In the 2012 university entrance exam for the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the shift in the number of applications for each subject group and the university's training programs reflects changes in societal demand for these fields. Associate Professor Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu - Chairman of the 2012 Regular University Entrance Examination Council of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - provided some specific information.
- Could you please tell us about the new features in this year's admissions process at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi?This year has several new developments. This is the first year the University is accepting applications from candidates taking the B-block exam for the Psychology major. Specifically for the B-block, this year there were 133 applications out of 789 registered applicants for the Psychology major. This year is also the first year that the Journalism and Linguistics majors are accepting applications from candidates taking the A-block exam. Therefore, the number of majors accepting A-block applicants this year is 12, compared to 10 last year.
- Where are the school's exam locations this year?In Hanoi, the school has 7 examination locations, including 2 at the school itself and 5 at high schools in Thanh Xuan district. Additionally, there are examination locations in Hai Phong with 290 candidates, Vinh with 292 candidates, and Quy Nhon with 11 candidates. A total of 3,909 candidates took the Literature exam for Group C on the morning of July 9th.
- It's understood that with the addition of more exam blocks, the number of applications between these blocks will change this year. Could you please provide more specific details?The overall picture is: In Group A, there were 330 applications in 2011, and 664 in 2012, a twofold increase. In Group D, there were 890 applications in 2011, and 1,919 in 2012, an increase of over 115%. Group C saw a slight decrease of over 3.3%: 4,728 applications in 2011, and 4,579 this year. Overall, the number of applications to the University this year is 7,295, an increase of over 22.6% compared to 2011.
- Could you please tell us which majors at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi seem to attract the most applicants?Based purely on the number of applications received, among the 18 majors offered by the University, this year and in previous years, the majors that have attracted more social attention (and therefore more applicants) and have a stable number of applicants are Journalism, Social Work, Oriental Studies, Management Science, Tourism and Travel Service Management, International Studies, and Psychology. The newly opened Vietnamese Studies major has also seen a continuous increase in the number of applicants over the past few years.
- What are your observations regarding the changes in the relative number of applications to the School across different exam blocks?Are you suggesting that the reason the University has to recruit students from exam groups A and B is because of limited student pool? The University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, believes that opportunities for training in social sciences and humanities should be equal for all high school students, regardless of which exam group they took. The University's policy of adjusting exam groups is to meet societal needs and ensure fairness for candidates. When implementing this, we observed an increasing number of candidates from groups other than C and D. This demonstrates the growing demand and interest from society and candidates in social sciences and humanities, something we hadn't considered before. For example, in 2010, for the first time in 10 years, group A received 172 applications, while in 2012, there were 664. Applications for group D this year have more than doubled.
- Some people say that the humanities and social sciences (Block C) are "extinct" this year. What are your comments on this situation at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi?Well, if that's the case, then it's just one perspective, one way of speaking. This year, at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Vietnam National University, Hanoi, out of 7,295 applications for the entrance exam, 4,579 were for Block C, accounting for 62.8%, while the rest were for Blocks A, B, and D. Across Vietnam National University, Hanoi, there were 3,521 applicants for Block C. Today, the number who showed up for the exam reached 73.4%.
- Professor, could you please tell us what solutions the university will implement to attract more applicants to programs with low enrollment numbers?First and foremost, it must be said that the University is not only concerned with majors that have few applicants, but with all majors. The University will always review and provide guidance on the entrance exam subjects based on the reform roadmap of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, expanding opportunities for applicants to take the exam and for the University to select students. In this process, the University will continue to strive to improve its admissions counseling, providing clear information about majors, the learning outcomes students can achieve upon graduation, introducing career opportunities for these majors online, and providing weekly online Q&A sessions on the University's website. In the long term, admissions counseling will also target 10th and 11th grade students, students from gifted high schools, specialized high schools, and high schools with high-quality training, so that they have more information about training and employment opportunities in social sciences and humanities.
- Some parents and students are still hesitant, fearing that studying social sciences and humanities will not be "trendy" and that career prospects will not be high. Would you please share your thoughts on this issue?I think job opportunities can either decrease or improve in any field of study. This depends on the socio-economic development of the country and many other factors. Jobs, careers, training programs, etc., are not always synonymous or identical, so we shouldn't confuse one with the other. Under any circumstances, the problems and demands related to human and societal development require human resources from the social sciences and humanities to solve them. It's a very broad field of study for the social sciences and humanities. Because I'm not prepared, I don't have specific data to give you a serious analysis right now. An analysis of this requires concrete data; it can't be arbitrary or impromptu, right?
Thank you, Associate Professor.
