The number of students finishing high schools and the number
of students registering to sit the university entrance exams has been increasing
steadily year after year. Meanwhile, the enrolment quotas of top universities do
not increase. Some universities have even announced the reduction of places
available in the 2011 academic year.

Lower quotas mean fewer opportunities

In every university enrolment season, the member universities under the HCM City
National University are the targets of many students nationwide, especially the
students in the south.

However, the HCM City National University disappointed students when, in 2010,
it announced only a modest increase of two percent in the enrolment quota in
comparison with the previous year. in fact, the two percent increase was only
allocated for newly opened subjects, while the quotas for popular majors did not
increase. the Economics-Law University and the University for Natural Sciences
even reduced the number of enrolled students.

The HCM City Economics University, for example, in 2010, only enrolled 4000
students, or 800 students fewer than in 2009. Meanwhile, a source said that the
school has decided that the number of students to be enrolled next year would
increase by 300 students, meaning that the enrolment quota for 2011 will not be
as high as the quota for the years before 2010.

The HCM City Medical and Pharmaceutical University has been known as the school
which always sets highest requirements in terms of scores from the university
entrance exams in comparison with other schools in the south. Though the school
decided to increase the number of enrolled students in 2010 by 200 students, it
was still very difficult to get a placeIt was because the school decided to seek
students from all localities in the country (in previous years, the school only
accepted students from the central city of Da Nang and the regions to its
south).

More challenges

Many universities have announced that the enrolment quotas for 2011 would remain
the same as in 2010.

The Hanoi National University, for example, plans to enroll 5500 students for
the regular training, the same number as in 2010. Of the member universities of
the National University, the University for Natural Sciences, plans to enroll
1310 students, the University for Social Sciences and Humanity 1400, the
University of Technology 560, the University of Foreign Languages 1200, the
Economics University 430, the University of Education 300 and Law Faculty 300.

Similarly, the total number of students that the Hanoi Economics University
plans to enroll is 4000, the same number as 2010. The Post and Telecommunication
Institute will also see the number of new students unchanged, at 2650 for both
university (4 year training) and junior college (3-year training) education.

Explaining the decision to keep the enrolment quotas unchanged or reduce the
number of students to be enrolled has been explained by the fact that schools
are trying to upgrade the quality of incoming students and the teaching quality.
As for students, quota reductions mean stiffer competition.

Source: Tuoi tre