Set a minimum "gate threshold" of 15 points
The Ministry of Education and Training has announced Circular No. 06/2026/TT-BGDDT, which has just issued the Regulations on enrollment for university-level training majors and preschool education majors for college-level majors after receiving feedback from experts, students, parents, higher education institutions, departments of education and training, and ministries and sectors.
From 2026, candidates are required to achieve a minimum of 15 points in the high school graduation exam according to a combination of 3 subjects to be eligible to apply for university. This regulation ends the situation where some schools consider admissions with too low scores, affecting the overall training quality of the system.
The Ministry of Education and Training said that it has reduced the total score of 3 exam subjects from 16 to 15 as proposed by many training institutions and experts; at the same time, it has supplemented the source of candidates with a total score of 15 for all methods except direct admission.
Not removing the recruitment source regulation for candidates with high school graduation exam scores reaching 15.00 points to ensure input quality control in the spirit of Resolution 71 and Article 25 of the Law on Higher Education 125", the Ministry of Education and Training stated the reason.
Specifically for specialized industry groups such as Pedagogy and Law, candidates must have excellent grade 12 academic performance and a total graduation exam score of 18 points or higher, if not purely based on exam scores. For the health sector with practicing certificates, the required score threshold is up to 20 points. Majors such as Nursing or Medical Testing Technology are also set at a floor score of 16.5 points to ensure the quality of medical human resources.
The Ministry of Education and Training limits each candidate to a maximum of 15 aspirations to reduce the virtual situation. The Pedagogy block is only allowed to register from aspirations 1-5; registration from aspiration 6 onwards is not recognized, in order to attract candidates who are truly dedicated to the profession.
Academic transcripts and IELTS are no longer "travel tickets
In addition to technical adjustments, the method of considering transcripts, which has caused much controversy about fairness, has also been standardized. Accordingly, the Ministry requires that the admission combination use the average score of 6 semesters of academic results (10th, 11th, 12th grade) at the high school level of at least 3 subjects, in which Mathematics or Literature must contribute at least 1/3 of the score calculation in the admission combination. This is to ensure the basic knowledge base of learners.
At the same time, the Ministry requires that the IELTS certificate bonus points are also limited to a maximum of 1.5 points on a 30-point scale; each training institution from 2026 is only allowed to use a maximum of 5 admission methods.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Binh - Principal of Luong The Vinh Secondary & High School (Tan Trieu campus, Hanoi) supports the adjustments in the 2026 enrollment regulations. According to Mr. Binh, the adjustments show the efforts of the Ministry of Education and Training in bringing the university entrance exam back to its true value.
Be careful in registering aspirations
M.A. Nguyen Quang Trung, Deputy Head of Communication - Enrollment Department, University of Commerce, said that when the Ministry of Education and Training limits the number of aspirations registered for university admission, candidates will have to be careful in choosing and arranging aspirations.
Mr. Trung advised candidates to divide into 3 groups of aspirations to register. The first group is the aspirations they really want to pass; group 2 is the safe group, meaning they pass about 90%; the last group is the safe group, meaning their academic ability must exceed last year's benchmark score.
To determine the aspiration gaps, Mr. Trung said that candidates need to carefully refer to the benchmark scores of majors and universities over each year. "To ensure, before deciding, candidates should contact schools for advice. For example, at Thuong Mai University, we always have a department on duty through many channels such as Facebook, Zalo... When candidates contact, teachers will advise as closely as possible to their abilities, and advise on which major to choose that will be safe" - Mr. Trung gave advice.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Son, Rector of Hanoi National University of Education, noted that at this stage, the most official and reliable source of information is the enrollment plan posted on the websites of schools. Candidates need to carefully study the enrollment plan, admission conditions and auxiliary criteria of each school; and focus on reviewing effectively to improve their chances of admission.
