Many universities and colleges in English-speaking countries directly admit Vietnamese students.

Nhiều đại học, học viện một nước nói tiếng Anh tuyển thẳng học sinh Việt Nam - Ảnh 1. — Representatives of New Zealand schools advise Vietnamese students, morning of October 11

Many attractive moves

On the morning of October 11, Education New Zealand (ENZ) coordinated with the Embassy and Consulate General of New Zealand to organize the New Zealand Festival in Ho Chi Minh City. Speaking to Thanh Nien on the sidelines of the event, Mr. Ben Burrowes, Regional Director of ENZ Asia, informed that since identifying Vietnam as a key investment market, the island nation has continuously launched attractive policies, notably direct admission of Vietnamese students.

Specifically, ENZ has recently coordinated with universities and technical and technological institutes to simplify entry requirements for students from Vietnam, according to Mr. Burrowes. As a result, from this year, many schools have decided to directly admit Vietnamese students to the undergraduate level instead of requiring them to complete the first year of university in Vietnam, or to complete a preparatory program or vocational certificate in New Zealand as before.

"This is a recognition of the quality of Vietnamese students' education. We also want to use this policy to help your transition process become smoother, more economical and easier. Notably, Vietnam is a rare country that applies this direct admission policy," Mr. Burrowes explained.

The director added that implementing the policy of direct admission of Vietnamese students takes a lot of time and effort, and cannot be passed overnight. However, because public university education in New Zealand is well planned, with only 8 universities and 16 institutes, the policy can be easily discussed and agreed upon.

Another notable move was the opening of applications for the first year of the New Zealand University Scholarship (NZUA) in May, in addition to the two existing government scholarship programs for secondary school (NZSS) and postgraduate (Manaaki). NZUA and NZSS are also the two scholarship programs specifically for Vietnamese people sponsored by the New Zealand government up to now.

Nhiều đại học, học viện một nước nói tiếng Anh tuyển thẳng học sinh Việt Nam - Ảnh 2. — New Zealand University representatives answer questions from parents and students

Mr. Burrowes also emphasized that ENZ is focusing more on connecting New Zealand alumni in Vietnam and establishing a network to support each other. And from next November, those with a New Zealand student visa will be allowed to work 25 hours/week during the semester, an increase of 5 hours compared to current regulations. During the holidays, students are allowed to work full-time as usual.

"This is probably our busiest year in Vietnam," Mr. Burrowes enthused.

Direct admission of Vietnamese students, why?

As one of the universities that directly admits Vietnamese students, Ms. Annie Goh, Director of International Admissions at Lincoln University, said that this policy applies to students who have an average grade of 8 or higher in the 4 highest subjects in grade 12. At the same time, students must also pass the high school graduation exam organized by the Ministry of Education and Training.

One of the reasons why New Zealand universities directly admit Vietnamese students, according to Ms. Goh, is to compete with other countries that are gradually loosening their entry requirements for Vietnamese students. In addition, Vietnamese students who have studied at Lincoln University in the past have all studied seriously and achieved good results, helping the school confidently adjust its entry requirements "a little lower."

"For our school, the entry requirement is just a principle for admission, not to set a barrier. If previous generations of Vietnamese students have proven their abilities, there is no reason why we cannot be more flexible in our admission criteria," Ms. Goh said.

Warren Smith, Academic Director at Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), shares the same view. “The students we receive from Vietnam are all academically capable, so we want to remove unnecessary barriers,” Smith said.

Nhiều đại học, học viện một nước nói tiếng Anh tuyển thẳng học sinh Việt Nam - Ảnh 3. — Southern Institute of Technology is one of 16 New Zealand institutes with a policy of direct admission to Vietnamese students.

Another reason is to unify admission regulations between universities and academies in New Zealand, according to Mr. Andy Ge, Director of International Markets at Ara Academy in Canterbury. Because before that, in August 2024, New Zealand universities began to issue policies to directly admit Vietnamese students. Until early 2025, ENZ continued to propose this policy to academies.

"When I received the proposal from ENZ, I discussed with my colleagues at the school why the entry requirements should be adjusted. My point of view is that direct admission of Vietnamese students is beneficial to them. On the other hand, because the quality and qualifications of universities and colleges are equivalent, the entry requirements should also be the same," Mr. Ge explained.

"After the admissions department and the academic quality assurance department reviewed the issue, they also agreed that the admission policy for Vietnamese people must be changed," Mr. Ge added.

Another update is that Ara Academy now also accepts temporary high school diplomas, instead of requiring applicants to submit official diplomas as before. "This will create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese students, because we understand that although the exam is in the middle of the year, they usually receive their official diplomas in August," Mr. Ge shared.

"In short, all of the above changes are aimed at making the application process for Vietnamese students as easy and convenient as possible," he emphasized.

ENZ Asia Regional Director Ben Burrowes said the above moves have helped the number of Vietnamese studying in New Zealand increase steadily in recent years. In the university sector, the number of Vietnamese students studying in New Zealand is now at the same level as before Covid-19. Meanwhile, in high schools, the number of Vietnamese students increased by about 10% compared to the same period last year.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhieu-dai-hoc-hoc-vien-mot-nuoc-noi-tieng-anh-tuyen-thang-hoc-sinh-viet-nam-185251011190525354.htm