VietNamNet Bridge - People-founded schools still cannot find enough students for the 2015-2016 academic year, though the first phase of the national enrolment plan has ended.

Some schools still had thousands of vacancies by the end of September 6. Nguyen Tat Thanh University in HCM City had 3,800 more unoccupied seats. By the end of September 6, the school had received 1,700 applications.

President of Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Nguyen Manh Hung, said the enrolment has been going very well for medical and pharmaceutical training majors, while there are few applications for other majors. 

“We cannot understand why it is so difficult to enroll students for non-medical training majors,” he said, adding that Nguyen Tat Thanh is a multidisciplinary school. 

Hung also complained about the new enrolment mechanism which is based on high school learning records. The problem is that there are so many ‘virtual’ candidates, i.e. the students who register to study at the school, but never turn up.

Only 20 percent of registered students have come to the school to follow procedures for admission.

The Binh Duong Economics & Polytechnic College had fulfilled 65 percent of the enrolment plan when the first phase of the enrolment season finished. It is now still seeking some 500 students more. 

The schools in HCM City are facing the same problem. The Hanoi Business & Technology University plans to receive 4,600 students, but it had received only 1,500 applications by September 4. 

The Phuong Dong University, which plans to receive 1,400 students this year, had received 300.

While state-owned schools have basically fulfilled their enrolment plans, non-state owned schools still have to struggle hard to find more students.

Dai Viet Sai Gon College has reportedly found 100 students only out of 1,500 it plans to admit this year.

President Le Lam said the enrolment this year is worse than ever. The school could find 200 students by that time last year.

Bach Viet Junior College has found 1,000 students and it needs 1,400 students more.

Other schools also reported poor enrolment results with less than 50 percent of the enrolment plan implemented.

Lam said unsatisfactory enrolment results was anticipated when the Ministry of Education and Training allowed many schools to follow their own ways to enroll students. 

With floor marks of 15 for universities and 12 for junior colleges, junior colleges could expect to receive students who got exam scores of between 12 and below 15. 

However, the floor mark set by the education ministry does not have much significance, because even students with less than 12 score can also apply for university with their high-school profiles. 

NLD