Phùng Xuân Nhạ, Minister of Education and Training speaks at the teleconfence reviewing university recruitment for 2019 and setting tasks for 2020 in Hà Nội. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

HÀ NỘI – The standard for university admissions should be raised to ensure higher quality of training, said Phùng Xuân Nhạ, Minister of Education and Training.

It was necessary for universities to make sure new academic programmes are in line with market demand before introducing new classes.

Nhạ was speaking at a teleconference to review university recruitment for 2019 and set tasks for 2020 held in Hà Nội on Thursday.

He believes university recruitment for 2020 needs to resolve any problems encountered in the past 12 months.

Nhạ pointed out that a number of universities announced new academic programmes that were not relevant to labour demand and admission scores of some majors were extremely low, raising concerns over quality of training.

Nhạ said the ministry was compiling plans for high school exam and tertiary recruitment autonomy for 2021-2025 which would be submitted to the Government for approval.

He also emphasised the need for close collaboration between educational institutions and high schools to improve the quality of recruitment.

Nguyễn Thị Kim Phụng, director general of the Department of Tertiary Education, Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) said the new university recruitment regulations included expanding the autonomy of universities in organising recruitment exam to assure it was line with the state regulations.

The MoET would include regulations for all mode of study namely full-time and part-time as well as second bachelor’s degree into one regulation.

Because the standard for teachers has been raised, there would be no recruitment quota for teachers’ training at intermediate and college levels, except for pre-school education.

Tourism and Information Technology are the two majors that would be applied special recruitment quota, Phung said.

Strict regulations would be imposed on violating universities, officials, labourers and candidates, especially those related to fraud in exams or recruitment.

This year, the MoET will not regulate the collecting of fees for recruitment. It will be decided by education institutions. However, she said, the fee should be the same as that of previous years.

Reviewing recruitment for 2019, Phụng said only 64 per cent of accepted candidates enrol in universities.

She blamed this on the fact that candidates did not want to study at the university but they were still advised to do so to improve the achievement for high schools.

“It was difficult for some majors in fulfilling their recruitment plans including agro-forestry and fisheries, natural sciences, social services and environment, requiring special attention from the state,” Phụng said.

Each year, more than 900,000 candidates take high school exams and about 75 per cent of them  register for university admission.

She said as the regulations relating to recruitment were improved, universities had been more proactive in recruitment, enhancing the healthy competitiveness between them. — VNS