Enrolment experts said on May 5 after they had preliminary statistics about students’ registrations that the number of students registering to take university entrance exams in the north has decreased in comparison with last year.

The number of students registering to take university entrance exams in the north has decreased in comparison with last year

As Ha Tay province has merged into Hanoi, the number of registrations of students in Hanoi has soared to 192,000 registrations, making Hanoi top in the north in terms of number of registrations.

The majority of students (54.17%) have registered to take university entrance exams under group A (with exams in mathematics, physics and chemistry). On average, every one of the 85,000 students registered to take exams to two universities.

According to Ta Song Ha, Deputy Head of the Professional Training Division under the Hanoi Education and Training Department, students nowadays have become more practical, therefore, they choose universities which fit their capabilities.

Ha said that this has helped reduce the number of students who make six to seven registrations to universities, called ‘virtual registrations’.

While Hanoi, Tuyen Quang, Son La and Lai Chau provinces have seen the number of registrations increase slightly by several hundred, other provinces in the north have seen the numbers of registrations down.

Hai Duong proves to be the province which sees the number of registrations decrease the most sharply. Only 50,000 registrations have been made, down by 10,000 from 2008.

In Vinh Phuc, Nam Dinh, Bac Giang, Ha Nam and Thai Binh, Quang Ninh, Hung Yen, Lao Cai and Thai Nguyen, the number of registrations has decreased by 2,000-3,000. Meanwhile, the number of registrations in Cao Bang and Yen Bai is the same as last year.

Students avoid top tier universities

Enrolment experts have pointed out that students now tend to avoid registering for top-tier universities which always require high marks on the university entrance exams. Moreover, they also say that not many students have registered to universities of education.

According to Vu Thi Bich Ngoc, Deputy Head of the Professional Training Division under the Vinh Phuc Edcuation and Training Department, hot universities all have the registrations down a little, by several hundred.

Meanwhile, Ha said that the number of registrations sent via the Hanoi Education and Training Department to the National Economics University, Institute for International Relations is the same as 2008.

Local universities becoming more favoured

Preliminary statistics show that students tend to register to take exams to get into local universities, or universities which require the exam marks just a little higher than the floor marks stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training (in 2008, the floor marks were 13 for A and D groups, 15 for B group and 14 for C group). The universities include Tay Bac, Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi University of Industries, and Hanoi Agriculture University.

According to Ha, economics and foreign languages remain the targets of many students.

Of 51,000 registrations received by the Hai Phong Education and Training Department, there were 16,520 registrations for the local university, Hai Phong University.

Similarly, of 30,000 registrations sent through the Thai Nguyen Education Department, there were 18,000 registrations for Thai Nguyen University.

The university proves to be also the target of students from Bac Kan, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lang Son and Tuyen Quang.

Kieu Oanh