Many non-state-owned universities now have a great deal of anxiety because very few students have registered to study. Meanwhile, many academic departments are likely to be closed as there are not enough students.

Students make registrations to study at universities

State-owned universities are completing their marking of exam papers in preparation for revealing student scores and the required scores to enroll. Meanwhile, non-state owned universities are afraid that they don’t have enough students.

Quota high, registration low

Ly Ngoc Duc, Deputy Head of the Training Division of HCM City University for Foreign Languages and Information Technology (Huflit) said that, in 2010, the university planned to enroll 1600 students, but only 1000 students registered. Duc thinks that only several hundred students can meet the floor mark to be eligible for enrollment. (Every year, the Ministry of Education and Training announces the floor mark, or the grade that students must get from university entrance exams to be able to enroll).

In order to have enough students, the university must accept students who want to study at the university as their second or third choice. (Students, who do not have high enough scores to enroll at their first choice, can register to study at other universities as their second or third choice).

Many other schools hope they can enroll 10-20 percent of students needed as their first choice, while they will accept second or third choice students.

Hung Vuong University wanted to enroll 1660 students this year and received 2000 registrations. Nguyen Thi Mai Binh, Head of the Training Division, forecast that of 2000 students, only 500 students would meet the floor mark, and the university would be able to enroll a total of 200 students.

Luu Thanh Tam, Deputy President of HCM City University of Technology (Hutech), admitted that the university received 3600 registrations and expected to enroll 2200. Tam predicted that only 10-12 percent will meet requirements for enrollment.

Nguyen Thi Mai Binh noted that, as exam questions are really difficult this year, state-owned universities will set required marks lower than in previous years. This also means that it will be more difficult for non-state-owned schools to find enough students, because only when they fail exams to state-owned schools, will students register at non-state-owned schools.

Many study branches may disappear

Representatives of non-state-owned universities fear they cannot enroll enough students in some study branches, because registration is very low.

Duc from Huflit observed that it is very difficult to attract students in Chinese language and Chinese studies. In 2009, the university had only 10 students in each field and the university could not hold a course with such low numbers. The students transferred to South Korean studies, which only had 35 students in total.

Japanese language is more popular, but the number of students is decreasing. In previous years, Huflit could enroll four classes for Japanese, but this year only 40 registrations have been received.

Van Hien University is considering closing some departments with few students, including their Vietnamese studies department.

Source: Nguoi lao dong