VietNamNet Bridge – The Association of Non-state Universities and Junior Colleges has officially filed a claim to the Ministry of Education Training (MOET) on a new enrolment mechanism, proposing to remove the university entrance exams.

In fact, non-state schools have been insisting on the removal of the entrance exams and demanding the “self-control mechanism” for the many years, because they believe the exams make it more difficult for them to find students.

They have once again expressed their strong opposition against the currently applied enrolment mechanism, as MOET has called on the public to offer suggestions to the drafted enrolment regulations.

Tran Huu Nghi, President of the Hai Phong people-founded University, emphasized that the qualification of university graduates depends on the training quality, not on the quality of the input students. Therefore, there is no need to set a limit on the number of students entering universities, but to create favorable conditions for all students to follow university education if they want.

“Instead of controlling the quality of university input students, it would be better to control the qualification of output students,” he noted.     

Professor Lam Quang Thiep, former Head of the MOET’s University Education Department, commented that Vietnam is one of the very few countries that still organize entrance exams to select students for university study.

Thiep believes that this would be beyond the schools’ capacity to organize entrance exams to select students. No school in the US, Russia or Japan organizes such an exam because it is very costly.

Le Viet Khuyen, former Deputy Head of the MOET’s University Education, also said that that no need to organize entrance exams to select students, while schools can find suitable students for themselves by considering the students’ high school learning records or testing the students’ capability through other ways.

“I believe that the majority of universities, including state owned schools, would meet difficulties, if they have to organize exams to enroll students. But I believe that they are completely capable enough to enroll the most capable students,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tran Xuan Nhi, Deputy Chair of the Association of Non-state owned Universities and Junior Colleges, affirmed what MOET should do is not organizing a national university entrance exam, or asking schools to organize the exams themselves. It would be better to focus on organizing a high school final exam which can serve as the useful data for schools to find students.

Agreeing with Nhi, Khuyen said that in other countries, when students finish high schools, they will be automatically recognized as eligible for studying further at universities.

“This is the principle Vietnam should pursue,” he noted.

Do Doan Hai, Vice President of the Huu Nghi Management and Technology University, said his two children have enrolled in the universities in the US without having to attend any entrance exams.

Nevertheless, the proposal by the non-state schools has not been applauded by state owned schools. Mocking at the non-state schools, state schools have warned that the student qualification would be decreasing if the input students’ quality cannot be controlled.

Van Chung