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.
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