After many delays, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has decided that from 2018, it will not set floor marks, or minimum required standards, on students applying for universities.

MOET will no longer set floor marks

The floor mark has been used for many years to select the best students for universities. Examinees must obtain marks equal to, or higher than the floor marks to be eligible for enrollment in any university in Vietnam.

However, Dang Kim Vui, president of Thai Nguyen University, said the mechanism is no longer suitable to the new circumstances.

In the past, students applying for different universities all had to attend a single national university entrance exam. At present, universities can enroll students based on students’ high school learning records, high school final results and other indicators.

Vui denied that once the floor mark is removed, there will be no longer a method that measures students’ capability and prevents weak students from entering university.

He said instead of the national floor marks to be applied to all schools, universities will set floor marks themselves based on their prestige and number of applicants.

The prestige and training quality of a school can be measured by the teaching staff, material facilities and the quality of graduates. It has become easier now to conduct surveys on the number of university graduates getting jobs within 12 months after graduation.

A university lecturer in Hanoi said there was no need to worry about the low quality of students. “Schools will tighten control over input students, because if they set low required minimum marks, they will lose their position in the education system,” he said.

The lecturer went on to say that if students cannot meet the standards, they won’t graduate.

In other words, the tertiary education quality will be controlled by three important tools – the floor marks to be set by universities when enrolling students, the commitments on graduates’ qualifications, and the proportions of graduates finding jobs.

However, some analysts said the reports released by schools about the number of graduates finding jobs within 12 months after the graduation are unreliable. There are big differences between the figures reported by schools and those found by accreditation units.

A university reported that 80 percent of its graduates can find jobs, while the real figure is 50 percent only.

President of FPT University Le Truong Tung also admitted that schools would find it difficult to survey the number of graduates finding jobs, and the surveys may not have accurate figures.

( VNF/VNN )