University entrance exams: Top schools highly competitive

VietNamNet Bridge – Top-tier universities are seeing high numbers of registrations submitted for entrance exams, which means high competition ratios, enrolment experts concluded after checking all registrations.

Students pining for top 10 universities

The Post & Telecommunications Institute and Technology has seen a record number of registrations, double last year, more than 7,000 in the north, while the institute will enroll 1,150 students for university training and 300 for junior college training level. Meanwhile, the number of registrations is 2,000 in the south; the university will enroll 600 students for university and 150 for college training for its branch in the south.

The Hanoi University of Technology has received 14,200 applications, up by 2,500 over last year. It will enroll 3,850 students for university and 2,550 for college training.

Hoang Minh Son, Head of the Training Division of the university, which is listed among the 10 best universities in Vietnam, said that the number of students registering to take exams to technical branches, which are not affected by the economic downturns, has increased. This shows that more and more students have become interested in technical branches after a period of flocking to economics study branches.

The Hanoi Foreign Trade University has 9,500 registrations, while it will accept 3,000 students only, including ones who will follow training courses not to be funded by the state budget (1,950 students for the north and 850 for the south).

The Hanoi Economics University has got 22,000 applications, a bit more than year. The university plans to enroll 4,000 students this year.

The Hanoi University and Hanoi Medical University prove to be the two of the top universities that have seen numbers of registrations down. Especially, the former received 11,778 applications, or 3,500 fewer than last year.

Less-famous universities see applications down

The Thang Long People Founded University has got 5,000 applications, down by 40% from last year. The university’s President Phan Huy Phu said that though Thang Long is a non-state university, it always requires higher marks on university entrance exams than other non-state universities.

The Vietnam Trade Union University has 26,640 applications, down by 500, while it is expected to enroll 1,600 students for university training and 500 for college training.

It seems that the Open University is the only one among less well-known universities that has seen a higher number of applications (+10%).

Competition ratios not really important

A question has been raised about the significance of the competition ratios to examinees. In general, students always consider competition ratios to decide whether they will take entrance exams to get into the universities.

However, Son from the Hanoi University of Technology, said that the competition ratio does not mean much.

“The number of registrations is lower this year, which means that the competition ratio is lower,” said Le Van Toan, Deputy President of the Hanoi Business and Technology University.

Le Viet Anh, Deputy Head of the Training Division under the Foreign Trade University, said that the capability of examinees, not the competition ratio, should be what examinees consider when deciding which universities they should take exams to get into.

VietNamnet/TP