Assoc Prof Dr Trần Cao Vinh, vice chancellor of Việt Nam National University-HCM City, speaks at the conference on December 5 to review the 2025 southern enrolment filtering process and competency assessment exam. — Photo Courtesy of VNU-HCM

HCM CITY — The Việt Nam National University-HCM City (VNU-HCM) on Friday reviewed the results of the 2025 southern enrolment filtering process and the organisation of its Competency Assessment Exam, while announcing key directions for 2026.

The end-of-year conference highlighted the largest-ever scale of the southern virtual filtering process, with all 87 out of 87 universities participating and more than 1.59 million applications processed through 15 filtering rounds.

The process underscored the significant technical workload and coordination required among institutions.

Assoc Prof Dr Trần Cao Vinh, vice chancellor of VNU-HCM, said the southern group’s 2025 filtering process reflected “a high level of cooperation and discipline,” helping ensure data accuracy, smooth system operation and fairness for candidates across the region.

VNU-HCM’s Competency Assessment Exam continued to serve as a major admissions channel in 2025, attracting more than 152,000 candidates with over 223,000 registrations across 55 test sites in 25 localities nationwide.

The test structure was updated to align with the 2018 national general education curriculum, enhancing assessment of analytical thinking, problem-solving and scientific reasoning through context-based questions.

The score distribution remained stable with strong discriminatory capacity.

Digital transformation was also strengthened with the rollout of authenticated electronic score certificates and an upgraded online registration result portal, helping reduce paperwork and improve transparency.

A total of 111 universities used VNU-HCM’s exam results for admissions in 2025. Within VNU-HCM, the method accounted for 56.32 per cent of total intake.

“The exam has become a trusted and widely accepted admissions method, demonstrating VNU-HCM’s commitment to innovation and professionalism,” Vinh said.

Looking ahead to 2026, a year expected to see significant adjustments to national admissions regulations and timelines, VNU-HCM has identified two key priorities: proactively adapting to new procedures and strengthening the technical quality, safety and security of its competency assessment exam.

To ensure smooth implementation, VNU-HCM will work closely with the Ministry of Education and Training to upgrade admissions software, provide training for universities in the southern admissions group, and run early system trials to minimise technical errors during the filtering and enrolment periods.

For the competency exam, the university will maintain two testing rounds prior to the national high school graduation exam and further expand test locations to make participation more accessible and convenient for candidates.

The exam structure will remain stable, while questions will be refined towards international standards to ensure reliability and strong discriminatory ability.

VNU-HCM will tighten supervision, strengthen anti-cheating measures, and apply advanced technologies in invigilation and marking to ensure transparency and accuracy.

“Our goal is to maintain safe, serious and transparent exam sessions, while also being supportive and convenient for candidates and ensuring universities can select suitable, high-quality students,” Vinh said.

The university expressed appreciation for the cooperation of southern universities and partner units, and reaffirmed its commitment to leading a stable, efficient and sustainable admissions ecosystem in the coming years. — VNS