Update on the high school admission procedures in Vietnam

Update on the high school admission procedures in Vietnam (Image from the Internet)

Update on the high school admission procedures in Vietnam

On February 13, 2025, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Decision 377/QD-BGDDT regarding the announcement of administrative procedures revised, supplemented, and replaced in the field of Secondary Education under the jurisdiction and management of the Ministry of Education and Training, which includes high school admission procedures.

The steps for the latest high school admission procedure are as follows:

- High school admissions are conducted once annually.

- High school admissions can be organized using one of three methods: admissions based on evaluation, competitive entrance examinations, or a combination of examinations and evaluation.

+ Evaluation: The basis for evaluation is the record of conduct and academic results over the years according to the general education curriculum at the secondary school level or the continuing education program at the secondary school level applicable to the admission candidates. If any class was repeated, the results from the repeated year will be used.

+ Competitive examinations: To be conducted according to the provisions in Article 13 of this Regulation.

+ Combination of examinations and evaluation: Combined according to the provisions of points (a) and (b) of this clause.

- High school admission process:

+ The Chairperson of the Provincial or City People's Committee (hereinafter collectively referred to as the Provincial People's Committee) approves the high school admission plan. The high school admission plan includes the following basic contents: admission candidates; targets and admission areas; admission methods; direct admission, priority, incentive policies; time for evaluation, and announcement of admission results. The high school admission plan is announced before March 31 each year.

For high schools under the Ministry of Education and Training, universities, colleges, research institutes, the high school admission plan is determined by the Minister of Education and Training, the University President, the College Principal, the Institute Director following agreement with the Department of Education and Training where the school is headquartered.

+ Based on the approved high school admission plan, the high school admission council builds and publicly announces the school's admission plan; organizes the admission registration, receives, and prepares admission registration content.

+ The high school admission council organizes admissions according to the approved admission plan; proposes the list of admitted students to the school principal for submission to the Director of the Department of Education and Training for approval.

For high schools under the Ministry of Education and Training, universities, colleges, research institutes, the list of admitted students is approved by the Minister of Education and Training, the University President, the College Principal, and the Institute Director.

See detailed content in Decision 377/QD-BGDDT which takes effect from February 14, 2025.

Regulations on educational levels and ages in general education in Vietnam

Levels and ages of general education are regulated in Article 28 of the Education Law 2019 as follows:

- The educational levels and age are regulated as follows:

+ Primary education is carried out over 5 years, from first grade to the end of fifth grade. Students entering first grade must be 6 years old and their age is calculated by year;

+ Secondary education is conducted over 4 years, from sixth grade to the end of ninth grade. Students entering sixth grade must have completed primary education. The age for entering sixth grade is 11 years and is calculated by year;

+ High school education is conducted over 3 years, from tenth grade to the end of twelfth grade. Students entering tenth grade must have a secondary school graduation certificate. The age for entering tenth grade is 15 years and is calculated by year.

- Cases where students study beyond their grade level, or are older than the stipulated age include:

+ Students advancing beyond their grade level in case of early intellectual development;

+ Students older than the stipulated age in case of repeating a grade, students in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, students from ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, students under-developed physically or intellectually, orphaned students without support, students from impoverished households, students returning from overseas, and other cases as prescribed by law.

- General education is divided into the basic education phase and career-oriented education phase. The basic education phase includes primary and secondary education; the career-oriented education phase is high school education. Students in vocational education institutions can study high school level cultural knowledge.

- The Minister of Education and Training shall regulate Vietnamese language teaching for ethnic minority children before entering first grade; teaching high school cultural knowledge in vocational education institutions; cases regulated in clause 2 of Article 28 Education Law 2019.

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