VietNamNet Bridge - The new university enrolment scheme initiated by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has not been welcomed by students. Schools fear they cannot find enough candidates, while students fear they may fail to enter university despite high exam scores.

Hundreds of thousands of students and their parents in the last 20 days have had to think hard about which schools to apply for.

An analyst commented that students now have to ‘play the game of chance’ when enrolling in schools, because they don’t know how many exam scores they need to be able to enroll in schools.

Under the old enrolment scheme, students chose the schools, filled out registrations, attended the exams and waited for the notices if they passed.

Under the new mechanism, applied since 2015, students attend the exam first and then have 20 days to apply for their chosen schools after receiving exam results. 

The lists of students applying for schools will be updated by schools regularly, so that students can know if they have the opportunities to enter the schools. 

If they feel they don’t have the opportunities, they can cancel the applications and register to study at other schools.

The analyst commented that students need to have a ‘magic ability’ of predicting how many exam scores schools will require so as to make right decisions on which schools to apply for.

“However, as no one has such a magic ability. The enrolment season is sheer torture for students,” he said. “This is consuming time and money.”

Nguyen Duc Anh from Nam Dinh province, who got a 24 score from the national exam, said he had to stay in Hanoi for a week long to update information about university candidates. 

He had to travel between schools to fulfill registrations and cancel registrations.

Anh applied for several schools and then canceled all the applications before he decided to enroll in Hanoi Economics University.

Pham Thi Tuyet in District 8 in HCM City complained that she had spent several sleepless nights over the issue. Her son, who got a 26.25 score from the exam, has decided to apply for the HCM City Medical and Pharmaceutical University.

“It seems now that 26.25 score is enough to enroll in the school. However, the situation will be quite different if more students with 26.5 scores apply for the school,” she said on August 20.

Professor Van Nhu Cuong, a renowned educator in Hanoi, noted that students were ‘gambling’ when enrolling in universities. 

Tien Phong