The Ministry of Education and Training recently released a draft circular revising regulations governing enrollment quotas and training programs for preschool education colleges, universities and postgraduate institutions.

Under the draft, from 2027 universities would be allowed to use no more than five admissions methods overall, while each major or academic program could use three methods, excluding direct admissions and admissions under the government nomination scheme.

From 2028, the ministry proposes allowing universities to use only one admissions method for each major or training program.

Students under intense pressure from multiple admissions routes

Dang Van Hai, Principal of Le Viet Thuat High School in the central province of Nghe An, told VietNamNet that he supported reducing the number of admissions methods.

“There are simply too many admissions methods now. Combined with too many exams - the high school graduation exam, competency assessment tests, the SAT, thinking skills assessments and others - students are being pulled in every direction just trying to study and prepare for exams. The pressure is enormous,” Hai said.

However, he said any changes to university admissions should follow a three-year roadmap so that students and schools have time to prepare and adapt.

Hoang Phuong, head of the Digital Marketing and Social Media program at British University Vietnam, said the proposed changes represented a systemic adjustment intended to address the proliferation of admissions methods.

“Until now, universities have used numerous admissions methods while dividing their quotas among them, creating a complicated maze that puts considerable psychological pressure and opportunity costs on students,” Phuong said. “Streamlining the system would force it to become more transparent and make it easier for applicants to follow, although students would need a more focused study strategy.”

Reducing the number of admissions methods would also mean fewer cases in which the same applicant qualifies for the same major through several different routes, Phuong said. Such cases complicate the process of filtering duplicate admissions and managing enrollment quotas.

“When each major or training program is limited to one admissions method in 2028, universities will face pressure to identify or design an assessment tool - for example, a comprehensive competency assessment or holistic application review combined with an interview - that is sufficiently reliable, discriminating and comprehensive to select the right student profile,” she said. “At the same time, the change would reduce the number of separate admissions ‘doors’ and increase transparency among different groups of applicants.”

Phuong said the new approach would also force universities to compete by improving the substantive quality of their education rather than continually creating new admissions methods.

Concerns over fairness with only one admissions method

Le Dong Phuong, former Director of the Center for Higher Education Research at the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, described limiting admissions methods as an important reform.

If approved, the number of methods permitted for each major would fall from five to three in 2027, a reduction of 40%.

With more than 200 universities, over 400 program codes and more than 1 million applicants registering each year, streamlining admissions would reduce the workload involved and could consequently reduce errors, he said.

Under the current system, many applicants do not fully understand all available admissions methods but still try to meet the requirements for several of them because they fear missing an opportunity, Phuong said.

This pushes students to stretch themselves in multiple directions, potentially losing focus and studying without a clear strategy. Even applicants with a strong chance of admission may find it difficult to feel secure and continue pursuing several routes to maximize their chances of entering university.

Students would therefore need to think more carefully about which admissions route to focus on and which majors to list among their preferences, he said.

However, Phuong described the proposal to allow each major only one admissions method from 2028 as “somewhat excessive.”

“Some admissions methods are not accessible to every applicant, such as competency assessment tests or examinations organized separately by individual institutions. That could affect fairness,” he said.

Phuong proposed retaining two admissions methods for each major from 2028 instead of just one. One would be available to all applicants, while the other could be a more specialized route.

Nguyen Tien Thao, Director General of the Higher Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, said statistics from 2022 to 2026 showed that high school transcript-based admission scores for the same program code were significantly higher than scores based on the national high school graduation exam.

More than 2,000 academic programs recorded differences of at least three points between admissions methods.

According to the ministry, when different assessment scales are not genuinely equivalent, dividing admissions to the same major among multiple routes can result in applicants of similar ability being treated differently.

“Reducing the number of methods is intended to expand equal opportunity, not reduce access,” Thao said. “Every method must ensure that all eligible applicants can participate, with clearly published criteria and a common scoring scale. Institutions are responsible for choosing a method appropriate to the entry requirements of their programs. Results from separate examinations, high school transcripts or certificates can still be used when they are transparently incorporated into the announced admissions method.”

Thanh Hung