In principle, universities can apply different enrollment methods to find students. However, the two most popular methods are based on student GPAs (grade point average) at high school and their high school final exam results.

Students must have at least 29.81 out of 30 points GPA for three subjects, which means 9.9 points for each subject, to enroll in the chemistry faculty of the HCM City University of Education.

The school also sets sky-high GPA benchmarks for other majors. Primary education faculty, for example, only accepts students with 28.66 points GPA at minimum, politics education faculty 28.22, mathematics faculty 29.55 and physics faculty 29.48

The HCM City Industry University sets very high GPA benchmarks: 27.25 points for automation and data science; 26 points for computer engineering, mechanical engineering and bio technology; 27.5 information technology and automobile engineering. Students must have 29 points to enroll in an international trade major.

The GPA benchmarks set by the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities are also sky high. Multi-media communications major only accepts students with a GPA of 29 at minimum, while journalism is 28.7 and international relations 28.5.

As for the HCM City University of Technology and Education, 29 is the benchmark for students registering for English faculty. In general, the benchmarks for technology majors are very high, above 28 points (information technology: 29, IoT embedding system 28.25, robotics and AI 28.75, electronics engineering 28).

Huynh Trung Phong, director of the Center for Student Support and Startup Development under the HCM City University of Education, commented that the high GPA benchmark is a problem which has existed for many years. This is because the quota for admitting students based on their high-school records is small, while demand is very high.

As many as 14,000 students have registered to enroll in the school based on their high school records, but the school will only admit 400 students through this method.

Many education experts have voiced doubts about the quality of students who apply for universities with their high school records, because they believe that school reports may not truly reflect the abilities of students. In many cases, high school teachers ‘fabricate’ high GPAs for students.

Phong said there was no need to worry about the quality of students who have sky-high GPAs at high schools. 

“Our university always follows a strict training procedure which is supervised, inspected and accredited. Therefore, we can ensure the quality of university graduates,” he said.

The enrollment director of another university said that what university fears is the fabrication of learning records. High school teachers tend to give high marks to 12th graders’ school work because the marks will partially determine the future of students. 

However, since many students have high GPAs, the GPA benchmarks set by the schools are always 2-4 points higher than the high-school finals benchmarks.

Admitting students based on their high school records is new in Vietnam, so schools are cautious when using this method. Every year, schools assess the quality of students enrolled on their high school records.

The HCM City University of Technology and Education has been analyzing the quality of students from different sources over the last three years (2021, 2022 and 2023). The analyses were conducted on 10,000 students admitted to the school.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, the school enrolled students based on three methods, including exceptional enrollment (excellent students with certain achievements who don’t have to attend entrance exams – Method 1), record-based enrollment (Method 2) and enrollment based on results of high school finals (Method 3).

In 2023, a new enrollment method was used: students’ abilities were assessed based on high school reports and aptitude tests organized by the school itself (Method 4). 

Analyses found that in 2020, the GPA of students admitted under Method 1 was 3.31/4, while it was 3.19/4 under Method 2 and 2.94/4 with Method 3.

In 2021, the figures were 3.34/4; 3.22/4; 3.06/4, respectively. In 2023, the figures were 3.22, 2.96 and 2.85, respectively. The average GPA of students enrolled under Method 4 was 3.22/4.

Le Huyen