Considering transcripts for university admission: What is the solution to ensure fairness and quality?

Up to 42% of candidates are admitted to university by considering their academic records, accounting for the highest rate among admission methods in 2025. In response to the Ministry of Education and Training's proposal to solicit opinions on whether to maintain considering academic records for university admission, school representatives expressed many different opinions.

University representatives expressed different opinions on the Ministry of Education and Training's opinion on whether to continue considering high school transcripts for university admission.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

If we don't abolish the consideration of academic records, there should be regulations on using scores for all 3 years of study.

On the morning of September 18, the Ministry of Education and Training held a conference on Higher Education 2025. At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Tien Thao, Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training), said that this year there are 17 admission methods, but the admission method based on academic records accounts for 42% of admitted candidates. Meanwhile, the admission method based on high school graduation exam scores accounts for over 39% of admitted candidates. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training is asking for opinions on whether to maintain the first round of academic records.

Master Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy Head of the Department of Training, Science Management and International Cooperation of Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture, said that with current regulations, assessment based on the high school learning process or through the high school graduation exam is a measure to evaluate students after this level of education. Supporting the use of transcripts for university admission, Mr. Tung raised the question: "High school transcripts are also recognized in admission to foreign universities when studying abroad. Schools around the world recognize them, so why don't universities in Vietnam? If we don't continue to consider transcripts, are we going against the general trend of the world?".

However, according to Mr. Tung, the admission method based on academic records should be based on the student's academic results throughout the 3 years of grades 10, 11 and 12 (ie using the academic scores of 6 semesters). Because the high school level has been regulated to include classes from 10 to 12, therefore, considering academic records should not have any forms of admission that are not based on 6 semesters. "If only using the results of one semester or 1-2 years of study for admission is not enough, not convincing", Mr. Tung emphasized.

Instead of considering stopping the use of transcript scores for admission, Master Nguyen Thanh Tung believes that we need to pay more attention to the story of education at the high school level. "We need to actually study and grade, not just give points. If we give points to make the transcript look good, it will lead to a difference between the high school graduation exam results and the transcript results of the students themselves, as we have seen now," Mr. Tung said.

Dr. Pham Tan Ha, admissions and training consultant of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University), supports the view of not using transcript scores in university admissions. The reason, according to Mr. Ha, is that transcript scores are not evaluated fairly among students. Meanwhile, universities use many different evaluation methods based on transcript scores, some schools only consider 1-2 semesters, which cannot evaluate the learning process of students throughout the entire level of study.

Therefore, Dr. Pham Tan Ha proposed: "If we continue to use academic transcript scores for admission, there should be general regulations on using the results of all three years of study. Only then will students have the effort to study fully throughout the process to achieve the best results."

University admitted candidates complete admission procedures

photo: Ngoc Duong

Expanding university study opportunities for candidates, universities are responsible

Master Trinh Huu Chung, Vice Principal of Gia Dinh University, commented that university admission methods are increasingly diversified with the goal of creating opportunities for all candidates to study at university. That is completely reasonable because the university door should be open so that everyone can enter.

"Academic transcripts are just one way. Students have the right to choose how to get into university. We have not yet conducted a large-scale, scientific survey or assessment on whether candidates admitted by academic transcripts have any limitations in terms of quality during their university studies compared to candidates admitted by other methods. So why is there a question of whether we should abolish admission by academic transcripts or not?", said Master Chung.

According to Mr. Chung, Vietnam is moving towards university stratification. Elite universities will attract good candidates while average candidates can enter lower-ranked schools. "Input quality is only one of the factors affecting output quality. However, let schools be autonomous in enrollment. Any method is fine as long as schools are responsible for themselves, because training quality is a matter of survival for universities," said Master Chung.

Dr. Pham Dinh Trung, Principal of Yersin University in Dalat, also believes that universities should be given autonomy in recruiting students, including which method to use for admission. "If we are worried about considering transcripts affecting the quality of input, we should first clarify the issue of whether the quality of training at high schools is uneven and whether transcripts do not reflect the true capacity of students. If that is true, we need to come up with a solution for high schools, not to eliminate the method of considering transcripts," Dr. Trung said.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Vu Quynh, Vice Principal of Lac Hong University, expressed the opinion that the review of academic records should still be maintained because the advantage of reviewing academic records is that it reflects the long-term learning process, reduces exam pressure, and creates more opportunities and initiative for candidates.

"However, this method has the disadvantage of being unfair due to the different teaching quality in different schools, or the risk of beautifying scores, difficulty in standardizing capacity assessment and can affect input quality if abused. Therefore, considering academic records can play a complementary role, combined with exam scores to ensure fairness and create diverse opportunities for candidates," Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Vu Quynh commented.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xet-hoc-ba-vao-dai-hoc-giai-phap-nao-de-cong-bang-va-dam-bao-chat-luong-185250918164703453.htm