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Need to ensure fairness for candidates
While the national high school exam is approaching with many new things and concerns, the story of direct admission and direct admission to some prestigious universities is being stirred up with many things to ponder. Some universities are planning not to directly admit students who won second and third prizes at the national level, which has shocked both students and parents.
Winning high prizes but still miserable
Recently, in a letter sent to CAND Newspaper, a group of 9 students studying at the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences (Hanoi National University) wrote: “We won second and third prizes in the national competition for excellent students in Biology. We all have a passion for Biology and a desire to study in the general medicine department of Hanoi Medical University to realize our dream of becoming doctors. In recent school years, the policy of giving priority to direct admission of excellent national students to Hanoi Medical University has been the biggest motivation to promote our learning spirit and determination to achieve high results in the national competition for excellent students…
Recently, we learned that this year, Hanoi Medical University plans to offer two options for students who won second and third place in the national Biology exam: either add points to the national high school exam score; or directly admit students if their total score in Math, Chemistry, and Biology is 21 points or higher (15 points in 2014). If Hanoi Medical University chooses the option of adding points, it will be a real shock to us and a great loss." At the end of the letter, this group of students proposed to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health, and Hanoi Medical University to consider and maintain the same preferential admission policy as in the 2014 school year to ensure fairness for the students.
Sharing the same concern, a parent whose child won second prize in the national Biology competition sent a letter to CAND Newspaper, stating that this was a sudden decision, causing difficulties for the children. If Hanoi Medical University changes its admission policy (adding points) for second and third prize winners, it needs to have a roadmap for implementation, and notify at least 1 year in advance so that students can have direction and allocate appropriate study time.
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Any change in admissions requires a pilot period and preparation to avoid suddenness and unfairness. |
Is the origin due to the "explosion" of the national tournament?
The story of not being able to directly admit all students who won second and third prizes in the national excellent student exam in Biology also happened to Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy. According to Clause 2, Article 7 of the Admission Regulations, "Candidates who won first, second, and third prizes in the national excellent student exam and graduated from high school will be directly admitted to university in the same major or a major similar to the subject in which the candidate won the prize."
However, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Nghia, Deputy Director of the Department of Testing and Quality Assurance (Ministry of Education and Training) said that according to Clause 1, Article 2 of the Admission Regulations, schools "Based on the Ministry of Education and Training's guidelines for direct admission and priority admission to universities and colleges, specify and publicly announce the conditions for direct admission and priority admission to majors of subjects specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 7".
According to the explanation of Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Nghia, with the content of the two provisions above, it should be understood as follows: Students who win first, second, and third prizes in the national excellent student selection exam will be directly admitted to the majors according to the regulations of the Ministry, but which prize and which major will be determined by the university. This demonstrates the autonomy of universities as stipulated in the Law on Higher Education.
Back to the story of why schools cannot directly recruit all the excellent national students? An education manager said that the root of the problem is the number of national prizes is too much. In 2014 alone, there were 2,165 prize winners out of 4,000 contestants, including localities like Hanoi with 140 prize winners (8 first prize winners). Next is Hai Phong with 85 students, Nghe An with 82 students, Hai Duong with 81 students and Nam Dinh with 78 students.
According to this person, the "explosion" in the number of national excellent students is due to the "design" of the award with a clear "movement and front" nature. That is, only need to achieve a certain score (for example, from 18/20 points or more to be ranked first prize), unlike in the past, the candidate who won first prize was the candidate with the highest score on the excellent student exam, meaning there was only 1 first prize or a maximum of 2 first prizes/subject. "Perhaps it is time to eliminate the movement and front nature in a competition with a "selective and refined" nature like the national excellent student. This also eliminates the mentality of academic achievement, chasing after achievements, and even eliminates the situation of training "fighting cocks", this education manager suggested.
I think, in the immediate future, to ensure the rights of those who have studied hard and won national prizes, any changes need to have a "delay", need to be announced to students at least 2 years in advance so that students are not passive. As for Hanoi Medical University, according to the proposal of many parents, in 2014, the school chose to directly admit candidates who won second and third prizes and "passed the floor" of 15 points. This year, to avoid suddenness and to reduce unfairness for students, perhaps the Admissions Council should consider continuing to use the option of selecting students who reached the floor of 21 points, instead of the option of adding points.
In 2014, some universities under the People's Public Security Force also fell into a situation where they could not recruit all the excellent national students because the number was too large, so they had to put them in the "priority admission" category based on the principle: ensuring that the number of direct admissions and priority admissions does not exceed 50% of the enrollment quota for male and female students of each major. There are schools where the quota for some majors, especially the quota for women, is too small (only 57), while the number of priority applications is almost equal to the quota (50). If all of these applications are admitted directly, there will only be 7 quotas left, while there are more than 2,000 female candidates taking the exam. Thus, the competition ratio will be more than 1/300, which is unreasonable and unfair, and at the same time creates a bad social psychology. Hanoi Medical University is also planning two preferential admission options for students who won second and third prizes in Biology. However, according to statistics in 2014, there were more than 150 students nationwide who won first, second and third prizes in Biology, and 127 students applied to Hanoi Medical University alone. Meanwhile, the General Practitioner program only has 550 enrollment targets, so the school has a lot of pressure on enrollment. However, in 2014, although the school only required students who won second and third place in the national university entrance exam to only get 5 points per subject to be considered for direct admission, 10 students did not pass. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duc Hinh, Rector of Hanoi Medical University, said that the restriction on direct admission only applies to the majors of General Medicine and Dentistry, while other majors still directly admit second and third prize winners. However, parents and students only want to enroll in the major of General Medicine, while no one wants to enroll in other majors. To increase the quality of the recruitment source, this year, Hanoi Medical University is proposing that the Ministry of Education and Training allow direct admission of candidates who won first prize in the national competitions in Mathematics and Chemistry. |
According to Thu Phuong CAND
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