Students with foreign language certificates exempt from foreign language exams

Regarding the matter of the use of foreign language certificates to enjoy exemption from foreign language exams in the high school graduation exam in 2023, Associate Professor Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Quality Management Department of the Ministry of Education and Training, said that the official dispatch to the Departments of Education and Training stated that candidates registered for the 2023 high school graduation exam may use foreign language certificates issued after September 10, 2022 for exemption from the foreign language test.

In its previous document to guide the verification of foreign language proficiency certificates to exempt foreign language exams from the high school graduation exam in 2023, the Department of Quality Management required only twelfth graders who receive foreign language proficiency certificates issued before September 10, 2022 and after November 11, 2022 will be exempted from the National High School Graduation Exams’ English module.

This regulation is different from the Ministry of Education and Training’s guidance on organizing the 2023 high school graduation exam issued in April 2023, when the Ministry of Education and Training grants students with an IELTS score of at least 4.0 an automatic 10 in English for the high school graduation examination and the expiry date of the certificate is at least until June 27.

As twelfth-grade students are going to sit for their important exams; so the new regulation on the recognition of foreign language proficiency certificates to exempt foreign language exams in the high school graduation exam has confused many candidates in the past few days.

It is known that the Ministry of Education and Training’s new regulation related to the postponement of the IELTS test in Vietnam was issued in early November last year. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, any organization that holds foreign language proficiency assessment exams must be licensed by the Ministry of Education and Training after September 10, 2022.

However, by mid-November, organizers of the IELTS certification in turn completed this requirement, affecting many test takers during the above period. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training will not accept certificates granted from September 10, 2022 to November 11, 2022.

According to Mr. Chuong, the Ministry of Education and Training accepted candidates to use foreign language proficiency certificates issued after September 10, 2022 for exemption from the foreign language test according to regulations to ensure students’ legitimate interests in the 2023 high school graduation exam.

However, universities still use foreign language proficiency certificates issued after September 10, 2022 as usual for admissions. For example, the Foreign Trade University still accepts foreign language proficiency certificates issued after September 10, 2022 when it announced the admission score on the evening of June 14.

Source: SGGP