Exactly one week after receiving the university entrance exam results, Nguyen Duc Son (former student of Kim Lien High School, Dong Da, Hanoi ) is still happy because he just got enough points to pass the Cryptography Engineering Academy.
With 24.6 points in block A01, Son decided to register for all three first wishes at the Academy of Cryptography Engineering, respectively Information Technology, Information Security and Telecommunications Engineering. The male student was quite sad when he failed his first wish, Information Technology, because this year the school required 26.2 points - his favorite major.
Abusing IELTS certificate, university admission rate skyrockets.
Thanks to having an international language certificate IELTS 6.0, I got an extra point, just enough to pass my second choice to study Information Security with 25.6 points. "Luckily I have IELTS, otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get into my most desired school," Son said.
Previously, this male student was also admitted early by considering his high school transcript combined with international language certificates to 4 universities: Electricity, Commerce, Vietnam Agriculture and Hanoi National University. All of these wishes that he was admitted to were ranked last in the list of 23 wishes for admission as a backup plan to ensure a place in university.
Similarly, Do Khanh Huyen (former student of Vinh Phuc High School for the Gifted) was lucky to get into her favorite university thanks to her IELTS certificate bonus points.
Based on the experience left by her brother, since grade 11, Huyen has focused on studying and taking the IELTS exam to get a certificate. The first time she took the exam, she got 5.5 IELTS, then gradually studied for the advanced exam. On the fourth time, the female student got 7.0 IELTS - completing the initial goal set.
This year, Huyen scored 25 points in block A00, her first choice for admission to the Pharmacy major at Hanoi University of Pharmacy. The admission score for this major this year was 26 points, but the female student was still admitted thanks to an extra point - converted from the IELTS certificate.
Besides the lucky candidates who passed the IELTS, most other candidates who do not possess an international language certificate are at a disadvantage.
Le Khanh Bao (former student of Nguyen Khuyen High School, Nam Dinh) was sad when he lacked 0.75 points to enter his favorite major - Auditing at Hanoi University of Industry, while some other classmates were lucky to pass thanks to their IELTS certificates which added 0.25 to 2 points.
Abusing IELTS?
In the 2023 admission season, about 90/200 universities have admission methods related to international language certificates, including IELTS. Most of these schools add points, or directly admit candidates with IELTS from 6.0 or higher.
The fact that schools increasingly prefer IELTS for admission is also one of the reasons why candidates rush to study for the certificate, and it is even deified as a "golden ticket" to university.
Priority bonus points for candidates with IELTS certificates of Hanoi University of Pharmacy in 2023. (Illustration photo)
According to statistics, admission by IELTS certificate started to appear in 2017, National Economics University pioneered in using IELTS, TOEFL for admission. After that, the admission project of Foreign Trade University, Ho Chi Minh City Technical Pedagogical University also appeared the admission method by foreign language certificate.
The number of candidates using IELTS for admission is increasing rapidly. Mr. Bui Duc Trieu, Head of Training Management Department, National Economics University, was also surprised when the number of students admitted to the school with IELTS certificates increased this year.
In 2017, for the first time, the school applied for admission using IELTS certificates. If at that time there were only about 50 - 70 candidates, in 2023 the school had about 11,000 applications for international English certificates (220 times higher than in 2017).
This year, Hanoi University of Industry received more than 7,000 IELTS certificate candidates applying for admission to various majors (4 times higher than in 2021).
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Khoi, Head of Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, said that this year the school increased the number of majors that require international English certificates by 35% and 1,210 candidates submitted IELTS certificates.
In previous years, candidates with IELTS certificates had an advantage in the medical field because the standard score was lower than that of the high school exam. This year, due to the sharp increase in the number of candidates submitting IELTS certificates, the difference in scores between the two admission methods is very small (the standard score for the medical field based on high school exam scores is 27.34 and the combined score for IELTS is 27.1).
In 2023, 46,670 candidates nationwide registered to be exempted from the 2023 High School Graduation Foreign Language Exam, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training. Some localities have a large number of candidates in this category, such as Hanoi (nearly 16,000), Ho Chi Minh City (nearly 10,000). Meanwhile, 4 years ago, the whole of Hanoi had only about 3,000, in 2020 it was 5,280 and this year there is a strong upward trend.
An education expert predicts that the number of candidates applying for admission with IELTS is increasing, "certainly this number will increase even more in 2024". The race to enter university with IELTS is becoming more and more fierce as schools are abusing international language certificates for admission. Candidates are "crazy" because they think that having an IELTS certificate will guarantee a place in university.
"It is worth mentioning that specialized fields such as construction, medicine, fine arts, agriculture, economics... all recruit candidates with IELTS certificates. I am not sure that the academic performance of these students will be better than other students who are good at Math, Physics, Chemistry or Literature, History, Geography," he said. He recommended that universities and the Ministry of Education and Training should reconsider the IELTS admission, consider it only as a secondary criterion, and should not directly recruit candidates with international language certificates to avoid creating injustice.
There is still confusion in organizing exams and granting certificates.
At the 2022-2023 school year summary conference, Mr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Department of Quality Management, said that in reality, there is still chaos in foreign language certificate exams.
As of August 15, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued 45 decisions approving joint organization of foreign language proficiency certification exams for six languages (English, German, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Chinese).
Currently, there are 11 foreign certification exam centers and 95 Vietnamese certification exam centers with 137 exam locations nationwide.
Some localities have not properly implemented the Ministry's direction on strengthening the management of joint organization of foreign language proficiency exams and certificates, causing many organizations/units to organize exams and issue international foreign language certificates after September 10, 2022 without the Ministry's approval.
Ha Cuong
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