MOET decision makes schools excited, students worried

VietNamNet Bridge - Most of universities have voiced their support to the Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) decision to set up a new group of exam – A1 – for university enrolments. Meanwhile, students say the decision is unfair, because they do not have time to prepare for the exams.

Schools applaud MOET’s decision

MOET has announced that a new exam group – A1 (students will have to attend mathematics, physics and foreign language exams) – will be set up from the 2012 enrolment season. Some experts also say that this is a reasonable decision, because the exam subjects would help find the best students for information technology – the major that needs logical thoughts and foreign language skills.

Dr Vu Van Hoa, Deputy President of the Hanoi University of Business and Technology, said that this is really a reasonable policy. “We had a meeting right after the ministry announced the decision, and we have decided that we would enroll students with A1 group right in the 2012 enrolment season.” Hoa said.

Hoa said that to date, the school has been seeking students for information technology faculty from the students who attend A group exam (students attend mathematics, physics and chemistry). Meanwhile, the knowledge in chemistry is not really necessary in the training at the university, while information technology engineers need foreign language skills.

The school’s curriculums prove to be heavy in foreign languages with the lessons in foreign languages accounting for 72/240 credits during the four year study.

However, Hoa said that the schools will still seek students for the information technology major from the students who attend A and D groups as well. Meanwhile, A1 group will only be applied to the students who register to study information technology.

Doan Van Ve, Head of the Training Division of the Hanoi University of Natural Resources, has also advocated the policy on adding A1 group into the university entrance exam system.

Ve said that there are many training majors, which do not require deep knowledge in chemistry at university. Therefore, it would be reasonable if schools require the knowledge in natural sciences and foreign language skills when selecting students.

However, Ve said in the 2012 enrolment season, his schools will still apply traditional exam groups.

Tran Huu Nghi, President of the Hai Phong People’s Founded School, though applauding the decision, also said that the school needs to discuss about that in the next enrolment conference before making final decision.

High schools feel worried

Do Cat, a student of the Van Xuan High School in Hanoi said that he has heard about the appearance of A1 group from newspapers, while teachers of the schools have not informed them.

However, Cat said, he does not intend to attend A1 group, because he has too little time left to prepare for the exams.

“I planned to take A and B exam groups, therefore, I have been focusing on four subjects of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology only.” He explained.

“I believe that the students who prepare to attend D group (mathematics, literature and foreign language) will not be able to learn physics right now to attend the A1 group exam. Meanwhile, those, who intend to attend A group, will not have time to learn foreign language.” He said

Nguyen Yen, a student of the Hoai Duc A High School in Hanoi, complained that if she had heard the news earlier, she would have had more time to prepare for the both A1 and D group exams. Meanwhile, it is now clear that this is impossible, because she does not have much time left.

Source: Tien phong