Why is the rate of excellent graduates in the economic and social sectors increasing?

In recent graduation ceremonies, many universities have had surprisingly high numbers of excellent graduates. Some schools have increased by 4 times, others by up to 50%. What has affected these student learning outcomes?

GRADUATION RATE WITH EXCELLENCE INCREASED

On August 23, at the graduation ceremony for 4,612 students of the 63rd course (2021-2025 school year) of the National Economics University, up to 50% of bachelors graduated with honors. Specifically, with the English program, the school had 456 students graduating with honors (58.46%) and 246 students with good grades (31.54%). With the general program, there were 1,840 students with honors (48.02%) and 1,409 students with honors (36.77%). The average rate of excellent students was 53% and good students was 34%.

At the same time last year, the National Economics University had 3,690 new graduates, of which 1,420 graduated with honors, accounting for 38.5%. Thus, the number of excellent graduates this year increased by 14.5%.

In the first graduation ceremony in April this year, Foreign Trade University had nearly 1,300 new bachelors, the excellent rate accounted for 32.4% (an increase of 9% compared to the August 2024 graduation), good accounted for 47%. The total number of students graduating with honors and distinctions reached nearly 80%. In the August 2024 graduation of Foreign Trade University, out of 2,141 new bachelors, about 23.3% graduated with honors, 49.9% graduated with honors, the excellent and good rate accounted for nearly 73.2%.

The rate of economic graduates with excellent or good grades has increased in recent years.

ILLUSTRATION: NGOC DUONG

At the graduation ceremony held in August, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law awarded degrees to 1,600 students. Compared to 2024, the excellent rate increased from 0.6% to 2.75%. Students graduating with honors also increased by more than 10% compared to last year, from 17.3% to 28.67%.

It can be seen that in the past few years, the rate of excellent and good graduates is surprisingly high in many universities training in economics and social sciences. For example, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics is 65% in 2025 (of which 15% are excellent), 61% in 2024 and 45% in 2023, while 10 years ago this rate was only about 24.5%.

The graduation rate of excellent and honors students of Hoa Sen University in July this year is nearly 50%, the same in 2024, while in August 2022 it is only over 30%. The excellent and honors rate in the fields of business administration, marketing, and international business of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance reached 40% in one year...

It is known that according to the university training regulations, on a 4-point scale, students with a cumulative average score of 3.6 - 4.0 will be excellent; from 3.2 to nearly 3.6 will be good. On a 10-point scale, from 9.0 - 10.0 is excellent; from 8.0 to nearly 9.0 is good.

"STUDENTS ARE GETTING BETTER AND BETTER, AND TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTED"

According to Associate Professor Dr. Bui Quang Hung, Vice Director of the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, the quality of input at many universities in recent years has increased significantly compared to previous years, showing that the learning capacity of students is very good. Along with that, in the context of technological development, students have extremely favorable learning conditions, at the same time have a proactive spirit, creative thinking, high self-study ability, so the learning results are also more good and excellent than before.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, Deputy Director of the Admissions and Business Relations Center of the University of Finance and Marketing, commented that the rate of excellent and good graduates has tended to increase in recent years, the reasons coming from both the school and the students. "Currently, schools are mostly making efforts to invest heavily in facilities, applying technology, expanding digital learning materials, and innovating teaching and assessment methods in the direction of encouraging students to develop their abilities. Meanwhile, today's students are increasingly proactive, sensitive, know how to take advantage of modern learning resources and seize opportunities to experience practical application in lessons, presentations, group exercises, etc. to improve their achievements," said Ms. Phung.

In addition, Master Phung also said that the quality of input in many majors in many schools in recent years has been very high, reflecting that students have good capacity and academic foundation. This is also one of the favorable factors for students to be able to promote their advantages to achieve high results.

Engineering and technology fields have fewer excellent graduates.

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

THE MAJORITIES WITH EXCELLENT GRADUATES CAN BE COUNTED ON YOUR FINGERS

However, Master Nguyen Thi Kim Phung stated that the medical, engineering, and technology sectors have lower rates of good and excellent graduation, even though the entrance scores are also very high. Master Phung explained: "It may be because the field of study requires strict professional knowledge, practical skills, and professional standards (for example, standards for practicing doctors, engineers, etc.). Therefore, the learning and assessment process is often strict. Or it may be because the study time is long, the specificity of the field of practice accounts for a large proportion, and internships in hospitals or laboratories also make it difficult to achieve high learning outcomes."

Businesses don't care what kind of degree students graduate with.

Mr. Truong Ngoc Hoang, Director of Festo VN Company, said that the fact that universities have a rate of excellent and good graduates of up to more than 50% is a phenomenon similar to high school, when each class in middle school and high school has a very low rate of good and average students, the rest are good and excellent.

"In fact, today's students are very good and equally good, there is no big difference like in the past. Perhaps the learning environment in today's context makes it impossible for students to be passive but always have to be proactive, dynamic, develop soft skills and thinking. Especially in the economic and social sciences, students have more good and excellent results because of the great support of technology and artificial intelligence in the learning process, doing exercises... While the engineering, technology, medical and pharmaceutical fields... require more calculation, internship, practice, and hard work, so it is more difficult to achieve higher results," Mr. Hoang commented.

However, according to Mr. Hoang, from the perspective of businesses, especially private and foreign businesses, excellent, good or fair degrees are not the deciding factor in recruitment. "Usually, excellent graduates will be those with good thinking and good professional skills. However, whether or not they can promote their strengths to create value during the working process is influenced by many factors. Employers are most interested in working capacity and contribution to the business. Working capacity is different from learning capacity. Therefore, when you have an excellent degree, try to demonstrate corresponding working capacity," said Mr. Hoang.

At the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, said that the excellent graduation rate of engineering and technology majors is very low, only a few students each year, and the number of good graduates is also only slightly higher, and this rate is concentrated in the fields of language, economics and law. "To get good results, in addition to input factors, engineering and technology students must study much more diligently and carefully, while students in economics majors must be active and creative," Master Son shared.

In the recent graduation of 1,070 new bachelors of Hanoi Medical University, there were no outstanding students, only 46 were excellent (4.2%). In 2024, this school will have 1,103 graduates who are also not outstanding, only 97 are excellent (8.79%).

In 2024, the excellent rate of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy is 0.5%, and the good rate is 12%. In 2025, the excellent rate of University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Hanoi National University) is 2.2% while in 2023, there was only 1 excellent graduate out of 254 students (0.4%), and in 2022, there was no one. In 2025, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy is 2.2%.

In 2024, the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University) only had 0.77% excellent graduates, an increase of 0.59% compared to 2023; 27% were classified as good, an increase of 5.4%. The excellent rate of Hanoi University of Industry in 2024 was 1.6% while in 2022 it was more than 1.3%.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, in April this year, the excellent graduation rate was 2.8%, good rate was 19.3%; in April 2024, there were 1.2% excellent, 12.1% good.

At the graduation ceremony held last June, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education had 19 excellent graduates, accounting for 1.03%; 281 excellent graduates, reaching 15.27%. Meanwhile, the graduation ceremony in July and September 2024 had an excellent rate of 0.22%, and excellent rate of 27.34%.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/vi-sao-nganh-kinh-te-xa-hoi-ty-le-sinh-vien-tot-nghiep-xuat-sac-tang-cao-185250908223022841.htm