National Assembly deputies worry that the proliferation of competency assessment exams is costly and increases exam pressure

Questioning before the National Assembly this morning (June 20), delegate Do Thi Viet Ha (Bac Giang delegation) cited the Regulations on university and college admissions for preschool education of the Ministry of Education and Training, which allow schools to use many admission methods, including competency assessment tests.

Besides the advantages, organizing many different tests and assessments of abilities increases the pressure of exams, requires candidates living far away to travel and incur costs; reviewing many different contents and types of questions reduces the time to focus on the main study program. She asked the Minister to give his opinion on this and solutions to overcome it?

Delegate Do Thi Viet Ha (Bac Giang delegation).

Delegate Do Thi Viet Ha ( Bac Giang Delegation).

Responding, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that within the autonomy of highereducation institutions, there is the right to autonomy in enrollment and training. Circular 08 allows educational institutions, if capable, to organize their own exams for enrollment, and the results of those exams can be shared with other educational institutions for enrollment purposes.

Currently, in addition to the high school graduation exam, many universities organize a so-called competency assessment exam (each with more than 10,000 candidates participating). However, according to a survey, the number of candidates using the results of this exam for university admission only accounts for 3% of the total number of candidates, not many.

Minister Son agreed with the delegates that students taking many of these exams may have to travel and study at great expense, but this is a voluntary choice. "This increases opportunities for candidates. When applying the competency assessment test, candidates can take the test on the computer and know the results immediately, this is also an innovation in graduation exams," said the Minister.

Typically, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi National Universities are organizing computer-based exams, with results available immediately after completing the exam. This is a pilot step in using computer science to evaluate and enroll students.

According to the education sector's plan, from 2027, a pilot high school exam will be conducted on computers. With this experiment, in the next few years, it is possible to move towards high school graduation and university exams based on the application of computer science in assessment and enrollment.

Increase recruitment capacity to generate tuition revenue

Regarding university admissions, yesterday afternoon, delegate Nguyen Danh Tu (Kien Giang Delegation) questioned the fact that many universities have increased their enrollment capacity to generate revenue from tuition fees. This situation directly affects the quality of human resources, especially high-quality human resources.

"I would like to ask the Minister to explain the causes, management responsibilities, and solutions for higher education to contribute to improving people's knowledge, training human resources, nurturing talents, practical learning, experimentation, good teaching, good learning, and good management," Mr. Tu asked.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son.

Responding, Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that the issue raised by the delegate "is also a real phenomenon in some universities, but not all". Some universities that are not in the top group but have a scale of 30,000-50,000 students "are also real stories".

The reason for the increase in the size of some schools, according to Mr. Son, is the tuition fee issue. University tuition fees in Vietnam, compared to people's income, especially for families with difficulties in sending their children to school, are a pressure. However, compared to the tuition fees of other universities in the world, the average tuition fee of public universities in Vietnam is about 25 million VND/year. Some majors have lower tuition fees.

Compared to American universities, where the average tuition fee is 55,000-60,000 USD per year, and the top group is 70,000-80,000 USD, the average university tuition fee in Vietnam is only 1/50 of that of American universities. "With such an amount of money, schools still have to operate and take care of other expenses, so they are forced to increase their scale, using the scale to compensate for the revenue to operate the school," said Mr. Son.

Some schools have revenue from services, budget support, scientific research..., but very little. Therefore, large-scale enrollment will cause consequences for education and training and teaching quality.

Minister Son pointed out that the solution is to strictly control and ensure the quality of enrollment to force schools to comply with the conditions on enrollment rates and improve quality. Public schools need support from the state, not just rely on tuition fees. "Depending on the quality of training, schools can consider more appropriate tuition fees to improve the quality of training," said the Minister.

Vtcnews.vn

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