On January 28, 2026, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) announced the draft Regulation on enrollment at the university level for training majors and enrollment at the preschool education college level.
According to the draft, the Ministry expects that when using the transcript review method, schools must consider the average scores of 6 semesters (from grades 10 to 12) of at least three subjects. In which, Math or Literature are compulsory, with a weight not less than 1/3 of the total score.
Candidates using this method must have a total score of three high school graduation exam subjects corresponding to the admission combination (or the exam score of Math and Literature and another subject) reaching at least 16 on a 30-point scale.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training - said that the method of considering high school academic results (assessing transcripts) has existed for more than 10 years, always accounting for about 40% of the total number of admitted candidates, and in the past, this admission method was mainly based on the academic results of students in grade 12.
This adjustment is to ensure that candidates do not neglect their studies in 12th grade because when designing the high school program, 12th grade knowledge is an important foundational knowledge connected to the basic knowledge of university training majors.
This regulation not only helps students study seriously in grade 12, ready for the graduation exam, but also helps candidates have a solid foundation when admitted and the ability to complete the university training program well" - Mr. Thao said.
Regarding the score of 16/30, Mr. Thao said that this is the score that most candidates with attitude and responsibility will achieve in the graduation exam, ensuring that the recruitment source meets the quality threshold for universities to enroll and further towards the goal of training human resources to reach the index of 260 students per 10,000 people of a developed country according to the roadmap towards 2030.
Another noteworthy new point is that the Ministry plans to tighten the use of international foreign language certificates such as IELTS. Schools are not allowed to both convert scores and add priority points. The added score level is also controlled at a maximum of 1.5 points, reduced by half compared to now.
Regarding this adjustment, according to the Director of the Higher Education Department, in the international integration period, foreign languages are still an important tool in learning and opening up career opportunities after graduation. Therefore, maintaining admission based on foreign language certificates in university admissions is an objective requirement.
This draft Enrollment Regulations is adjusted in the direction of exploiting the foreign language proficiency of candidates and ensuring the principle of fairness in admission consideration.
The admission combination uses the results of good high school exams or academic records using foreign language certificates, then the training institution converts the foreign language certificate results into the foreign language score in the admission subject combination according to the weighting of the foreign language subject score not exceeding 1/3 of the total score according to the 30-point scale.
Foreign language certificates are only used in the conversion of foreign language subject scores or are only used for bonus points. From 2026, the Ministry of Education and Training follows the guidance on converting the results of foreign language certificates uniformly used throughout the system. Foreign language certificates are only used once, or replace foreign language subjects or are given a maximum score of 1.5.
In the draft, the Ministry also plans to limit a maximum of 5 admission methods, candidates registering no more than 10 aspirations.
Explaining this, Mr. Thao informed that the Ministry's statistics show that currently schools have about 20 admission methods, but 90% of admitted students are admitted by 2 methods: considering high school graduation exam scores and considering high school transcripts (considering high school transcripts or combining exams and admission based on high school transcripts).
Some enrollment methods have been used or passed by very few candidates for many years, but cause confusion for parents and candidates when learning about university enrollment, causing waste of human and material resources" - Mr. Thao said and said that this adjustment is based on annual enrollment statistics, in order to simplify the admission process and save costs.
