According to Vu Viet Binh, Deputy Head of the Training Division of the Hanoi National University, the school has received over 20,000 registrations for sitting the entrance exams, a sharp decrease of 25 percent in comparison with the last year. Meanwhile, the school plans to enroll 5,630 students.

The HCM City National University has also reported a 19 percent decrease in the number of applicants. The Trade University, which received 30,000-40,000 applications in previous years, has got 17,000 so far this year. Thai Nguyen University, with a wide range of training majors, has reportedly received 40,000 applications, a sharp decrease of 10,000 in comparison with the last year.

Educators perplexed over small number of examinees

Where have the examinees gone? Vu Viet Binh, Deputy Head of Hanoi National University, thinks that only good and excellent students have registered to sit the university entrance exams this year. Students with average learning capability, he believes, are choosing to apply to the schools which enroll students based on their criteria and requirements.

Sixty three schools have gotten the nod from the Ministry of Education and Training to apply their own specific admission standards, in preference to the common one through the national entrance exams.

Applying for one of the 63 schools, Binh said, proves to be the “safest solution” for the students. They, for example, can enroll in the Vietnam-France Technology University, if they have a 5-semester GPA of 6.5.

Dang Kim Vui, Director of Thai Nguyen University, thinks the lower number of applications each school is receiving truly reflects the university education situation now in Vietnam. With the establishment of many universities in recent years, including local schools, students now have many more choices for their higher education.

Though believing that this is good news, Vui has warned that this will create big difficulties for less prestigious schools to enroll students.

President of Trade University Dinh Van Son guesses that students have become more practical. They only register to sit the university entrance exams if they feel they can pass the exams. In previous years, many examinees reportedly left the exam rooms after submitting blank exam papers.

However, no educator can say for sure why the number of examinees has decreased in all regions.

The lower numbers of registered examinees has led to lower competition ratios. For prestigious schools, one student now has to compete with 7-8 students to obtain a seat there instead of the tens of students that was the case in earlier years. That said, educators say competition for these seats at the schools is still very stiff.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Head of the Training Division of the Hanoi Foreign Trade University, commented that the lower competition ratio does not have much significance, because all the examinees this year would be “redoubtable rivals”.