What does the Ministry of Education and Training say about schools enrolling students in Pedagogy and Medicine with 'strange' combinations?

Recently, Hoa Binh University announced the enrollment of Medicine and Traditional Medicine majors with 3/5 combinations that do not have Biology or Chemistry subjects such as A01 (Math, Physics, English), C04 (Literature, Math, Geography), D01 (Math, Literature, English). Or for the pedagogical block, Dong Thap University recruits Physics Pedagogy and Chemistry Pedagogy majors with combination D01 (Math, Literature, English),...

Some universities enroll students in the History Pedagogy major using methods that do not require considering the History subject. Specifically, at Hanoi Capital University, in the History Pedagogy major, the two methods of considering the results of the high school graduation exam and using the results of the 2025 capacity assessment exam, there are combinations that do not include the History subject such as D01 (Math, Literature, English); C04 (Math, Literature, Geography) and C14 (Math, Literature, Economic and Legal Education). The same story happened at the University of Education - Thai Nguyen University.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son shared with the press on April 3. Photo: *Thanh Hung*

Regarding the fact that some universities use "strange" combinations to recruit students for Pedagogy, Medicine, etc., Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said that this shows that schools do not clearly understand the difference between this year's university admission season and previous years.

Previously, students following the 2006 general education program had to study all subjects compulsorily. Therefore, for example, in the field of Medicine, admission was usually based on a combination of Math, Chemistry, and Biology; admission was also accepted based on a combination of Math, Chemistry, and English. Because even if Biology was not included in the admission combination, students would still have learned a certain amount of knowledge because they had studied it in high school.

But this year is completely different as this is the first batch of students following the new general education program. Accordingly, the high school program has 4 compulsory subjects: Math, Literature, History and Foreign Language 1, along with optional subjects. Thus, candidates with combined scores of Math, Chemistry and English can be admitted to the medical field but did not study Biology in high school.

“Of course, it must be said that students who are not students but are confident in taking the medical exam need to reconsider. But it is also possible that they do not have enough information, but still register and can still be admitted. This is unreasonable,” said Mr. Son.

A representative of the Ministry of Education and Training said that they have assigned the Department of Higher Education to draft and develop an official dispatch to request schools to review this matter.

According to Mr. Son, although schools have autonomy, the Ministry still reviews and reminds based on the admission regulations. "The regulations do not clearly state which combination each major must choose for consideration, schools must know this."

Mr. Son believes that the majors and admission combinations must meet the basic principles of admission, which are reliability, assessment of input requirements, and classification of candidates. “If an admission method/admission combination cannot assess the core knowledge and competencies for that major, schools must review it,” Mr. Son said.

Regarding the plan, Mr. Son suggested that schools can put forth additional requirements for the entrance threshold. For example, if the medical major recruits with a combination of Math, Chemistry and English, it would require that candidates must have studied Biology in high school, and at the same time set a minimum score for the high school study results for this subject.

“Schools have a solution to this, to require any student who chooses to study to have basic knowledge of the subject in the program. This subject may not be directly included in the admission combination, but students must still have certain knowledge. Thus, if it is not included in the admission combination, it is still required that students study in high school and have certain knowledge and abilities,” said Mr. Son.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cac-truong-tuyen-sinh-nganh-su-pham-y-bang-to-hop-la-bo-gd-dt-noi-gi-2387611.html