Does university admission based on international language certificates reduce fairness in admissions?

Candidates for the 2023 high school graduation exam

There are admission methods only for candidates who are good at foreign languages.

With the admission method announced by universities this year, candidates with international language certificates will have more advantages than the remaining group of candidates. This is because the admission policies of schools increasingly tend to give priority to students who are good at foreign languages.

Notably, many universities accept the conversion of foreign language certificate scores into foreign language subject scores for admission purposes. For example, with IELTS 4.5, candidates can have their scores converted into 7-10 English subject scores instead of their high school graduation exam scores or their academic transcript scores.

Many other universities do not convert into English scores but use international language certificates in the form of priority points. In that case, candidates with international English certificates will have an advantage over the remaining group of candidates when they are given priority points according to this criterion in the total admission score.

Regardless of the method, many schools are using a separate method to consider candidates with international language certificates. With this method, only candidates with international language certificates are eligible to participate in the admission process.

"Disqualified" for not having a foreign language certificate

Ms. NTH (Gia Nghia, Dak Nong ) has a child preparing for graduation exams and university entrance exams this year. After carefully studying the admission methods of many schools, she expressed many concerns: "Local students who do not have the opportunity to access foreign languages ​​early will be at a disadvantage when applying to universities today, especially at top schools with high competition."

Ms. H. said she had researched the admission method for excellent students at the University of Economics , Ho Chi Minh City this year. The admission score for this method is converted from 4 criteria, of which one is mandatory and 3 are optional. The mandatory criterion is the average score of the 10th grade, 11th grade and the first semester of 12th grade according to regulations. One of the 3 optional criteria is the international English certificate. "So, my child does not have an international language certificate, if only considering the average score, he will lose all advantage to be admitted to this method of the school."

Another example, also according to Ms. H., is the admission method of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 2023. The school only considers based on high school graduation exam scores but divides into 2 methods, in which one method is specifically for candidates with international language certificates. Although in the combined method, international language certificates are only a necessary condition, this means that those without international language certificates are "eliminated" from the beginning.

"Following the admission scores for many years, there were years when the benchmark for the medical major with the method of combining international foreign language certificates was lower than the benchmark for the medical major based only on graduation exam scores. This is also a proof to see the disadvantage of students who do not have the conditions to learn foreign languages ​​early," Ms. H. emphasized.

Is there unfairness in admissions?

Regarding this issue, the principal of a high school in Tien Giang shared his views in two directions. He said that the selection method is the right of universities to proactively recruit students, especially in the context that schools must calculate the issue of students graduating and being able to access the labor market as quickly as possible. "In this aspect, prioritizing the recruitment of students who are good at foreign languages ​​is beneficial for schools in training," the principal affirmed.

But from the perspective of the learner, the principal is concerned: "In remote areas with less developed socio-economic conditions, learners will be disadvantaged when schools apply preferential policies for candidates with foreign language certificates. Meanwhile, in big cities, students who have the opportunity to learn foreign languages ​​early will have more advantages. Considering this, it is clear that this enrollment trend is somewhat unfair to learners. However, this enrollment policy of universities has the opposite effect of stimulating better foreign language learning in all localities."

The Director of the Examination Center of a University in Ho Chi Minh City also said that giving priority to candidates with international language certificates is a trend that universities are calculating with the issue of student quality. However, to harmonize the interests of different groups of students, schools need to calculate more appropriate quota ratios for each method. For example, according to this director, the method of giving priority to candidates with good foreign language skills is only one of many admission methods of the school. In addition to this method, the school should still reserve a large number of quotas so that all candidates can compete with each other on a common scale.

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