VietNamNet Bridge - Many universities and junior colleges received a large number of applications after one week of enrollment, but they are still not sure if they can find enough students. 

In principle, every student can apply for two schools and register for four training majors. But finally, the student must choose one major and one school to follow. This means that though students have applied for some schools, they may give up at the last minute.

By the end of August 8, the HCMC Food Industry University had 6,100 applications, though it plans to enroll 3,000 students. Though the number of applications is double the planned number, Nguyen Xuan Hoan, vice rector of the school, is worried.

Hoan said his school applies a special method to find the ‘virtual students’, i.e. the students who submit registrations but will not study at the school.

Many universities and junior colleges received a large number of applications after one week of enrollment, but they are still not sure if they can find enough students.

The database provided by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) comprises information about which schools and training majors students have applied for. 

The information, plus other factors, including the floor marks required by schools in the last few years, the popularity of the schools’ brands, the attractiveness of the registered training majors and the students’ exam scores, will allow Hoan to predict if students really want to study at the school. 

For example, a student with a 25 exam score who applied for the Hanoi Economics University and another less prestigious school is very likely to choose the former school. 

Since a 25 score is a good result, the student will be admitted to the economics school, and therefore, will not go to the less prestigious school though he has applied for the school as well.

The HCMC University of Technical Education also said the number of applications is two times higher than needed. The school’s rector Do Van Dung said his staff was collecting necessary information to identify students who likely will not enroll. 

“Right after the first phase of enrollment finishes, we will analyze the situation based on the number of applications and related factors to anticipate the situation,” he said.

However, Dung said the most important solution the school applies is to call for more than enough students to be sure the school will have enough students.

Meanwhile, Van Hien University said it tries to foresee students who will eventually choose not to enroll by calling every student to give advice on career. 

Vu Van Hoa, vice rector of the University of Business & Technology, said the school has received 4,000 applications, but he believes the percentage of registered students who are unlikely to choose the school is high. The figure was 50 percent in 2015.

Tien Phong