Dramatic changes in university admission methods

TP - From the 2025-2026 school year, higher education will have many changes in the general context of the country when there are many resolutions and policies affecting it. University admissions must also adapt to new conditions.

Candidates learn about and choose their wishes to register for university admission in 2025. Photo: NHU Y

Consider removing high school transcripts as admission criteria

At the 2025 University Education Conference, the Ministry of Education and Training distributed a survey to solicit opinions from universities on two issues for next year's admissions season: eliminating the consideration of academic records and limiting the number of applications. These are also two issues that have caused much controversy in recent times.

In 2025, the total number of candidates registered for the exam will reach 852,000 with 7.6 million wishes for more than 4,000 majors and training programs of more than 500 universities and colleges nationwide. The entire process is done completely online, from registration, fee payment, virtual filtering and admission confirmation, with no errors from the general system.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao, Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training), said that in 2025, there will be 17 admission methods, of which the method of considering academic records accounts for 42% of admitted candidates. Meanwhile, the method of considering high school graduation exam scores accounts for over 39% of admitted candidates. Other methods account for nearly 19%.

In 2025, the total number of registered wishes of candidates is nearly double that of the previous year, of which, nearly 40% of candidates register 5 wishes; nearly 31% of candidates register 10 wishes; from over 10 wishes to under 20 wishes, there are nearly 30% of candidates; over 20 wishes, there are 6.7% of candidates.

Speaking to reporters, Professor Nguyen Tien Thao said that the total number of candidates registering for 10 or more options accounts for nearly 37%. This is a large proportion and very few candidates are admitted from the 10th option onwards. When candidates register for many options, their sense of purpose will decrease. The candidates' responsibility and motivation will also decrease.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training show that candidates who are admitted to high-ranking choices often do not enroll.

“Maybe these are the wishes of candidates to choose to stay, or to have statistics for high schools. This is not the goal of university admissions, causing waste for society, for the system, for schools,” said Mr. Thao.

The Ministry's goal in issuing regulations to control the number of applications is to make candidates responsible when registering for university admission.

The first round of admission statistics for 2025 by the Ministry of Education and Training shows that pedagogical majors and key technical majors and strategic technologies strongly attract excellent candidates, especially at leading universities. In 74 majors with a standard score based on high school graduation exam scores of 28/30 or higher, there are 50 pedagogical majors and 17 key technical majors and strategic technologies (computer science , artificial intelligence, semiconductor microchips, control and automation, etc.).

Eliminate poor quality methods

Mr. Thao said that based on the actual situation, the Ministry of Education and Training decided to consult schools on the above two contents to adjust from next year. Regarding the admission method based on academic records, the Ministry found that this method is no longer suitable.

“We have been using the high school transcript admission method for a while, it is time to comprehensively evaluate this method. The highest goal of the admission plan (for each school) is fairness, efficiency and quality,” said Mr. Thao.

It is time to pay attention to admission methods, especially those with a large number of successful candidates, for comprehensive evaluation.

If the universities are effective and of good quality, they will continue to use and develop them. If they do not achieve their goals, they must make adjustments. Resolution 71 or the revised Law on Higher Education both require ensuring high-quality human resources to meet new requirements. Admission is only one step in the process of training human resources, but it is an important step.

According to Resolution 71, schools develop admission plans based on input quality assessment. Quality assurance is a requirement for the entire training process, from admission, training organization, graduation quality survey, etc.

The Ministry of Education and Training plans to amend and supplement the current university admission regulations to apply in 2026. The purpose of the amendment is to thoroughly overcome the problem of unfairness and lack of trust in admission methods and criteria. At the same time, the amended admission regulations will ensure consistency with the 2018 General Education Program, having a positive impact on teaching and learning activities.

In addition to the two adjustments being put forward for comments, the Ministry will issue a policy of preferential treatment for candidates in the context of merging provinces. It is expected that the Ministry will issue an enrollment plan this September. The Ministry also requires universities to announce their enrollment methods for 2026 in October.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/thay-doi-manh-phuong-thuc-tuyen-sinh-dai-hoc-post1779388.tpo