Tired of too many university admission methods

Before the time for universities to announce their admission scores, my brother had already gone to find a place to stay for his child in Hanoi, because through the combined admission test of IELTS and his school report card, he had known for a long time that he would be admitted to university. According to him, nearly half of his children's class had been admitted early to many universities. My daughter said that in the future, she and her friends in the group would also choose the early admission method to reduce the pressure of exams instead of anxiously waiting for the graduation exam results.

Hearing my daughter say that, my husband did not agree, asking her to still study hard, review well for graduation exams, especially the subjects for university entrance exams.

Many of my friends believe that early admission has many negative aspects, is unfair to candidates in some cases, causes costs for all parties, affects the quality of graduation exams... and hope that the education sector will cancel this admission round.

Early admission is a method that does not use high school graduation exam results or pre-exam admission. Of the 20 admission methods currently permitted by the Ministry of Education and Training, 2/3 of the methods are early admission, such as: considering high school academic results (transcripts); combining transcripts with aptitude test scores; between transcripts and interviews; between transcripts and international language certificates; competency assessment tests; thinking assessment tests, etc.

To attract students, from January to February every year, many universities have actively promoted in the media the benefits of early admission such as: reducing exam pressure; having more opportunities to be admitted to the university, favorite major; shortening the waiting time for admission results; quick registration methods...

Therefore, many candidates in Hai Duong have chosen to apply for university early. After knowing that they have been admitted early, many students have a subjective mindset, neglect their studies, and prepare for graduation exams superficially, with the mentality that passing the graduation exam is enough without trying their best. Students who have not been admitted are confused, affecting their psychology. This negatively affects teaching and learning activities in high schools, especially the quality of high school graduation exams.

When Hai Duong Newspaper published information about a female student from Binh Giang High School who was the runner-up in the national D block, many readers commented: "Why isn't she a student from Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted but from Binh Giang?". Immediately, some readers responded: Many students from Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted have been admitted to university through early admission so they don't pay much attention to the high school graduation exam. The graduation exam is only to ensure that they meet the requirements...

Some teachers said that among the early admission methods, considering academic records is not the most stable, not all academic records reflect the student's ability and not all schools evaluate the same.

At the conference to summarize the 2023-2024 school year and deploy key tasks for the 2024-2025 school year for the higher education sector held on August 9, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son admitted that early admission has a negative impact on general education in the final stage of this level. Candidates who are admitted early will no longer study; the remaining number of students admitted based on high school graduation exam results will be very small, leading to very high admission scores, creating unfairness for candidates in the opportunity to enter top universities...

The Minister reminded schools not to have too many admission options, the simpler the better, convenient for students and society. Universities have autonomy in admissions but autonomy within the framework of regulations. The Ministry of Education and Training will consider increasing some sanctions to regulate admissions from next year.

This reminder and direction of the Minister of Education and Training is agreed by many people, especially the teaching staff.

Early university admission has been implemented for a long time in many developed countries such as France, the US, Canada... but also includes criteria such as scores, subjects requiring enough credits...

I think that universities should not organize too many complicated and confusing admission methods, but should only use a few simple and easy-to-understand methods so that parents and students do not have to spend too much time researching and calculating stressfully. Priority should be given to using high school graduation scores in university admission because the graduation exam is more reliable. Some methods such as considering academic records, using the results of capacity assessment, thinking assessment, etc. also need additional conditions on graduation exam scores.