Admissions 2016: Expected many big changes

On October 28, the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges held a conference on high school graduation exams and university and college admissions. Accordingly, many issues were discussed, such as whether to continue the national exam or separate the two exams.

If you don't have enough points, then... study abroad.

Talking about this year's national exam, Professor Tran Phuong - Principal of Hanoi University of Business and Technology expressed that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) organized one exam which was reasonable, less costly, and achieved two goals: graduation and university and college admission.

Besides agreeing with the need to continue with one exam, Professor Phuong suggested that there is no need for 100 exam clusters but that the Departments of Education and Training should organize the exam, while the Ministry should only be responsible for designing the exam. Professor Phuong's second suggestion is that the Ministry should allow schools to recruit twice a year. As it is now, the recruitment period is prolonged, causing waste to society.

Illustration photo.

Professor Phuong asked how the Ministry's experts calculated this year to have 530,000 candidates above the minimum score, but schools recruiting until almost the end of October still lack students. Hanoi University of Business and Technology has only recruited 2,600/4,500 targets so far.

According to Professor Phuong, it is time to reconsider the floor score. Because is it true that only with the floor score can one study well? Every year, thousands of Vietnamese students go abroad to study because they do not have enough floor scores, while domestic schools lack candidates.

“For a long time, the Ministry has only cared about input and neglected output. But I think the most important thing in university training is output. University output requires passing at least 60 exams to graduate. I think the Ministry needs to address this issue. The university program is 130 credits - similar to the US - but Vietnamese people with these credits cannot become professionals. Because Americans do not need to learn English. So with 130 credits, where do we find the time to teach English, information technology, general education, not to mention physical education and national defense. So I think 130 credits is not enough.

Regarding the passing score of the subject, it must be 6 or higher. The current regulation of the Ministry is not stable" - Professor Phuong raised a series of issues.

Should it be separated?

From another perspective, Associate Professor Van Nhu Cuong assessed that the recent exam had three shortcomings: it failed to reduce stress, it failed to reduce finances, and it failed to select candidates with the right abilities. “I think we cannot do it because the Ministry takes care of everything from A to Z. While in preschool and general education, the Ministry takes care of Z, in universities, the Ministry takes care of A” – Mr. Cuong likened.

According to Associate Professor Van Nhu Cuong, the university entrance exam should be given autonomy to schools, and schools should have the right to choose a suitable model. The two exams should be separated, the graduation exam should be very concise, and it can be considered as the second semester exam, while the university entrance exam should be given autonomy to schools.

Sharing the same opinion, Professor Lam Quang Thiep said that the graduation exam should be left to the Department of Education and Training because "Even if the Ministry takes over, it cannot standardize the whole country." As for university admission, the schools should be autonomous, without needing a floor score, and the exam scores are decided by the schools themselves.

The Ministry of Education and Training hopes to overcome the limitations of the 2015 enrollment period. (Photo: Pham Mai/Vietnam+)

Professor Vo The Phuong - Principal of Dong Do University said that organizing a 2-in-1 exam like the one just now is a wrong idea because the purpose of the 2 exams is different. One side records graduation results, the other side considers admission. Therefore, with the 2-in-1 exam, it is no different than forcing a marriage.

Furthermore, the organization of the exam is unreasonable, when universities have to take care of graduation for the departments. Besides, the exam lasting exactly 1 week is unreasonable, affecting the life of each family and society.

“Not only that, the unreasonable structure of the exam results in inaccurate student assessment, leading to a 40% decrease in the quality of university entrance exams this year. Along with that, the inclusion of elective subjects in the graduation exam. Currently, we are teaching 13 compulsory subjects in high school. Such self-selection leads to the situation of choosing subjects to take the exam in advance, leading to students studying in an unbalanced way.

Therefore, if we continue to have 2-in-1 exams, we must adjust the shortcomings of the previous exams. If we separate graduation and admission into two independent tasks, the graduation part should be assigned to the locality" - Professor Vo The Phuong suggested.

Is calling the exam 2 in 1 incorrect?

Representative of the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Mai Van Trinh - Director of the Department of Testing and Quality Assurance of the Ministry of Education and Training said: "The teachers said that the 2-in-1 exam does not reflect the true nature of the national exam, but the essence is that after 12 years of studying, students must have a ladder to see where they stand. From that ladder, there are 2 purposes: graduation and admission. Therefore, it is not a graduation exam and not an entrance exam, so it is not 2-in-1. The Ministry has given autonomy to the schools in the entrance exam. The Ministry does not force the schools to take the Ministry's general results."

According to Online Law