A nationwide shift in university admissions policy under consideration

At the Higher Education Conference held on September 18, representatives from more than 200 universities and academies across the country received a survey form from the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), seeking their opinions on potential changes to university admissions beginning in 2026.

According to Professor Nguyen Tien Thao, Director of the Higher Education Department under the MoET, the conference focused on critical issues related to university admissions. In particular, the continued use of 17 different admission methods in 2025 was flagged as excessive.

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High school students sit for Vietnam’s 2025 national graduation exam. Photo: Pham Hai

Of the various methods, 42.4% of students were admitted using high school academic records, 39.1% based on national graduation exam results, and the remaining 18.5% through other forms of evaluation.

"We asked delegates whether using high school transcripts as an admission method significantly affects student outcomes and performance. It may be time for us to reconsider whether this method should continue to be used," Prof. Thao stated.

The second issue, he noted, concerns the overwhelming number of choices made by students. Of the 849,544 applicants in 2025, there were a total of 7.6 million admission preferences submitted. "While information technology systems can handle the load, the real issue is the inefficiency created when students submit excessive and unclear choices," he explained.

Prof. Thao also revealed that 16 universities encountered technical errors during the 2025 admission cycle. These mistakes, including incorrect minimum admission scores, affected nearly 1,000 applicants. While most impacted students were able to enroll in their desired or next-preferred programs, the situation still caused complications for other institutions.

Regarding the expansion of training programs, he noted that 404 new undergraduate programs were launched in the 2024–2025 academic year. The total undergraduate student population reached 2,528,519 across all forms of study, with 2,245,369 enrolled in full-time programs.

Thanh Hung