VietNamNet Bridge – Universities complain that the expenses they have to pay to organize the university entrance exams are higher than the previous year, while the exam fee collected from students remains the same, and the number of examinees increased sharply. Therefore, losses are foreseeable.

 

University and junior colleges are completing the preparation works for the 2011 university and junior college entrance exams. Most schools say that they have to bear heavier financial burdens this year due to price increases.

 

Room rents rising by 10-20 percent

 

The Customs Finance Junior College has received 26,435 registrations to attend the entrance exams, or 10,000 registrations higher than the previous year. According to President Giang Van Kip, the school has to rent 936 exam rooms located in different districts of 3,10 and Go Vap in HCM City. Meanwhile, the room rents have increased by 10-20 percent.

 

According to Kip, the more students registering to take the exams, the bigger losses the school would incur. In the 2010 enrolment season, the school incurred the loss of nearly 100 million dong.

 

Everything is getting more and more expensive. Meanwhile, the exam fees collected from students do not increase, and the number of students, registering to take the exams increased sharply. Therefore, the school anticipates a higher loss this year than the previous years.

 

Nguyen Anh Duc, Head of the Student Affairs Division of the HCM City University of Technical Education, also said that the school has to lease six venues for the exams in HCM City, four in Quy Nhon City and one in Can Tho City. In HCM City, the school rents 400 rooms with the leasing fee of 150,000 dong per room.

 

According to Do Van Dung, Deputy President of HCM City University of Technical Education, the school not only has to pay higher for room rents, but also for hiring invigilators, because the prices are getting more and more expensive. Dung said that in 2010, the school incurred the loss of 80 million dong, while he anticipates the higher loss for this year due to the higher number of examinees.

 

Dang Chau Thanh, President of the HCM City College of Foreign Economic Relations, said that the school has decided to raise the remuneration rates for invigilators from 350,000 dong to 500,000 dong per person.

 

Thanh said that the expenses on printing exam questions are always the biggest expenses. In 2010, the school had to pay over one billion dong to this work, and the loss it incurred reached 100 million dong.

 

How many “virtual examinees”?

 

What most worries schools most, is that they cannot predict the number of “virtual examinees”.

 

Under the current regulations, students have to register to take the university entrance exams right in March, and one student has the right to register to take the exams to many universities. After that, just one day before the official exams, students need to decide which university they will officially register to study at. This means that they will not attend the exams to the other schools. These students are called “virtual examinees”, because they register to take exams, but they do not appear to attend the exams.

 

Thanh from the HCM City College of Foreign Economic Relations said though he knows well that not all the registered students will attend the exams, he still has to lease enough exam rooms for all the registered students, because he does not want to face any risks.

 

Dung also said that he is not daring enough to cut down the number of exam room to rent, though he thinks that only 80 percent of registered students would appear to take the exams.

 

Most of the universities and junior colleges complain that they have to use the earnings from tuitions to compensate the losses from the enrolment work. In order to ease the financial burden, schools have to cut down expenses.

 

Dung said that the school has to re-use the brushes, wiping cloths and stationery of the last enrolment season. My Giang Son, Head of the Training Division of the Saigon University, also said the school has to do everything it can to minimize the expenses.

 

According to the schools, the expenses on printing exam questions are really a heavy item of expenditure. In 2009, schools had to pay 8500 dong for one student, while the figure rose to 10,500 dong in 2010, and it is expected that the expenses would be higher in 2011.

 

Source: NLD