Candidates attend the 2025 Admissions Consulting Day in Hanoi - Photo: NAM TRAN
Previously, on August 1, the Ministry of Education and Training issued an official dispatch requesting all training institutions to review data in preparation for filtering out fake university and college admissions.
In particular, the ministry recommends that schools use all results and evidence downloaded from the system (including high school graduation exam results, high school transcripts, assessment of capacity, thinking, valid foreign language certificates...) to consider the wishes that candidates have registered.
Many schools have asked for proof.
According to admissions officers of the schools, the above requirement of the Ministry of Education and Training is contrary to the previous regulations of the ministry.
Specifically, in the university and college admissions guidance document issued by the Ministry of Education and Training in May 2025, it is stipulated: "Candidates submit application documents proving admission at the training institution (according to the training institution's instructions)".
According to this guideline, recently, many universities across the country have required candidates to submit proof of admission (IELTS, TOEFL, SAT certificates...) for preliminary selection within the time specified by each school.
In 2025, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law will consider admission by combining high school academic results with international language certificates or US SAT exam results (method 2).
According to school regulations, candidates considering this method must register and declare information online on the school's admission portal (register from 9:00 a.m. June 23 to July 6).
Candidates must use the admission information registration account provided by the school to access the school's online admission information registration page and download the candidate's "admission information registration form" to save, use when necessary and look up results, converted points, bonus points...
According to the school representative, based on the data declared by candidates, after reviewing all international certificates, the school converted the high school transcript scores equivalent to the 2025 high school graduation exam scores according to each subject group applied to method 2 and announced the score conversion rules.
The school has followed the regulations and admission instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training before.
Hundreds of certificates failed
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Khoi - Head of University Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, on June 18, the school announced that candidates must submit certified copies of international certificates directly to the school or send them by post .
It is noted that the school will not process applications submitted after 5:00 p.m. on July 18. During this review, the school announced a list of 1,744 candidates with qualified international certificates.
However, later, based on the official dispatch of the Ministry of Education and Training on reviewing data in preparation for filtering virtual admissions, the school reviewed all data and will use all valid results and evidence available on the system (including foreign language certificates) to consider adding points for candidates.
On July 31, the school received complete data on additional international certificates on the ministry's system with a total of 581 candidates.
However, the candidate data on the system is unclear and incomplete. Through inspection, the school discovered that up to 315 candidates did not meet the requirements for the threshold to be awarded points (candidates with IELTS Academic 6.0 or higher/TOEFL iBT 80 or higher; candidates with international SAT certificates from 1,340 points or higher.
The international certificate is valid for two years from the exam date to the deadline for receiving the international certificate according to the school's admission announcement).
Therefore, the school has reviewed and made a list of 266 candidates who need to provide information to verify international certificates.
On August 1, the school announced that candidates whose names were on the above list must provide information for the school to verify their certificates. The school also warned that candidates must be responsible for the authenticity of their certificates.
"After four days of the school receiving information to verify international certificates, most candidates have followed the requirements, updated and supplemented evidence...
However, there are also many candidates whose certificates are not qualified or do not comply. After review, the school finalized the list of 264 candidates who submitted additional international certificates in 2025 on the ministry's system to receive additional points for admission and announced it on the afternoon of August 6.
Thus, the total number of candidates with international certificates in 2025 who will have their points added to the regular university entrance exam at the school is 2,008," Mr. Khoi added.
Similarly, Master Cu Xuan Tien, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs at the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that the school has announced the time to submit admission evidence (including foreign language certificates) from June 15 to July 10 through the school's admissions portal.
As for the admission method based on the 2025 high school graduation exam scores, candidates are allowed to add evidence on the general admission registration system of the Ministry of Education and Training until 5:00 p.m. on July 28.
According to current statistics, there are about 2,400 candidates applying for admission based on high school graduation exam scores but have not declared evidence on the school's admission portal.
The school will filter the data, check (the school has a registered account on the IELTS certificate verification system) and if the profile meets the requirements, these candidates will be included in the general admission system to consider the bonus points or convert English subject scores.
However, during the inspection process, about 120 cases of using certificates that were not in accordance with regulations on bonus points or point conversion were discovered.
Difficulty in reviewing
Meanwhile, many other universities said that after receiving candidates' international certificate data on the Ministry of Education and Training's system, they encountered many difficulties in reviewing and verifying the certificates.
Because the Ministry of Education and Training's system allows candidates to apply to many schools, they can use this evidence to apply to other schools.
For example, this school does not accept Japanese language certificates, but some other schools do. Therefore, schools have to filter data and international certificates on the common system, which is very difficult.
This year, for the first time, the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) implemented the conversion of international language certificates TOEFL iBT or IELTS for the admission method based on the results of the 2025 high school graduation exam (method 2).
Accordingly, if the converted score from the English certificate is higher than the high school graduation exam score in English, the candidate will be able to use this converted score instead. The school requires candidates to submit a valid international language certificate (TOEFL iBT or IELTS, with a minimum certificate validity period until July 30, 2025) to the school before July 10.
But then, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulated that candidates could submit additional information on the ministry's common system until 5:00 p.m. on July 28.
According to the school representative, the Ministry of Education and Training's system currently records 6,631 candidates registering to convert foreign language certificates, of which 4,123 have submitted directly and verified at the school. The certificate verification is still being implemented and is expected to end on August 10.
Impact on enrollment
"For the admission method combining academic transcripts and international certificates, all schools require candidates to submit their certificates for preliminary selection. The school is responsible for reviewing, evaluating and verifying the validity of the certificates according to the announced conditions.
If based only on the declared data of candidates on the ministry's system without verification, then including those certificates in the admission process does not guarantee accuracy.
In case a candidate is admitted but is later discovered to have used an invalid certificate during the post-inspection process, the admission result will be canceled, seriously affecting the admission process," said a university representative.
Unauthenticated will not be accepted
"For cases where candidates only submit on the ministry's system but do not leave contact information, the school cannot proactively verify. We are currently coordinating with the test organizer, ETS, to support verification.
If not authenticated, these certificates will not be accepted and will not be counted for conversion points," said a representative of the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University).
The portal should be opened for candidates to update their evidence sooner.
MSc. Cu Xuan Tien, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department of the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University), proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training should open a portal for candidates to update their evidence earlier - Photo: QUANG DINH
According to Master Cu Xuan Tien, this is the first year of applying the submission of evidence on the ministry's portal, so the volume of documents is large, the data review work at the school is difficult and takes a lot of time.
"In the certificate score declaration section on the ministry's system, candidates should be required to fill in all the information, not leaving it blank. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Training should open the portal for candidates to update their evidence earlier and allow schools to download data in batches to facilitate checking and comparing information," Mr. Tien suggested.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-sinh-dai-hoc-2025-lo-ngai-chung-chi-quoc-te-khong-hop-le-20250808085128563.htm
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