Vietnamese students confused as Chinese universities change admissions process

A few days ago, Hoang Thanh Nhan, a 12th grader at Dong Hy High School in Thai Nguyen, received news that the Southwest University of Transport required an entrance exam, with Math and Business Chinese. The female student had previously applied for a scholarship in the Transport major.

"There are only 20 days left until the exam, but I don't know the type of questions or what to review," Nhan said.

Pham Ha is also confused when she has to take two similar exams. Ha applied for the Economics major at the Central China University of Science and Technology. On May 4, the school sent an email announcing the exam schedule for May 25.

"I'm a bit scared because I don't know what the test will be like. Students aren't even allowed to use calculators in the Math test," Ha said.

Ha graduated from high school last year, studied at the Foreign Trade University for one semester but took a leave of absence to pursue her dream of studying abroad in China. In March, she went to Beijing Language University to study Chinese for one semester to prepare for her application. After a year of focusing on Chinese, now she has to take a math exam, the Hai Phong student is confused.

Hoang Quynh Huong, in Hanoi, has not received any notice yet, but she is anxious because there is information that the school she is applying to, Xi'an Jiaotong University, is on the list of schools requiring entrance exams.

Nhan, Ha and Huong are three of many students planning to study abroad in China this year, confused by the news that they have to take university entrance exams.

On Chinese study abroad forums, posts about the exam attract hundreds to thousands of interactions. Most ask about sample exams from schools and review experiences.

China is one of the most attractive destinations for Vietnamese students today. As of September 2022, more than 22,000 Vietnamese students are studying here, according to the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam. The advantages of studying in China are geographical proximity, low cost (about 100 million VND per year, including living expenses), and abundant scholarships from the government, localities, and schools.

On the afternoon of May 5, the person in charge of education at the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam confirmed that starting this year, international students will take an aptitude test to apply to universities in this country. A month ago, the Government Scholarship Fund (CSC) under the Chinese Ministry of Education announced that the exam will be held jointly in May and June, applicable to undergraduate programs at 142 schools.

The exam includes specialized Chinese subjects (Social Sciences, Economics - Commerce, Science - Technology and Medicine) and basic subjects (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry). However, depending on the requirements of each major, the exam subjects will be different.

Candidates from abroad can take the test online at home, in one of two sessions: May 25-26 and June 1-2. In China, candidates can take the test directly on computers at school.

Chinese study abroad centers in Vietnam said the information had not been widely announced. They only learned about it through partners or through emails sent by schools to candidates a few days ago.

Ms. Dinh Thi Thanh Binh, Director of Trac Viet Foreign Language Training and Study Abroad Center in Hai Phong, said that this is the first time China has organized a university entrance exam for international students on a large scale. In recent days, she has continuously received messages from students, saying that they are worried because they were not informed in advance and do not know how to study.

"Students are completely passive," said Ms. Binh.

According to Mr. Tran Anh Chung, Deputy Director of Vimis China Study Abroad, the proposal to add an entrance exam was actually made at the Chinese Language Conference in October 2023 in Beijing. He said the purpose was to screen candidates and create a balance in admissions between schools.

Mr. Trung explained that previously, the average grade point average (GPA) and the HSK Chinese proficiency certificate were the criteria for schools to consider admission. However, because there were too many applications with HSK 6 (the highest level) and almost equal GPAs, schools needed more criteria to make their selection. Furthermore, some schools had few applications so students only needed HSK3 to pass the government scholarship, while in many other schools, the maximum score was still rejected.

Although students may be surprised and disappointed, this also prevents them from falling into difficult situations later.

"Many students apply for Economics but do not have a good foundation in Math, Physics, or Chemistry. When they enter the major in Chinese, they cannot keep up and lose their scholarships," said Mr. Trung.

Because this is the first time the exam is held, experts have not yet assessed the difficulty level of the exam. For now, candidates should review their high school knowledge in Math, Physics, Chemistry or refer to the experiences of those who have gone before and the exam questions of other schools.

Nhan, Ha and Huong went online to collect questions from some schools that had held entrance exams to practice on their own. According to the students, the most difficult thing was reading and understanding specialized terms in Chinese.

Taking the Shanghai Jiaotong University's business Chinese test, Nhan was overwhelmed by the many words she had never encountered before. In 90 minutes, candidates had to take the Listening, Reading, and Writing tests, with broad topics such as office and factory communication.... Nhan had to guess at the same time, or look up the dictionary to translate new words, which took time.

"After finishing, I write the words many times to memorize them," Nhan said. "Every night I learn 50 words, then review them the next day."

The Math test with the same time limit consists of 22 multiple choice and essay questions, covering three years of high school knowledge. Some parts are reduced in the Vietnamese program, such as ellipse, but are still included in the test. Therefore, apart from a question about trigonometry, the female student had to skip this question.

In addition to the two subjects above, Huong in Hanoi also had to take the Physics exam. When taking the test from Fudan University and Shanghai Jiaotong University, Huong also struggled with new words. For example, to accurately translate the sentence about light waves having diffraction and interference, the female student had to look up many dictionaries.

"There are too many terms and I'm short on time so I can't review them all," Huong said.

Every day, Huong takes turns practicing Math and Physics in Chinese. Nhan and Ha often stay up until 2-3am to study.

Having to take the entrance exam does not change Huong's study abroad plan. If she fails, she plans to take a gap year and then improve her application to submit next year. Huong can still return to Vietnam to continue studying at Foreign Trade University.

Nhan has prepared a backup plan. "My parents advised me to still take the university entrance exam in Vietnam, even if I apply for a scholarship. Therefore, I did not neglect my studying in class," Nhan said.