This year, the Ministry of Education and Training will decide minimum entrance score for only teacher training institutions while minimum entrance scores for other universities, colleges and vocational schools will be scrapped.— VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — This year, the Ministry of Education and Training will decide minimum entrance score for only teacher training institutions while minimum entrance scores for other universities, colleges and vocational schools will be scrapped.

This is a new point in the ministry’s recently announced draft circular on university enrolment.

The move aims to ensure quality of teacher training institutions and relieve public concern, especially after many students with low examination results were recently admitted to teacher training institutions.

The change will also mean that more students will have opportunity to attend universities.

Universities, especially private ones or less popular ones, should find it easier to enroll enough students.

Besides using high school exams for university admission, universities and colleges could organise their own exams to select students suitable to their needs and goals.

According to the draft, teacher training institutions can consider university admission to students with good performance in 12^th grade. Colleges and vocational schools can consider admission to students with average studying performance.

Students from high schools for gifted students can be admitted to teacher training institutions if they earned first, second or thirds prizes in contests at province, national or international levels.

In previous years, only students with national or international prizes received the incentive.

Another new regulation in this year’s university enrollment is that universities, colleges and vocational schools are not allowed to enroll if they don’t publicise how many of their students get jobs within 12 months of graduating.

They also have to publicise information on their facilities including classes, labs, equipment and their staff.

Fewer extra points

In Việt Nam, students are classified into three areas to get extra points for their high school graduation and university entrance exams based on their locations and differences in geographic socio-economic development.

Previously, students from Area 1 – remote, mountainous, island or disadvantaged communes – received 1.5 points added to their exam results. Students from Area 2 – suburban districts received 0.5 points, rural areas received 1 point. Students from Area 3 – inner districts of big cities – did not receive an extra point.

This year, the extra points for students from Area 1, Area 2 – suburban districts and Area 2- rural areas are 0.75, 0.25 and 0.5 respectively.

Last June, more than 866,000 Vietnamese students took the 2017 national high school exam, the results of which are used for both high school graduation and university admission. — VNS