There is no concept of early university admission before completing high school.

On February 15, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thu Thuy, Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said that the 2025 university admission regulations will be issued in February. The official regulations have some adjustments compared to the original draft.

New points in the 2025 university entrance exam: Eliminate early admission

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thu Thuy, the Ministry of Education and Training has made a decision on new points and amendments in the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations on university and college admissions for Preschool Education.

Specifically, instead of limiting early admission to no more than 20% of the target, the Ministry of Education and Training has completely eliminated early admission. Thus, all methods will be considered in one round. Direct admission will still be carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thu Thuy, early admission is not an admission method but only related to time: "It is not because early admission will increase the chance of admission. The general admission support system of the Ministry of Education and Training will help candidates to be admitted to the highest and best wishes in order of priority. Therefore, all capable students have the chance to be admitted without losing the opportunity of anyone."

Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam in Hanoi . Photo: Tao Nga

In addition, according to the regulations, the priority points (regional priority points, subject priority points, according to the school's own regulations) of each candidate will not exceed 10% of the maximum score, and at the same time, the total score of the candidate must not exceed the maximum score.

For schools that use high school academic results for admission, the new point in the admission regulations is to use the academic results of the entire 12th grade. According to Ms. Thuy, this is intended to have a negative impact on general education, so that students do not miss the most important knowledge of 12th grade, which is the pivotal year and the foundation for continuing to enter a more difficult learning phase.

Some other new points according to the regulations, schools must have a way to convert equivalent admission scores between methods and admission combinations into a common scale. In addition, schools are allowed to convert the results of foreign language certificates (according to the list of the High School Graduation Exam Regulations) into foreign language scores for admission consideration.

The regulation also removes the requirement that each major and training program only have a maximum of 4 admission combinations. In particular, from 2026, common subjects between admission combinations must account for at least 50% of the admission score.

In addition, the threshold score for health and teacher training sectors will remain the same as the current regulations, and this adjustment will not be applied this year.

"The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of admissions"

Talking to Dan Viet newspaper reporter, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Vice Principal of Hue University of Education, said: "Early admission is an issue that many people are interested in every admission season. In fact, early admission also has impacts that many people discuss, especially the fairness in admission.

If the early admission rate is too high, it will cause an imbalance and create inertia for students because those who are in grade 12 are already guaranteed a place in a certain university. Many education experts as well as schools support reducing the early admission quota or eliminating early admission because it is consistent with the trend of reserving most of the quota for admission based on high school graduation exam scores as well as based on the capacity assessment results of many major universities.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hung also shared: "In the development process, each school will have different ways to promote the school brand, improve the quality of training as well as accompanying policies on scholarships for students to attract enrollment. Each time there is a new change, there will certainly be difficulties, but the highest goal is to improve the quality of enrollment for schools and especially to have a number of quality university students to train talents for the country in the future."

Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, agrees with the current elimination of early admission in university admissions.

According to Dr. Khuyen's explanation, this is consistent with international practice (according to ISCED 2011) that if one has not completed a high school program, one will not be able to directly access higher education. In Vietnam, Article 34 of the Education Law also emphasizes that students who have completed the high school program and are eligible to take the exam, if they do not take the exam or fail the exam, will be granted a certificate of completion of the general education program and will only be allowed to study vocational education.

Article 28 of the Law on Education also states: In exceptional cases, students are allowed to skip grades only if they are in the group with early intellectual development, however, this case is very rare. Article 34 of the Law on Higher Education (Clause 2) clearly states: Higher education institutions are only allowed to autonomously decide on the admission method (entrance exam or a combination of entrance exam and admission). The content and difficulty of the exam must be consistent with the high school program and the orientation of the field of study. For example, IELTS scores cannot be the sole criteria for admission to all fields of study.

"If you have not completed high school (or have completed high school but not met the requirements), you will not be able to apply for university admission. There is no concept of early university admission if you have not completed high school," said Dr. Khuyen.

Source: https://danviet.vn/khong-co-khai-niem-xet-tuyen-som-dai-hoc-khi-chua-hoan-thanh-chuong-trinh-thpt-20250216101233259.htm