Ensuring fairness in university admissions

Recently, the use of many early admission methods by schools has narrowed the quota for admission based on high school graduation exam scores.

Candidates take the high school graduation exam for university admission in 2024. Photo: Vi Cam.

In order to ensure fairness between admission combinations/methods, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has just proposed that universities will not be allowed to announce admission benchmark scores before May 31.

Inequality between groups

At the conference summarizing the high school graduation exam for the period 2020-2024 recently held in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Huynh Van Chuong - Director of the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) commented that since 2020, the high school graduation exam has been increasingly improved in technology to better organize the exam. However, the fact that schools use many early admission methods has narrowed the admission quota based on high school graduation exam scores, many students with high scores still fail to pass their favorite wishes, creating a negative psychology and social effect for thousands of candidates and parents.

Along with that, candidates prefer to choose the Social Sciences (KHXH) exam because the scores are often higher than those of the Natural Sciences (KHTN) exam, causing unfairness among university admission combinations. Statistics show that the average score of Social Sciences (Literature, History, Geography, Civic Education) subjects increases slightly every year. On the contrary, Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) subjects have stable and lower scores. Notably, in recent admission seasons, many universities have considered many combinations for the same major, but set the same standard score, causing candidates who register with combinations with Natural Sciences to be at a disadvantage.

Mr. Chuong said that this reality comes from the uneven test questions between years and between natural sciences and social sciences, leading to a situation of "high score inflation". The construction of the test bank in the 2020-2021 school year encountered difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is one of the reasons why candidates tend to choose the social sciences test to gain an advantage when applying for university admission. To overcome this problem, a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training said that they are researching to find a fair solution.

Sharing his views on the existence of many admission combinations many times, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi - Permanent Vice President of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Vietnam analyzed that in the current context of Vietnam's education, early admission to university has become a form applied by many educational institutions. However, this also creates many challenges for students, parents and schools. In particular, 2025 will be an important milestone when the high school graduation exam is first applied according to the 2018 General Education Program. According to Mr. Nhi, the existence of too many admission combinations also makes it difficult for students to choose. Although the diversity of the above combinations helps create more opportunities for students, many students also feel that they do not know which combination to focus on to get the most benefit.

Tighten management of competency assessment exams

Faced with the proliferation of aptitude tests and early admission methods, not only in the 2024 admission season but also in previous years, many experts have warned that early admission is one of the reasons leading to high virtual rates.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Trung - Deputy Head of Communications and Admissions Department, University of Commerce ( Hanoi ) said that in 2024, the school will reserve 40% of its quota for this method. Based on the admission results of previous years, Mr. Trung supports reducing the quota for early admission methods, including the admission method using high school transcripts. The rate of candidates admitted to the University of Commerce by early admission is about 30%, the remaining 70% is virtual.

At the conference summarizing the high school graduation exam for the period 2020-2024 mentioned above, Mr. Huynh Van Chuong emphasized that the organization of the high school graduation exam from 2025 must ensure the requirements of correctly assessing students' abilities, ensuring reliability, honesty, and using exam results to consider recognizing high school graduation. At the same time, the exam results also serve as a basis for evaluating the teaching and learning process in schools and localities; providing data that is reliable, honest, and differentiated for universities and vocational training institutions to use in enrollment.

Regarding admission based on the results of the high school graduation exam and other exams in accordance with the 2018 General Education Program, Mr. Chuong proposed fairness in using high school graduation exam scores for admission. In order for students not to neglect their studies, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed that universities will not be allowed to announce admission benchmark scores before May 31. For capacity assessment exams, thinking assessment exams... organized by higher education institutions, the Ministry of Education and Training will issue specific regulations in the admission regulations on state management to ensure the quality of the exams can be checked and monitored. The process of building a question bank; the exam questions must not exceed the 2018 General Education Program. This point is very important and so that students do not have to review for separate exams that can disrupt teaching and learning in high schools. The exam organization process ensures uniform safety and avoids many forms that make it difficult for students to review for exams; currently each school is using a different form.

More importantly, according to many experts, the management agency needs to think carefully about the current admission methods and approaches; at the same time, find out why schools consider early admission and want to have many methods. From there, propose appropriate solutions, but must not negatively affect teaching and assessment of high school results. The spirit is to ensure fairness and stability throughout the system.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/dam-bao-cong-bang-trong-xet-tuyen-dai-hoc-10293625.html