The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has just posted the Draft University Enrollment Regulations for 2026 on the Ministry's Electronic Information Portal to collect comments.
One of the contents adjusted in this draft is the method of admission based on high school academic results (gradebook). The Ministry of Education and Training plans that, with this method, the admission combination will use the common average score of academic results of 6 semesters (10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade) of at least 3 subjects, in which Mathematics or Literature are mandatory, with the weighting of the admission score not lower than 1/3 of the total score according to the 30-point scale.
Along with that, the Ministry requires candidates who apply for admission based on high school transcripts to have a total score of 3 high school graduation exam subjects corresponding to the admission combination (or exam scores of Math, Literature and another subject) reaching at least 16 points on a 30-point scale.
This regulation does not apply to candidates who are specially admitted or exempted from the high school graduation exam.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training said that this method is accounting for 40% of the total target, but in the past time, many inadequacies have been revealed. Many schools only use grade 12 scores.
Mr. Thao explained that the requirement to consider the results of all 3 years of high school is to comprehensively assess the learning process. The addition of a floor score for the graduation exam is to prevent candidates from neglecting 12th grade - a stage that provides an important foundation for connecting with university knowledge.
Regarding the entrance score threshold, the Director of the Higher Education Department said that 16 points is the score level that most candidates with responsible learning attitudes can achieve, also ensuring a source of recruitment that meets the quality threshold for universities to enroll.
In fact, the story of "embellishing" high school transcripts is not the first time it has been mentioned.
In recent years, universities have tended to completely abolish high school transcript review, or only combined admission with many other criteria such as international foreign language certificates, competency and thinking assessment exam scores, high school graduation exam scores,...
Dr. Le Viet Khuyen - Vice President of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Vietnam has also repeatedly expressed concern about negativity in high school transcript admission.
He pointed out the reality that the quality of training at educational institutions in our country is still not uniform, so the grading of students in each institution is also different. This makes the high school transcript admission without accompanying supplementary criteria unfair.
From the above reality, Mr. Khuyen believes that transcript scores should only be a secondary criterion, supplementing the exam scores of the high school graduation exam. Thus, abolishing transcript review does not reduce the opportunity to enter university or disadvantage candidates.
Dr. Nguyen Phi Long - Head of Training Department, Vietnam Women's Academy also supports tightening high school transcript admission based on the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Training, in order to increase transparency and fairness.
In the context of many changes in university admissions, Mr. Long reminded candidates that the most important thing is to clearly identify their strengths.
For candidates with stable high school academic results in 3 years of high school, Mr. Long advises them to confidently complete their applications to participate in admission based on academic records.
As for candidates who have not clearly identified and are still hesitant between methods, they need to spend time and appropriate investment in both directions, both studying well at school and preparing seriously for the upcoming high school graduation exam.
When there is a clear orientation, students will proactively develop study plans and choose appropriate admission methods" - Dr. Nguyen Phi Long advised.
