If the exam is difficult, this regulation could narrow admission opportunities for many candidates.

The Ministry of Education and Training’s recently announced draft regulation on university admission based on students’ high school learning records has sparked much debate.

The draft states that for transcript-based admission, the admission combination must use the overall average scores of six semesters (grades 10, 11, and 12) of at least three subjects, one of which must be Mathematics or Literature. 

This method applies only to candidates whose total score in the three corresponding high school graduation exam subjects (or Mathematics, Literature, and another subject) reaches at least 16 points. 

This regulation does not apply to candidates who are granted special consideration or exempted from the high school graduation exam.

This means candidates wishing to apply via transcripts must score at least 16 out of 30 points on the high school graduation exam, instead of relying solely on academic records as before.

In recent years, universities have used diverse admission methods, primarily focusing on high school graduation exam scores and academic record reviews. Many schools reserve a fairly large percentage of their quota for the academic record method.

The academic record benchmarks at most universities currently stand at 18 points, equivalent to an average of 6 points per subject for admission. 

Meanwhile, many schools set benchmarks for the high school graduation exam score method starting from only 15 points. This discrepancy is raising many debates about the rationality and fairness among admission methods.

Trinh Huu Chung, Vice Rector of Gia Dinh University, said that if the Ministry of Education and Training imposes exam score constraints on the academic record method, it will significantly impact candidates and universities.

According to Chung, the trend in global higher education is to expand entry and focus on output quality; therefore, additional barriers should not be set. 

“As long as students graduate from high school, they are eligible for university. Currently, many schools set benchmarks for the graduation exam score method at only about 15 points. If academic record reviews require candidates to get 16 points or more, schools would no longer need to review academic records,” he said.

Chung also noted that the 2018 general education curriculum emphasizes differentiation and increasing academic difficulty, while exam papers in some years have been particularly challenging. Therefore, setting a 16-point threshold needs reconsideration. “In my view, this rule should be removed, or if retained, a more appropriate level would be 15,” he proposed.

The head of training at a university in HCMC said the draft aims to “tighten” institutions that have set very low admission scores in recent years, commonly at 14–15 points. From a training quality perspective, this is a positive and reasonable policy.

However, he said applying a fixed score threshold would face problems because the difficulty of the high school graduation exam varies each year. If exam questions are too difficult, even capable candidates may struggle to meet the requirement. 

Therefore, setting a rigid threshold could put heavy pressure on some institutions, especially private universities, local schools, or majors that are traditionally hard to recruit for.

Recent experience shows that many universities have very low cut-off scores, only 14–15 points. If a cap is imposed, schools would be forced to raise cut-off scores, but careful calculation is needed to determine an appropriate threshold that ensures training quality while avoiding recruitment difficulties.

Pham Thai Son, Director of Admissions at HCMC University of Industry and Trade, said the goal of the draft regulation is positive, but setting a rigid score is not reasonable. He argued that the threshold should be flexible by year, as the difficulty of the high school graduation exam can change.

“What if students perform better than the previous year? In that case, a fixed score would no longer be appropriate. Therefore, this minimum threshold should be based on the overall results of the high school graduation exam each year,” Son said.

A 16-point threshold is currently quite high and should be adjusted flexibly according to exam difficulty. “If possible, the score should fluctuate between 14 and 16 points depending on each year’s reality, which would be more reasonable,” he said.

Le Huyen