Vietnam Plans to Remove University Entrance Exams from 2020

The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has planned to remove university entrance exams from 2020, state media reported. From now to 2015, the ministry would maintain the exams under the enrollment regulation named “three commons”. Between 2016 and 2019, it will allow universities to organize only one exam with many subjects, instead of exams for Groups A, B, C, D, V like currently. Two obligatory subjects in the exam will be Mathematics and Literature and other optional ones which will be selected in line with training majors.  Vietnamese universities and colleges have recently complained about the current enrollment regulations, which enable them to enroll enough students. Experts even warned that more education institutions would go bankrupt unless the ministry makes changes in the enrollment regulation named “three commons”. Under the “three commons” regulation, same exam questions, exam dates and exam results are used for all universities and colleges in enrolling students. Vietnam now has about three million students at 700 universities, colleges and vocational training schools. Despite the fast expansion and rapid growth in the numbers of universities and colleges, the quality of education cannot meet the social demand and development in the region,” Victoria Kwakwa, WB director said. (www.danviet.vn Feb 15)