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Vietnam's college reforms get failing grade

Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnamese education officials thought they were easing the worries of college-bound students and their parents across the country when they recently announced changes in the university and college admissions system. But the officials have since been forced to refashion one of the changes and defer the implementation of another after these were met with howls of protests from students, parents, and even teachers, all of whom said that the reforms only made them more tense.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) had announced in January that the number of enrolments in community colleges would no longer be allocated on an egalitarian basis, while students would be allowed to take only one university or college entrance exam. The tests would also be in a new format, and would be made up of multiple-choice questions. These were supposed to be the start of a restructuring in the tertiary education sector, which many believe has been plagued by widespread disorder, lack of discipline and "overcommercialization". According to education officials, the changes would enable the national university network to keep pace with the rest of the world while encouraging students to focus on just one exam and prepare themselves more effectively for it.

In the old system, while universities and colleges usually all held their respective admissions tests in July, they did so at varying dates to give applicants a chance to take exams at several institutions. That is why each July, trains and airplanes are often packed with students hurrying off to exams in different places such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho or Danang. The Education Ministry's proposal saw the universities and colleges holding their exams simultaneously, thereby forcing students to take the test in just one institution. This year, at least 100,000 students are expected to sit for the entrance exams. Chosen to implement the changes beginning this year as part of a pilot program were the Ho Chi Minh City National University (HNU) and its affiliates, the College of Natural Sciences, the University of Technology and the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. So too will the Binh Duong College and the Mekong Delta's Can Tho University. If the results are encouraging, MoET officials said, then the changes will be applied nationwide. Remarked Professor Nguyen Tan Phat, who is also the HNU director: "New college admission will thus be a less stressful and expensive affair for students. Moreover, it will help save time and money spent in the evaluation process."

To be sure, although the sorry state of higher education in Vietnam had been an open secret for quite a while, it became all the more obvious in December, when inspectors exposed serious abuses at Dong Do, one of Hanoi's more prestigious community colleges. According to the inspectors, Dong Do College not only went over its enrollment quota, but also allowed the entry of unqualified students, including those who actually failed its entrance exam.

"There are many causes behind [Dong Do] abuses, but I would like to single out the intention of some people to commercialize the education sector," Education and Training Minister Nguyen Hien told the local media. "They want to turn schools into markets where fakes are offered for sale, so they can earn the highest possible profits without being exposed," he said. Hien then vowed to reinforce discipline in nation's places of learning, beginning with changes in the system of university entrance exams.

In the old centralized system, for instance, universities and colleges nationwide are allocated a fixed number of enrollments, depending on their "political task" in the development of the national economy. But Hien said, "From now on, the ministry will ask the government to grant preferential treatment to those that provide good quality training." A few weeks later came the announcement from the ministry regarding the changes in the college admissions system. Instead of pats on the back, however, officials have been receiving letters of protest and catcalls from an upset public. Told that the changes could mean savings for everyone, Luong Mau Dung, who teaches gifted students at Ho Chi Minh City's Le Quy Don High School, retorted, "If we should make a choice, everybody will choose a waste of money rather than a waste of human talents."

An open letter to the Education Ministry signed by some 165 students from Le Hong Phong High School, an institution reserved for gifted students, meanwhile, asked the ministry to reconsider its decision. The students said they wanted to have as many tries as possible in getting accepted in a good university, since they had no vocational skills they could use in a trade.

Pham Thanh Van, mother of a 12th-grade student at Le Quy Don High School, also said, "The new measure does not provide opportunities for students to bring into play their full capacities. To ensure a place into colleges," she argued, "some good students may have to scale down their aspirations and content themselves with an easy place at a college or university that do not require high entrance exam marks." There were concerns as well over the multiple-choice format of the tests, with many students fearing they will fail because they are not yet ready to take such exams. "We have just begun to learn how to handle these [multiple] choice questions, and are not quite sure whether we could take the tests successfully," said the Le Hong Phong students in their open letter.

In truth, HNU director Nguyen Tan Phat said, many measures have been adopted to help students master the new test format, including the distribution of guidebooks containing sample exams. Nevertheless, the Education Ministry on January 28 threw up its hands, saying it would not implement the multiple-choice exams this year. But it stood its ground on limiting the number of students sitting for the same entrance test, although it no longer will make schools have their tests on the same date. Instead, test dates will be very close to each other to make it difficult for students to take more than one exam.

The ministry, however, said that students will not be limited to just one school, but may choose two. If they fail the entrance exam at their first choice, then they could use the same marks to apply at their second choice of school.

By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam - Inter Press Service - February 14, 2002.