1. Australia remains first-choice destination for Vietnamese students
Australia remains the first-choice destination for students from Vietnam, according to the Australian Consulate in HCM City. More than 28,000 new Vietnamese students each year study at Australian universities, colleges and schools. There are more than 60,000 Australian alumni in Vietnam, according to the Australian Embassy.
The news was released at a gala dinner with the theme “Boundless connections” held on the occasion of celebrating 45 years of Vietnam-Australia diplomatic relations by the Vietnam Graduates from Australia Club (VGAC).
The dinner was also the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the VGAC’s establishment and development with achievements gained during the operation as well as positive contributions in the exchange relationship between Vietnam and Australia.
The grand final event of the Latte Art Contest Guroo 2018 was held at the gala dinner by VGAC, which is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 by the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Association.
2. Top Australian university offers direct admission to Vietnamese students
2.1 7/8 leading Australian universities offer direct admission
The Australian National University (ANU) has recently implemented a new policy to admit Vietnamese students directly from specialized and high schools, becoming the seventh out of eight top Australian universities to adopt this mechanism in 2022.
Direct admission of Vietnamese students from specialized schools and high-performing schools is the latest policy of the Australian National University (ANU) in 2022, according to Mr. Pham Nguyen Hong An (Andy Pham), the Senior Regional Manager for the Mekong region at the university.
According to Mr. Andy, this is to meet the university’s strategic goal of diversity, reflected in expanding the market and providing the most favorable conditions for excellent Vietnamese students.
Specifically, students who wish to apply through this method must attend one of the 92 specialized or high schools listed by ANU, have a provisional high school graduation score, an IELTS certificate with a score of 6.5 or higher, and no skill below 6.0 (other certificates such as PTE, TOEFL are also accepted with similar requirements).
ANU will convert the high school graduation score into an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, the ranking of academic achievement among year 12 students in Australia on a scale of 99.95) equivalent. “We currently choose to evaluate the high school graduation score because the results of this exam reflect the student’s true abilities and are also widely applied by universities in Vietnam,” explained Mr. Andy.
Some majors do not limit the number of international students, so candidates only need to meet the requirements to be accepted. However, there are fields such as health sciences that only admit 10 international students per year, so the competition rate is very high, and students must have better academic achievements than the minimum requirement. There are also specific degree programs such as law, psychology that require an ATAR score close to the maximum of 98, according to Mr. Andy.
Therefore, Mr. Andy believes that the higher the high school graduation score and IELTS, the greater the chance of candidates being admitted to their desired major. According to him, the acceptance rate of students at ANU ranges from 33-35% annually. “This year, although the direct admission policy has just been announced, there have already been some applications from high schools such as Kim Lien High School (Hanoi) and Bui Thi Xuan High School (Ho Chi Minh City),” Mr. Andy added.
ANU is ranked first in Australia and 30th in the world according to the QS World University Rankings 2023 and is a member of the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australia’s top eight universities.
Except for the University of Adelaide, all seven universities in the Group of Eight have direct admission policies for Vietnamese students, and each university has different criteria. For example, the University of Sydney requires a high school grade point average, while the University of Queensland accepts students from all high schools. In addition, many lower-ranked universities in Australia are also implementing this policy.
2.2 Save time and money
As a pioneering institution in direct admission of Vietnamese students based on academic achievements in Australia, the University of Sydney began a trial program in 2017 at 24 high schools, and later expanded the list to nearly 100 high schools and academic institutions throughout the country by 2020. Students only need a high school grade point average of 8.0 or above, depending on the desired field of study, and a minimum IELTS score of 6.5 to be eligible for admission.
This helps Vietnamese students save time and money as they do not have to attend university preparatory courses or standardized tests such as SAT and ACT as previously required, according to Mr. Alex Vu, Director of Admissions and International Cooperation at the University of Sydney in Vietnam.
According to Mr. Alex, since the implementation of the direct admission policy, the number of Vietnamese international students applying to the University of Sydney has steadily increased each year, with the growth rate ranking at the top in Southeast Asia. In addition to direct admission, the university also has a scholarship program specifically for Vietnamese international students, which can compete for admission through their academic performance and essays.
Explaining these privileges, Mr. Alex stated that the academic performance of Vietnamese international students reflects their true academic abilities, which the University of Sydney values highly. On the other hand, after the trial period from 2017 to 2020, professors and academic board leaders all agreed that the quality of Vietnamese international students was better than that of many other countries. “You are fully deserving of these privileges,” concluded Mr. Alex.
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