The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) set the first deadline for institutions of higher learning to send their plans by February 10.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga said that universities proposed several measures to enroll new students, including organising their own exams and using students’ study results.

“Apart from non-state universities, some major state-owned institutions, such as the Hanoi University of Technology, the University of Technical Education Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Danang made their own enrollment plans,” Ga said.

Mai Van Trinh, Director of the ministry’s General Department of Education Testing and Accreditation, said 15 out of the 31 plans are very good plans.

“The MoET will not be responsible for approving the universities’ enrollment plans, but assess them and make comments as to whether they meet the required standards,” Trinh commented.

According to him, universities’ independent enrollment plans would create more opportunities for students, as they would no longer be constrained by certain groups, but have several options for the application process. Such policies would help universities to enroll competent students, he added.

Under the ministry’s road map for renovating university enrollment, all universities and colleges nationwide were asked to complete their independent exam plans through 2016 so as to apply their own enrollment methods beginning in 2017 instead of the universal entrance exams currently applied.

According to the plan, schools and students would have three years to prepare for the new enrollment methods.

The ministry will collect opinions on the plan for organising independent university entrance exams by March 10, before announcing the names of institutions that have met the requirements.