In the draft university admission regulations for 2025 that have just been announced, the Ministry of Education and Training requires universities not to reserve more than 20% of their quota for early admission and when considering transcripts, they must use the entire 12th grade year's scores (instead of using 3-5 semester scores as at present), including mandatory Math or Literature scores.

Regarding the plan to tighten early admission, MSc. Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions Center, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, said that limiting the early admission rate of each school to no more than 20% of the total enrollment quota will have a big impact on candidates. When schools do not have as many early admission candidates as last year, the benchmark scores and competition rates for early admission methods will be higher, and competition will be fiercer.

A leader of the Academy of Finance also said that if the quota is not to exceed 20%, it will be difficult for many universities. In fact, the rate of fake applications at schools is currently quite high because a student often submits an application early to many schools. Therefore, many schools have to "call" a higher number of candidates to eliminate fake applications, some schools even have to call twice the number of candidates to "make up for the loss".

For example, at the Academy of Finance, the school calls about 80% of candidates. When officially recruiting, they drop out about 50%, the remaining 30% is enough. "A school has about 1,000 quotas, but to eliminate the virtual quota, that unit has to call about 1,200 students, after deducting the number of students who dropped out, only about 800 is enough," said this leader.

Sharing the same view, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, commented that tightening the early admission regulations will create competitive pressures. Candidates will compete more fiercely to gain admission to top schools, "this regulation needs to be considered more specifically".

Dr. Nhan added that from 2025, the school plans to abandon the method of considering transcript scores alone and combine transcript scores with other methods. To comply with the new general education program, the school can organize many subject groups, instead of 4 subject groups like previous years.

Regarding the tightening of regulations on considering academic records, Master Pham Thai Son said that the new regulations are consistent with the 2018 general education program. To properly assess the learning process of candidates, schools should use the learning results of all 3 years of high school, instead of only considering the learning scores of grades 10, 11 and the first half of grade 12.

“In previous years, many schools stopped considering the second semester scores of grade 12, causing students to be negligent and neglectful in their studies, affecting the general education goals in the final stage of high school. Therefore, tightening admissions based on the entire grade 12 transcript will help schools have a more objective and comprehensive assessment of candidates' academic results in the admissions process,” said MSc. Son.

This expert hopes that tightening regulations on considering academic records will increase the quality of successful candidates. Through that, candidates will realize that considering academic records is no longer an easy way to get into universities like before.

According to Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, in terms of form, the regulation on using 3-year high school study results for admission is more positive and has a more complete assessment.

The method of admission based on academic records has always been an advanced method, applied by many countries because of its advantage of reducing the pressure of exams for schools, candidates and parents. However, to effectively use this method, it is necessary to ensure strict and objective assessment of the learning process, avoiding the practice of running for points and embellishing academic records.

Last year, 214 out of 322 schools offered early admission. The main methods of early admission were based on academic records, aptitude test scores, international certificates (SAT, ACT, IELTS, etc.) or a combination of the above factors. The number of candidates admitted under this method was more than 375,500, of which 147,400 were first-choice (nearly 40%).

Early admission is considered by many experts to help candidates reduce admission pressure and increase their chances of choosing a school. At the same time, it also helps mid- and bottom-ranked universities ensure the number of candidates enrolled, reducing the rate of fake candidates.

On November 22, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the draft regulations for university admissions in 2025 with many notable new points. According to the Ministry's draft, schools are allowed to consider early to select candidates with outstanding abilities and academic achievements. However, the early admission quota will not exceed 20%, and the admission score will not be lower than the standard score of the admission round according to the Ministry's general plan.

Admission scores for all methods and combinations will be converted to a common scale. This means that schools cannot simultaneously use a 30-point scale when considering transcripts or high school graduation exam results and a 150-point scale when considering competency assessment test scores as before.

Regarding admission methods, schools are autonomous in deciding whether to use entrance exams, admission screening, or a combination of entrance exams and admission screening. Each method must clearly state the evaluation criteria and admission conditions.

As for the review of academic records, the Ministry requires a combination of at least three subjects, including Math or Literature with a weight of at least one-third of the total score. In particular, schools must use the results of the entire 12th grade year of the candidate, instead of using the scores of 3-5 semesters as is currently the case.