Decision No. 20/2000/QĐ-BGDĐT On Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Admissions Regulations for Regular Programs at Universities, Colleges, and Secondary Vocational Schools (Enacted pursuant to Decision No. 05/1999/QĐ-BGD&ĐT dated February 23, 1999 of the Minister of Education and Training)

 Pursuant to …;

Regarding amendments and supplements to certain provisions of the Admissions Regulations for Universities, Colleges, and Secondary Vocational Schools in Regular Programs (Enacted pursuant to Decision No. 05/1999/QĐ-BGD&ĐT dated February 23, 1999 of the Minister of Education and Training)

Pursuant to the proposal of the Director of the University Department and the Director of the Secondary Vocational School and Vocational Training Department,

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MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Pursuant to Decree No. 15/CP dated March 2, 1993 of the Government on the tasks, powers, and responsibilities for state management of Ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to Government Decree No. 43/2000/NĐ-CP dated August 30, 2000 detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Education Law;

Amending and supplementing certain provisions of the Admissions Regulations for universities, colleges, and secondary vocational schools in regular programs, enacted pursuant to Decision No. 05/1999/QĐ-BGD&ĐT dated February 23, 1999 of the Minister of Education and Training, as follows:

DECISION:

Article 1. 1. Article 2 shall be amended as follows:

"The Ministry of Education and Training is the state management agency and has overall and comprehensive authority over universities, colleges, and secondary vocational schools nationwide regarding admissions work.

The Ministry of Education and Training develops and promulgates policies and regulations on admissions, issues guiding documents on admissions work, and uniformly prescribes forms for admissions work.

At least three months before the admission examination date, the Ministry of Education and Training publicly announces the enrollment quotas for each level of education at each school, recruitment regions, examination groups, subjects, and examination schedules.

The functional departments and the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education and Training have the responsibility to direct, guide, and inspect schools to ensure compliance with the regulations on admissions."

2. Point h of Clause 2, Article 7 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"Direct admission according to points c and g shall be conducted based on the following principles:

- It can only be applied once in the year the student graduates from high school.

- Students who achieve one or more awards in national student competitions may only enjoy the highest priority standard they qualify for.

- Students who win awards in national student competitions may be directly admitted to majors whose entrance examination subjects match the subjects they won awards in. For teacher training majors, only students who won awards in subjects matching their major will be directly admitted. Majors in economics do not offer direct admission to students who won awards in social science subjects or foreign language subjects.

- For schools that require preliminary screening (such as maritime schools, defense-related schools, police academies, prosecution schools...), only those who meet the preliminary screening requirements will be considered for direct admission.

For arts schools (architecture, culture, art, journalism, physical education...), students eligible for direct admission must meet the preliminary screening requirements and are exempt from cultural subject examinations but must take and pass the specialized subject examinations set by the school to be admitted.

The total number of students directly admitted to a school or a specific major within a school under points c and g shall not exceed 15% of the total quota for regular program admissions of the school or the major. In cases where the number of students applying for direct admission exceeds 15%, priority will be given to members of national teams who participated in international Olympiads, followed by those who won awards in national student competitions (starting from the highest award).

Students eligible for direct admission under point g, but who do not use this right, and students graduating from high school with excellent grades, when taking the university, college, or secondary vocational school entrance exams, will receive additional bonus points. In such cases, the admission score for admission to the school is the sum of the scores of the entrance exam subjects and the bonus points.

The bonus points to be added for candidates are specified as follows:

- Add 2 points for those who won first place in national student competitions and those who graduated from high school with excellent grades and an average score of 9.0 or higher in the final high school graduation exams (excluding bonus points).

- Add 1.5 points for those who won second place in national student competitions and those who graduated from high school with excellent grades and an average score of 8.5 to less than 9.0 in the final high school graduation exams (excluding bonus points).

- Add 1 point for those who won third place in national student competitions and those who graduated from high school with excellent grades and an average score of 8.0 to less than 8.5 in the final high school graduation exams (excluding bonus points).

- Add 0.5 points for those who won encouragement awards in national student competitions and simultaneously graduated from high school with good grades or better.

For candidates who won awards in national student competitions, bonus points will only be added to the entrance exam subjects that match the subjects they won awards in, and if they won multiple awards, they will only enjoy the highest priority standard.

Graduates from some secondary vocational schools with outstanding grades will be directly admitted to some majors in some universities and colleges. The criteria for outstanding secondary vocational school graduates, the list of schools and majors for direct admission are stipulated in Appendix 2 attached to these Regulations."

3. Clause 3, Article 7 shall be amended as follows:

"Before taking the examination, candidates whose permanent residence registration has been in a region for three years or more (counted up to the day of the examination) shall enjoy preferential policies according to that region. Students in specialized classes, students in schools and classes established to provide sources for majors, preparatory schools, including ethnic preparatory schools, shall enjoy admission scores based on their original place of permanent residence before attending these schools. Military personnel and public security officers sent to take the examination, if stationed in a region for two years or more, shall be admitted according to that region; if less than two years, they shall be admitted according to their permanent residence registration before enlistment.

Preferential regions are defined as follows:

Region 1 (KV1) includes mountainous, highland, remote, deep inland, and island areas, and villages, communes, and towns in regions with extremely difficult economic and social conditions as defined by the Government.

Region 2 (KV2) includes central and plain provinces, districts, communes, and towns, and suburban areas of centrally-administered cities. This region is divided into two groups:

a) Students with permanent residence registration in wards, communes, and towns in centrally-administered municipalities; in wards, communes, and towns in district-level cities and communes and towns in suburban districts of centrally-administered cities belong to Group KV2.

a) Students who have permanent residence registration at wards, communes, and towns within a centrally governed city; at wards, communes, and towns within provincial cities; and at communes and towns in suburban districts of centrally governed cities belonging to Group KV2.

b) Students with permanent residence registration in communes and towns not belonging to group a above shall belong to zone 2 - rural areas, abbreviated as KV2-NT.

Zone 3 (KV3) includes inner-city districts of centrally-administered cities that are not within the scope of priority consideration based on zones.

The priority zones for admission each year will be detailed announced by the Ministry of Education and Training.

4. Article 26 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"1. Marking Scale

- The marking scale for examinations is out of 10 points. Minor points can be awarded up to 0.25 points. If the total score has a decimal of 0.25, it will be rounded up to 0.5; if the decimal is 0.75, it will be rounded up to 1.0.

For special subjects, a different marking scale may be applied, but the final score must be converted to a 10-point scale and then multiplied by the specified coefficient. Graders only mark according to the 10-point scale. The calculation of coefficients is performed by computer.

- Graders must mark papers strictly according to the marking scale and officially approved answers without rounding off scores.

Papers with correct solutions and creative, unique methods different from the official answers may be awarded bonus points. The level of bonus points is proposed by the grader and decided by the Head of the Grading Department, but the total score cannot exceed 11 points.

2. Processing Examination Results and Preparing Grading Records.

The Secretariat compares the results of two grading sessions and handles them as follows:

a) If the results of the two grading sessions are identical or differ by 0.25 points, the envelope containing the examination paper is handed over to the two graders to agree on rounding off the score, record the score on the examination paper and form number 4, and sign to confirm on both the examination paper and form number 4.

In cases where the total score is the same or differs by 0.25 points but the component scores differ, both graders will recheck and agree on the correct score according to the prescribed answers.

b) If the results of the two grading sessions differ by 0.5 points or more, the examination paper and the first grading sheet are withdrawn and handed over to the Head of the Grading Department to organize a third direct grading session using a different ink color.

In this case, if the results of any two out of the three grading sessions are identical, the identical score will be taken as the official score. If the results of any two out of the three grading sessions differ, the Head of the Grading Department will take the average of the three scores as the final score. The Head of the Grading Department will round off the score, record it on the examination paper and form 4, and sign to confirm on both the examination paper and form 4.

- Any incorrect addition of points must be corrected immediately.

- Schools that entrust other schools to grade or organize cross-grading must negotiate plans and costs among themselves but still must comply with the grading regulations stipulated in this Regulation.

5. Point c Clause 2 Article 28 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"+ If the results of the two grading sessions are identical, the examination paper is handed over to the Head of the Re-grading Committee to round off the score and sign to confirm the official score.

+ If the results of the two re-grading sessions differ, the examination paper is withdrawn and handed over to the Head of the Re-grading Committee to organize a third direct re-grading session using a different ink color.

If the results of any two out of the three re-grading sessions are identical, the identical score will be taken as the official score. If the results of all three re-grading sessions differ, the Head of the Re-grading Committee will take the average of the three scores as the official score. The Head of the Re-grading Committee will round off the score and sign to confirm.

In cases where re-grading changes a candidate's status from non-admitted to admitted (or vice versa), the Admissions Committee must organize direct dialogues between the initial graders and the re-graders for all examination papers with adjusted scores. If the Admissions Committee confirms that the initial grading was erroneous to the extent mentioned, the Admissions Committee of the school will publicly announce the list of initial graders to learn from the experience or if there are signs of misconduct, handle it according to Article 35 of this Regulation.

The re-graded score after dialogue between the two pairs of graders and approved by the Chairman of the Admissions Committee is the official score of the examination paper."

6. Point c Clause 3 Article 28 is amended as follows:

"The re-graded score signed off by the Head of the Re-grading Committee as the official score or approved by the Chairman of the Admissions Committee after dialogue between the two pairs of graders.

Adjusted scores are decided by the Head of the Re-grading Committee and reported to the Minister of Education and Training (or Provincial Departments of Education and Training for local vocational high schools) and notified to provincial and municipal Departments of Education and Training and candidates."

7. Clause 1 Article 31: Is amended as follows:

"Based on the admission score table proposed by the Secretariat of the Admissions Committee, the Chairman of the Admissions Committee decides the admission score so that the number of admitted candidates who enroll at the school does not exceed the assigned quota. If the set admission score leads to exceeding the quota significantly, the Ministry of Education and Training will require the Admissions Committee to reset the admission score. Chairmen of university and college admissions committees must approve the admission score, report to the Ministry of Education and Training, and publicly announce through mass media while instructing the Secretariat of the Admissions Committee to send score notification letters to each candidate.

For vocational high schools, before the Chairman of the Admissions Committee approves the admission score, they must report and seek opinions from the relevant ministry (for central vocational high schools), the People's Committee of the province or city (for local vocational high schools), and the Ministry of Education and Training (Department of Vocational High School and Vocational Training)."

8. Clause 4 Article 35 is amended as follows:

"Dismissal from employment or prosecution under the law for those violating any of the following offenses during the process of creating examination questions, supervising examinations, collecting papers, preserving, inventorying, unsealing, recording scores, or summoning admitted candidates:

- Leaking exam questions, buying or selling exam questions.

- Altering candidates' examination papers.

- Tampering with scores on examination papers, grading records, or score sheets.

- Swapping candidates' examination papers, identification numbers, or scores;

- Deception in the admission process and summoning admitted candidates (including altering academic records, cheating in bonus point calculations, or graduation exam scores to qualify candidates for direct admission or admission).

For other violations, penalties will be determined based on the nature, severity, and impact, as outlined in this article.

In cases where examination questions are leaked or serious breaches of the Admission Regulations occur, the Principal, Chairman of the Admissions Committee, and heads of relevant departments will face disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to dismissal depending on the consequences, impacts, and degree of involvement.

9. Article 35 is supplemented as follows:

"6. The Chairman of the Admissions Testing Board and relevant staff members of the Examination Question Preparation Committee and Examination Marking Committee of universities and colleges, or lecturers of universities and colleges who undertake examination question preparation and marking for other institutions, if they violate current regulations on examination question preparation and marking, shall be subject to corresponding disciplinary actions under this Article."

"7. If unreasonable admission point determination leads to exceeding assigned quotas significantly, depending on the extent of violation, the Chairman of the Admissions Testing Board may face disciplinary measures ranging from reprimand to removal from position, and the number of candidates admitted beyond the quota will be deducted from the next year's admission quota of the institution."

9. Article 38 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"After the admissions period, universities have the responsibility to submit to the Ministry of Education and Training and provincial Departments of Education and Training the following reports:

- Immediately after the last exam session: a quick report to the Ministry of Education and Training on the admissions examination (in accordance with the pre-printed form), examination questions and answers for each subject.

- Immediately after the Chairman of the Admissions Testing Board approves the admission point determination, the Admissions Testing Board of universities and colleges shall report to the Ministry of Education and Training the record of admission point determination according to the model provided in Appendix 1 of this Regulation, accompanied by computer-generated statistics.

The Admissions Testing Board of vocational high schools shall report to the Ministry of Education and Training (Department of Vocational High Schools and Vocational Training) the proposed method of determining admission points according to the printed model in Appendix 1 of this Regulation, accompanied by computer-generated statistics.

- In November each year: a report to the Ministry of Education and Training on the situation and results of admissions, the number of points, list of successful candidates in the admissions examination that year; proposed plan for the next year's admissions.

- Immediately after the announcement of admission points, universities, colleges, and vocational high schools shall send grade books and lists of successful candidates to provincial Departments of Education and Training where candidates who participated in and were successfully admitted to the institution during the admissions examination that year are located."

Article 2. In the specific conditions of the 2000 admissions examination, the printing and distribution of unified materials and forms serving the admissions process and the direct admission of high school graduates with excellent grades shall still be carried out in accordance with Article 2 and Point h of Clause 2 of Article 7 of the Admissions Regulations for Universities, Colleges, and Vocational High Schools in the Regular System, issued by Decision No. 05/1999/QĐ-BGD&ĐT of the Minister of Education and Training.

Article 3. THIS DECISION SHALL TAKE EFFECT 15 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF SIGNATURE.

Article 4. The Heads of the Office, Department of Higher Education, Department of Vocational High Schools and Vocational Training, Heads of related units, Directors of Provincial Departments of Education and Training, Director of Hanoi National University, Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University, Directors of Thai Nguyen University, Hue University, Da Nang University, Principals of universities, colleges, and vocational high schools are responsible for implementing this decision./.