not use the academic transcript-based admission method.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Le Tien Hung, these adjustments are expected to contribute to improving the quality of input, ensuring fairness and transparency in admissions. At the same time, increasing quotas in many teacher training programs also opens up more opportunities for candidates wishing to pursue a career in education. However, given the changes in admission regulations, candidates need to carefully study the information, consider their own abilities, and arrange their preferences rationally to increase their chances of being admitted to their desired program.
Attracting engineering and technology students
On May 20th, the Government issued Decree No. 179/2026/ND-CP stipulating scholarship policies for students studying basic sciences, key engineering fields, and strategic technologies. Accordingly, university students in priority fields can receive scholarships ranging from 3.7 to 5.5 million VND per month, depending on the training program. This is considered one of the practical support policies aimed at attracting high-quality human resources for the country's science, technology, and innovation sectors.
The issuance of this Decree just before the 2026 university entrance exam season not only provides additional motivation for candidates to choose strategic basic science, engineering, and technology fields, but also opens up more favorable learning opportunities for many capable students who face economic difficulties. At the same time, this policy is expected to contribute to changing career choices, attracting more talented students to pursue key fields serving the development of science and technology, digital transformation, and enhancing national competitiveness in the new era.
At Vinh University of Technology and Education, this year the university offers 16 undergraduate programs, including many key engineering fields such as mechanical engineering, mechatronics, semiconductor technology, and automation. These are all fields with high demand for human resources, aligned with the development trends of modern industry, digital transformation, and high technology. Therefore, job opportunities after graduation are considered very broad. Based on these advantages, Associate Professor Cao Danh Chinh - Vice Rector of the university - expects that Decree 179/2026/ND-CP will open up great opportunities for universities to train in key engineering and strategic technology fields.
With Decree 179, for the first time, a policy supporting students in key engineering and strategic technology fields is stipulated at the government decree level with a broad scope and comprehensive mechanism. This will create motivation for both students and training institutions to improve the quality of training and research.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cao Danh Chinh - Vice Rector of Vinh University of Technology and Education
Unlike Decree 116, Decree 179 specifies the eligible recipients quite clearly, based on academic achievements, entrance exam scores, and academic performance during their studies. Accordingly, for candidates applying based on high school graduation exam scores, the conditions are: being a national-level outstanding student or having an average score of 22.5 or higher in the three subjects of the chosen subject combination, and belonging to the top 30% of candidates with the highest admission scores for the major or training program. During their studies, students must maintain their academic performance, accumulate the required number of credits, and not receive any disciplinary action at the level of reprimand or higher to continue receiving the scholarship.
With these rather strict regulations, in addition to contributing to improving the quality of training at universities, Decree 179 also requires students to constantly strive from the preparation stage for admission as well as throughout their studies.
The scholarship policy under Decree 179 will create additional motivation for students to confidently choose fields of study where the country has a high demand for skilled human resources. However, this is not a general support policy but aims to encourage and attract students with genuine abilities. Therefore, students need to prepare thoroughly in terms of knowledge, clearly define their learning goals, and maintain good academic results throughout their training to continue benefiting from this policy.
Mr. Phan Trong Dong - Principal of Nguyen Xuan On High School
