The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has issued an exemption from foreign languages test for high school graduation assessment in 2015. Thereby, students who meet certain requirements won’t have to sit for foreign language test.
Exemption criteria include winners of International Olympiad foreign language contests or possession of foreign language certificate valid until 9 June 2015 as stipulated below:
Foreign language | Minimum requirement | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
English | TOEFL ITP 450 | Educational Testing Service (ETS) |
IELTS 4.0 | British Council | |
Russian | TORFL – Level 1 | Russian Culture and Science Centre |
French | TCF (300 – 400) | Centre International d’Etudes Pedagogiques - CIEP |
Chinese | HSK level 3 | Han Ban, The National Committee for the Test of Proficiency in Chinese |
German | Goethe-Zertifikat B1 | ZfA |
Japanese | JLPT level N3 | Japanese International Exchange Foundation |
.
Among these languages, English is the most popularly taught throughout the education system of Vietnam.
Universities and colleges nationwide will decide the enrolment requirements for students eligible for this exemption.
There are arguments that this decision may ease pressure for some students while appear to be unfair for others, especially those in rural areas with more disadvantageous in learning foreign languages. It will also be challenging for universities and colleges to verify the certificates authenticity as well as to compare the students’ English levels between those who are eligible and non-eligible for exemption.