University admission 2017: No limit on wishes, no minimum score

Candidates' chances of being admitted to their favorite major will be higher when university admission regulations do not limit the number of applications or schools.

The draft Regulations on university and college admissions for teacher training majors in 2017, announced by the Ministry of Education and Training on December 15, have many important changes, overcoming some limitations of previous years.

Unlimited number of registration wishes and schools

According to the draft, candidates are free to choose the number of wishes and schools when participating in the admission process, but must arrange them in order of priority from high to low (wish 1 is the highest).

In the first round, candidates are considered equally based on their exam results, regardless of the priority order of their registered wishes (except in cases where the same admission score is at the end of the admission list). Candidates are only admitted to the highest possible priority wish in the registered list.

If there are many candidates with the same admission score at the end of the list, the criteria for the applicant with higher priority and the additional conditions of each school will be considered.Successful candidates must confirm their admission within the prescribed time limit. Failure to confirm admission within this time limit will be considered as a refusal to study and the school will consider additional admission.

Candidates taking the 2016 national high school exam in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Manh Tung

The school's admission process is organized into the first phase and additional phases. In the first phase, candidates submit their application form along with their application for the national high school exam. After receiving the results of the national high school exam, candidates can adjust their admission application within the prescribed time limit, online.

Based on the school's enrollment quota and the number of successful candidates who have confirmed their enrollment at the school after the first round, the school's admissions board decides whether to consider additional admission or not.

If in 2016, the additional admission score could be lower than the first round admission score, causing many frustrations, this year the Ministry of Education estimates that the score for receiving additional admission applications cannot be lower than the first round admission score. Candidates who have not been admitted or have been admitted but have not confirmed their admission to any school can register for additional admission.

Eliminate university floor scores

According to the draft, the Ministry of Education is not expected to set a quality assurance threshold (floor score) as every year.The most common requirement for candidates to apply for university admission is to graduate from high school, and the sufficient requirements are determined by the schools. Schools must publicly disclose the entry requirements in their proposals.

The Ministry of Education will build an Admissions Portal to support schools and candidates in the above work.This system includes information on the direction and management of enrollment work; database on national high school exam results; enrollment plans, enrollment conditions of schools; data entry system for statistical data on candidates' wishes and other information necessary for enrollment work.

Here, schools can exploit information to predict admission scores, list of admitted candidates, and decide to stop or continue additional admissions.

The Ministry of Education will build an Admissions Portal to support schools and candidates. Photo: Manh Tung

Reserve 25% of admission quota for traditional exam groups

According to the draft, schools using the results of the national high school exam for admission must announce the combination of exam scores of the exams (Math, Literature, Foreign Language, Natural Science, Social Science) and the component subjects of the Natural Science and Social Science exams (referred to as exam subjects) for admission.

NSchools that use a combination of new subjects and exams other than the traditional exam blocks (the exam blocks that the school has used since 2014 or earlier) to consider admission for a major must reserve at least 25% of the quota of that major for admission according to the traditional exam blocks. This regulation will only be implemented in 2017.

Adding new subject combinations or exams for admission is done according to the principle: Using the results of 3 subjects/exams, including at least one of the two independent subjects Math and Literature for admission.

The subjects/exams included in the combination for admission must be related to the requirements of the training sector; do not use more than 4 subject/exam combinations for admission to a sector.

For gifted schools and majors, the results of 3 exams/subjects, including at least one Math or Literature exam, combined with the gifted exam results, are used for admission consideration.

TDepending on the requirements of the training industry, schools can specify the main exam/subject to be multiplied by a coefficient when considering admission.

Graphics: Tien Thanh - Hoang Phuong.

Previously, on December 5, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the Draft Regulations for the 2017 National High School Exam. There are a total of 5 exams including: Math, Literature, Foreign Language, Natural Science (a combination of Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and Social Science (a combination of History, Geography, Civic Education for High School Education; a combination of History, Geography for Continuing Education).

To be considered for high school graduation, candidates must take four exams, including three compulsory ones: Math, Literature, Foreign Language, and one optional one: either Natural Science or Social Science. Continuing Education candidates must take three exams, including Math, Literature, and one optional one (Natural Science or Social Science).

According to VNE