University admission 2023: Race for admission by foreign language certificate

Possessing an international language certificate is becoming more and more important for many students to increase their chances of being admitted to their favorite school or major. However, many candidates are having difficulty registering for the English certificate exam.

The trend is that more and more universities are considering candidates with international language certificates.

Since entering high school, Mai Thi Quynh Le, a 12th grade student at Phuc Loi High School in Ha Dong District, Hanoi, has been researching university admission information. With the trend of more and more universities considering candidates with international language certificates, Quynh Le has spent a lot of time studying for the IELTS English certificate for the past 2 years.

However, even though she registered for the exam in 2022, she still cannot take the exam because there are no more spots for the paper-based exam. The exam organizer advised Quynh Le to choose between waiting until the end of February to continue registering for the paper-based exam or switching to the computer-based exam: "Someone from BC and IDP (British Council and IDP Education) said that because they had to give way to students who had been postponed before and because of some major IELTS partners, there were no more spots for the paper-based exam, so they suggested that she could take the computer-based exam."

Similar to Mai Thi Quynh Le, Tran Minh Hieu, a 12th grader in Hanoi, said that he contacted IDP Education since the end of December 2022 to register for the exam but could not get a paper-based exam slot during this time. He had to wait in line for the following months because he did not want to switch to the computer-based exam method.

"I thought about switching to taking the test on the computer. But when I started studying and trying on the computer, the questions were really difficult, very abstract and had very specialized terminology, so I decided to take the test on paper and postpone it to another month."

Registration for English language certification exams for 12th graders in many places is difficult because at the end of 2022, many units have temporarily postponed the exam to complete the conditions according to regulations. Currently, the British Council and IDP Education have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Training to organize IELTS certification exams again, but the whole country has only 14 exam locations in 6 provinces and cities including: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nghe An, Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, so the units prioritize organizing exams for candidates who have registered in advance. Many candidates in other localities who need to take the English certification exam will face difficulties, because they have to go to one of these 6 localities to be able to take the exam.

While a series of international foreign language certificates, including the English certificate - IELTS, are being tightened in terms of test scores and the number of candidates, the English certificate according to the 6-level Foreign Language Proficiency Framework for Vietnam (VSTEP) licensed by the Ministry of Education and Training to 27 testing units is not yet known to many candidates. As the first unit to use the VSTEP English certificate for direct admission and priority admission to universities in 2022, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, Head of Training Department, Vietnam National University, Hanoi said: "Last year, we piloted the University of Foreign Languages ​​to organize the entrance exam using the VSTEP certificate for university admission for faculties of the University of Foreign Languages ​​- Vietnam National University, Hanoi, on the condition that the correct set of test sources, test papers, test procedures and test software must be used according to the Ministry's assessment standards. We find the quality very good".

In this year's admission season, along with the University of Foreign Languages ​​(under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi), a number of universities are considering expanding admissions using the VSTEP English certificate, of which, Ho Chi Minh City National University has decided to use this certificate in admissions, training and graduation recognition at its member schools. The large number of units organizing the VSTEP certificate exam, spread across many provinces and cities, will add another option for candidates who want to apply for university admission using foreign language proficiency.

According to VOV