The boom in private colleges has resulted a serious shortage of students. Some private colleges are even sending invitations to students who failed their high school graduation exams.
Family confused at dozens of college invitations
Thousands of students in Nghe An Province who failed in their first choice of school in their university entrance exam or have scores lower than the Ministry of Education and Training's average score have received admission notices from colleges they did not register for.
The flood of invitations has caused confusion.
The mood in the family of Nguyen Xuan Tri, a student in Do Luong District, Nghe An Province shifted from disappointment after he failed the university entrance exam to confusion when they began receiving dozens invitations from private colleges. They thought that their son finally could attend university but Tri has never heard any of these schools before.
"We were waiting for the final grades and thinking about a second choice of school. Now with this many invitations, we really don't know what to think or what is best." Tri's mother said.
Tri shared, "I've never heard of these schools before. Before registering the choices for the exam, I'd done my research but never heard of any of them. Now I'm very confused."
Nguyen Hoang Thanh, a neighbour with Tri, was in an even more comical situation when he still received college invitations, despite failing his high school graduation exam.
Thanh's mother said, "We thought of letting him attend vocational school to join a labour export company later, but the schools have been sending these invitations for nearly two weeks now."
This phenomenon is not exactly new and has happened for several years. The educational facilities are banned from sending invitations to students who do not register at their schools, but seem happy to flout regulations.
To attract students, the schools offer reasonable tuition fees, high quality teaching, affiliate programmes with famous schools or have foreign lecturers. Some schools even offer VND500,000 (USD24) for students to register in the first round of admissions and VND200,000 for students admitted in future rounds.
However, along with the attractive offers come sky-high fees.
A DTiNews reporter disguised as a student asked about admission requirements at a school in Thai Nguyen which has educational facilities in Hanoi. When asked "Can I enrol despite failing my high school graduation exam?" they were told "Don't worry, you need to study for three months for your high school programme after enrolling then you can transfer to regular universities."
Tran Van Dai, a parent in Quynh Luu District said, "This happens every year but I haven't seen the authorities interfere. I wonder if the students are just randomly chosen by some unknown school. The parents should be wise in guiding their children to avoid consequences."
Students are sent invitations from unknown schools
College invitations to students who failed high school entrance exam
