Is it just poor academic performance?

The university's academic council has announced that a number of students are on academic probation, academic warning, or even forced to leave school. These students all have poor academic results, with most of them having a grade point average or cumulative score below 1.

The question is, are these students' academic performance really poor or are there other reasons?

THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS ARE DISCIPLINED FOR ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE

After each semester, universities conduct academic reviews and handle students with poor academic performance. In 2024, the number of students forced to drop out, placed on academic warning, and placed on academic probation has been high in recent years. Notably, in many schools, after just one semester, the number of students subject to academic discipline has reached thousands.

According to statistics from many universities, among the reasons why students are warned, the main reason is not continuing to register for credits (illustrative photo)

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

At the end of September, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education announced the list of students who were put on probation, warned about their academic results for the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year, and were forced to drop out of the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year. Of these, 892 students from the 2021, 2022, and 2023 courses are expected to be put on probation for their academic results for the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year due to credit debt and a poor cumulative GPA. In addition, 964 students from the 2021, 2022, and 2023 courses are expected to receive a warning on their academic performance in the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year. In particular, 88 students are expected to be forced to drop out of the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year. These students had two consecutive semesters (semesters 1 and 2 of the 2023-2024 school year) with an average score below 1 or had an unsatisfactory number of credits. Thus, in this period alone, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education is expected to force nearly 2,000 students from the 2021, 2022, and 2023 courses to drop out, give warnings, and put on probation their academic performance due to poor academic performance.

Also in mid-September, Nguyen Tat Thanh University announced the list of students with academic warnings in the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year. Nearly a month earlier, the university announced the results of the review and handling of academic matters in the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year. Of these, 3,875 students received the first academic warning and 1,490 other students received decisions to be forced to leave school.

With the multi-method admission in recent years, students with average academic performance can still easily get into many schools by considering their transcripts. With heavy majors such as engineering and technology, many students may not have the capacity to study. Therefore, this group can easily get into but easily drop out of school.

Head of Training Department of a University in Ho Chi Minh City

At the same time, the Banking Academy announced the tentative list of more than 450 students who will be disciplined for the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year. Of these, 241 students were forced to drop out of school due to exceeding the maximum training period of 6 years and were given academic warnings three times in a row. In addition, 217 students were given academic warnings due to poor academic performance. Notably, many students had an average semester score below 1, so their average score was not enough to be considered.

FORCED TO EXCUSE SCHOOL FOR FAILURE TO REGISTER FOR CREDITS

Vietnam - Korea University of Information and Communications Technology (University of Danang ) is considering expelling nearly 80 students from the 2020 - 2023 courses for not registering for credits in the first semester of the 2024 - 2025 school year. Many of them did not return to school after the temporary leave of absence expired. Previously, in mid-September, the university also announced that it would consider handling the academic results of the second semester of the 2023 - 2024 school year with 179 cases of forced expulsion and more than 200 students receiving academic warning due to an average semester score below 1.

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, many full-time university students are also at risk of being warned about their studies and forced to drop out of school due to poor academic results in the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year. Specifically, 41 cases are on the list of forced to drop out of school and 75 cases are on the list of expected to be warned about their studies due to poor academic results in the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year...

C. ACTIVELY STOPPED STUDYING TO STUDY A DIFFERENT MAJOR, DIFFERENT SCHOOL

The handling of students' academic affairs based on the academic results of universities is carried out according to general regulations. Accordingly, students are given academic warning if their average semester score does not meet the requirements or if they have a total number of outstanding credits according to regulations. After 2-3 consecutive semesters of academic warning, students are put on the list of those forced to leave school. The common point of most of these students is their poor academic results. The question is, are these students not capable of studying at university, leading to poor results, with some students only getting 0 points for many semesters?

Dr. Quach Thanh Hai, Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, said that the school had conducted a survey with 88 students expected to be forced to drop out of school by the beginning of this school year. Of the more than 40 cases that responded, the general results showed that most students actively did not participate in studying. For the group of students who actively stopped studying after the first year, the main reason was that they had been admitted and transferred to another major, another school. Some cases, mainly students who completed their third year, went to work and did not return to study. A few cases did not continue studying to study abroad. "In the total scale of more than 20,000 full-time students in the whole school, more than 80 students expected to be given academic warnings, which is not a high rate but is also a concern for the school," Dr. Hai added.

Master Le Van Hien, Deputy Head of the Training Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, also said that based on the students' academic results, the cases that are handled are often due to students actively dropping out of school, not because they cannot keep up with the curriculum leading to poor academic results. "The rate of students being forced to drop out of school is not high, mostly because after being admitted to a field that is not really their favorite. Therefore, students proactively stop studying at university, many cases retake the entrance exam to the police and military schools and a few go to study abroad," Master Hien further analyzed.

Announcement of universities on handling students with poor academic results

THE LOWER THE SCHOOL'S ENTRANCE SCORE, THE HIGHER THE RISK OF STUDENTS DROPING OUT

The number of students who are disciplined and the reasons for this situation are not the same in different groups of schools. There are universities where this number is recorded at a very high level. The Head of the Training Department of a private university in Ho Chi Minh City said that the rate of students who are warned about their academic results by semester is up to about 20% of the total number of students in the school.

This rate also varies greatly between majors, with majors related to engineering technology having students receiving academic warnings of up to 30-40%. Among the warning reasons, the cause comes from students not registering for a semester in up to 75% of cases, the rest are cases where students have an average semester score of 0 or below 1.

From the above statistics, the Head of the Training Department of a university commented: "After the first year of study, the rate of students dropping out of school on their own account is the highest, the main reason is that students do not register to study." Regarding the cause, according to this Head of the Training Department, there are differences depending on the group of schools. But it can be seen that the lower the entrance score of the majors and schools, the higher the risk of dropping out early. "With the multi-method admission in recent years, students with average academic performance can still easily be admitted to many schools by considering their transcripts. With heavy majors such as engineering and technology, many students may not have the capacity to study. Therefore, it is easy for this group to be admitted but easy to drop out of school," he added.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sinh-vien-bi-buoc-thoi-hoc-co-phai-chi-do-hoc-tap-yeu-kem-185241029201943979.htm