The number of candidates applying for university admission based on academic records has never been higher.

In 2025, the percentage of candidates applying for university admission based on academic records will be the highest among 17 methods. This has never happened before.

Candidates for admission to Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance - Photo: BICH NU

At the education conference on September 18, the Ministry of Education and Training distributed a survey to more than 200 universities on university admissions from 2026. The survey collected opinions from schools on whether to continue to consider university admissions based on academic records or continue to consider this method.

Most considered high school transcripts

Statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training show that in 2025 there will be 17 admission methods. According to statistics, the percentage of candidates using the method of considering academic records accounts for 42.4%, considering high school graduation exam scores accounts for 39.1%, and other methods account for 18.5%.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training - said that it is time to take a comprehensive look at whether to continue considering high school transcripts for admission in the near future or not.

In fact, in recent years, the proportion of candidates admitted based on high school graduation exam scores has always been overwhelming, followed by the method of admission based on academic records. However, in 2025, everything will be reversed. The number of candidates admitted based on academic records has skyrocketed, surpassing the number of candidates admitted based on high school graduation exam scores.

	Graduation exam scores	Academic transcript	Other
2022	47.98	37.2	14.82
2023	49.45	30.24	20.31
2024	52.18	28.86	18.96
2025	39.1	42.4	18.5

Explaining the sudden increase in the number of candidates applying for admission based on academic records in 2025, many opinions say that the reason is due to changes in the exam questions and the admission method. In 2025, there will be no more early admission.

All methods are considered at the same time, after candidates know their high school graduation exam scores, instead of early admission with some methods like previous years.

Not only that, in 2025 there will be changes in the structure of multiple choice tests, the level of differentiation in some subjects such as math and English is high, causing the high school graduation exam scores of candidates to be low. This leads to candidates using their transcript scores for admission to increase competition.

The ministry wants to remove it, the university wants to keep it?

The benchmark score for considering transcripts of many majors at the University of Education (University of Danang) is lower than the high school graduation exam score - Photo: MG

This year, for the first time, the Ministry of Education and Training announced a comparison between academic transcript scores and high school graduation exam scores for universities to use as a reference to determine the difference in benchmark scores between the two methods. The comparison shows that academic transcript scores are about 2 points higher than high school graduation exam scores.

However, the irony is that there are universities that set the standard score based on transcripts even lower than the high school graduation exam score.

The expansion of universities to consider transcripts for admission has caused many conflicting opinions about the transparency and fairness in university admissions. Each school and each teacher has a different way of evaluating, leading to differences in the scale of scores. The ratio of good and excellent scores in transcripts is too high.

In fact, there are universities like Nha Trang University that used to consider transcripts for admission, then abandoned this method for a few years, and then returned to this method. Saigon University does not consider transcripts for admission because the scores are not reliable and unfair.

In 2023, the National Assembly Delegation of Thanh Hoa province, on behalf of voters of this province, sent a request to the Ministry of Education and Training before the 4th session of the 15th National Assembly to study and abolish university admission based on academic records, because currently there are many negative aspects arising in "beautifying" academic records and "running for points" in schools.

At that time, the Ministry of Education and Training responded that according to the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Higher Education 2018, the admission methods of training institutions include: entrance exams, admission selection or a combination of entrance exams and admission selection.

Autonomous higher education institutions decide on admission methods and are responsible for admission work.

The Ministry also believes that whether or not transcript scores are used for university admissions, it is the responsibility of schools to have measures to ensure reliability, fairness, and correct assessment of students' learning outcomes.

To have a basis for evaluating the quality of university entrance using academic records, over the past two years the ministry has required universities to compare the academic results of admitted candidates using high school graduation exam scores and academic records.

Reports from universities show that candidates admitted by transcripts have academic results equivalent to candidates admitted by high school graduation exam scores.

The results of the survey on whether to keep or remove the consideration of academic records for admission have not yet been announced by the Ministry of Education and Training. However, in response to the press, many universities have opposed removing the consideration of academic records for admission.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thi-sinh-xet-tuyen-dai-hoc-bang-hoc-ba-nhieu-chua-tung-co-20250927120829133.htm