Subjects within the field of medicine received the highest number of total applications with 525,201 overall, while Business was the most popular specific course with 80,00 applications.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) there were a total of 635,000 students who applied for university against a total number of 866,000 who completed the National Exams in 2017.

By subject area, Business received the highest number of applications (80,000), accounting for 12.6%. In second place was Languages/Foreign Culture with 42,545 applications (6.7%). The other subjects in the top 7 were Education, Law, Medicine, Information Technology, and Mechanical Engineering.


Chart 1: Top subject areas with number of applications (source: MOET statistic 2017)

With students now able to choose a number of different subjects in their application it can be identified that Business Management was the most popular 1st choice with 36,005 applications. In second place was General Medicine, accounting for 98% of applications to the field of medicine. Following these were Law, English Language, Information Technology, and Automobile Technology.


Chart 2: First choice subjects by number of applications (source: MOET statistics 2017)

2017 is the first year that MOET has allowed students to apply for as many different subjects as they want. It is believed that this move has encouraged students to match their subject choice to their preferred future career more closely. 

The statistics have also shown that students choice of subject was also affected by; market demand and job opportunities after university graduation. Subjects which prepare graduates for success in start-up businesses such as Business Management, Law, English Language and Information Technology attracted more applications. For example, the high number applicants for Kindergarten Teacher Training, Medicine and Automobile Engineering are believed to be as a result of shortages of Kindergarten teachers, the lack of qualified doctors and growth of the auto industry in Vietnam.

The statistics used in the article above were collected when high school students submitted their registration for the National Exams and University choices in 2017. 

Source (in Vietnamese): http://vietnamnet.vn/vn/giao-duc/tuyen-sinh/7-nganh-duoc-thi-sinh-lua-ch...