Admissions 2026: Which universities will remove or keep the C00 combination?

The 2026 admission season began with surprises when some schools announced that they would not use or limit admissions using the C00 combination.

Top social science schools do not use the C00 combination to consider many majors.

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Vietnam National University, Hanoi, has determined to pursue a plan not to use the C00 combination for admission to many social sciences and humanities majors.

According to a recent announcement by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi , in the planned university admission plan for 2026, the school will significantly reduce the number of majors using the C00 combination (literature, history, geography) for admission.

Specifically, in 2026, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi will enroll 30 majors, of which 15 majors will not use the C00 combination, and 15 majors will use the C00 combination. This is completely different from 2025 - the year when 26/28 majors will consider the C00 combination (only 2 majors, Japanese Studies and Southeast Asian Studies, will not consider the C00 combination).

Meanwhile, all 30 majors of the school use the D01 combination (math, literature, English). In fact, 12 majors have their English scores multiplied by a factor of 2 (the remaining 18 majors have their literature scores doubled).

Students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The school's 2026 university admission plan significantly reduces the number of majors using the C00 combination.

PHOTO: QUYNH DUNG

Associate Professor Dang Hong Son, Vice Principal of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said: "This is a calculation suitable for the school's two basic and applied training groups, aiming to increase the number of subjects taught in English, implementing the strategy of making English the second language in training."

In addition, there are 3 combinations used in 2025 but will no longer be used by the school in 2026: C03 (math, literature, history), C04 (math, literature, geography), X78 (literature, English, economic and legal education). "Reducing the combinations in a major or training program to focus on exam subjects suitable to the characteristics and requirements of the majors and training programs," said Associate Professor Dang Hong Son.

It is known that the idea of ​​not using the C00 combination for consideration has been planned by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi from the 2025 enrollment season. According to the announcement on June 4, out of 28 major codes for enrollment in 2025, the school will only use the C00 combination to consider admission for 9 major codes (in 2024, there will be 24 major codes using the C00 combination). A series of majors that originally considered C00 as the original combination such as journalism, public relations, psychology, cultural studies, Vietnamese studies, sociology, social work... will no longer use the C00 combination.

However, this has caused public opinion among students and parents to react. The Ministry of Education and Training also issued an official dispatch asking schools to pay attention to "timing" when announcing the removal of the C00 combination for majors that previously used this combination (announced close to the high school graduation exam date). Therefore, immediately after that, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University issued a new announcement, adding the C00 combination to the method of considering high school graduation exam results for 17 majors of the school, bringing the total number of majors using the C00 combination to 26 (out of a total of 28 majors).

At that time, speaking with Thanh Nien Newspaper, the leader of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said that the school would continue to return to this plan for the 2026 university entrance exam, but learning from the experience of 2025, the school would announce it soon, right after summarizing the 2025 university entrance exam.

N MANY CASES OF C00 COMPOSITION RESTRICTIONS

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is not the first school to "say no" to the C00 combination when recruiting for social science majors.

An admissions officer of the Academy of Journalism and Communication said that in previous years, the school only used the C00 combination to consider the history major (Party history major). But from 2025, even for this major, the school will no longer use the C00 combination but will only consider the D14 (literature, history, English), C03 (literature, history, math), X71 (literature, history, computer science), C19 (literature, history, economic and legal education), in which history is given a coefficient of 2. Thus, geography is replaced by one of the following subjects: English, math, computer science, economic and legal education.

This officer shared: "Currently, the Training and Development Management Board is helping the academy's leaders draft a draft of the 2026 enrollment plan, which is scheduled to be announced next week. Professional staff will have to analyze very carefully based on the parameters that the academy has, to choose which combination to use to bring the best benefits to candidates and to the quality of enrollment."

Universities in Ho Chi Minh City also decided not to use the traditional admission combination C00 in the 2026 enrollment, for example, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry. The school plans to stipulate an admission combination of 3 subjects, of which 2 are compulsory according to the school's regulations. For the third subject, candidates can choose one of the remaining subjects as prescribed by the school.

Next year, the school plans to adjust the core subject group in the subject combination for admission to the law group. Specifically, in 2025, candidates for admission to the law group will be able to choose one of two core subject groups: literature and history, or math and English. But in 2026, the school plans to adjust to only one core subject group including English and math. With this adjustment, the law group of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry will no longer consider the C00 subject combination. Explaining the above adjustment, the school representative said that it is to ensure that the common subjects between the groups must account for at least 50% of the weighted score for admission according to the university admission regulations from 2026.

Candidates view information on university admission scores

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

Still maintain the selection of combination C00 because of necessity

Meanwhile, many universities that have used the C00 combination in admissions in previous years said they will continue to maintain it in 2026.

Dr. Pham Tan Ha, admissions and training consultant of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that the school plans to keep the C00 combination in next year's admissions. As in 2025, the literature - history - geography combination will be used to consider admissions to many majors such as: education, education management, philosophy, religious studies, history, linguistics, literature, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, geography, journalism, etc.

The C00 combination has also been used to enroll most majors of Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture for many years now. Talking about the plan for 2026, Master Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy Head of the Department of Training, Scientific Management and International Cooperation of the school, affirmed that there will be no adjustments related to this combination of subjects for admission. According to Mr. Tung, using this combination for admission is necessary due to the training characteristics of the school's majors. Students need to have a solid background knowledge of literature, history, and geography to be able to study well the school's majors.

Similarly, Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, said that the school will continue to use C00 to recruit many majors next year such as: law, tourism, economic law, restaurant and food service management, hotel management, tourism and travel service management.

Thu Dau Mot University also plans to use this combination to recruit majors such as: multimedia communications, tourism, education, psychology, social work, law, etc.

The combination makes the school very "headache" every admission season.

Dr. Nguyen Trieu Duong, Head of Training Department of Hanoi Law University, said that the school had considered whether or not to continue using the C00 combination for admission, although this is also a combination that causes the school a "headache" every admission season. This is one of the two traditional combinations, the other is A00, which has been used since the school was founded (initially, the school only trained in law, later adding economic law). Later, the school added combinations with foreign languages ​​(from D01 to D06) for these two majors. But since opening more majors such as international commercial law and English, the school no longer uses C00 for new majors, although it still uses A00 and D01.

"In 2026, the school plans to continue using combination C00 to recruit students for law and economic law majors, along with combinations A00, A01, and D01. Because the Ministry of Education and Training allows different scores for other combinations compared to the original combination, in 2025, Hanoi Law University set the standard score for combination C00 3.24 points higher than D01, thereby attracting the best candidates to the school," said Dr. Nguyen Trieu Duong.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tuyen-sinh-2026-truong-dh-nao-bo-giu-to-hop-c00-185251204200714831.htm