Dr. Le Anh Duc, Head of the Training Management Department at NEU, announced this on July 29th, one day after the application deadline for university admissions on the Ministry of Education and Training's system.

According to Duc, the number of applicants with IELTS and other foreign language certificates is around 22,000, a nearly 50% increase compared to last year. The number of applicants with SAT and ACT (international academic assessment certificates) is 3,000, an 80% increase.

Eight years ago, when the university first used IELTS with a requirement of 6.5 or equivalent for admission, it received only about 50 applications. This number reached approximately 2,000 in 2019 and 11,000 in 2023.

According to Duc, certificate scores have also improved. This year, although the minimum score is IELTS 5.5, over 90% of applicants achieved 6.0 or higher.

"The increase in the number of students with international certificates is an inevitable trend in Vietnam's increasingly deep and wide integration process," Duc said.

NEU surveyed the academic results of students admitted in the last three academic years and found that those with international English certificates combined with good scores in aptitude and critical thinking assessments performed better than other groups. Details were not disclosed.

"This confirms that candidates with core academic abilities combined with international-standard English skills have a learning advantage. One reason is that the university has built a system of electronic learning materials in English, requiring students to have a certain level of foreign language proficiency," Duc said.

Predicted benchmark scores for NEU in 2025 - Tuition fees of over 100 universities

National Economics University students. Photo: NEU

National Economics University students. Photo: NEU

This year, NEU is admitting 8,200 full-time students across 73 majors and nearly 90 programs.

The three admission methods are the same as last year: The first is direct admission, accounting for 3% of the quota, applied to students in one of the following groups: policy beneficiaries, those eligible for direct admission according to the Ministry of Education and Training's regulations; national-level excellent student competition third-prize winners; first-prize winners or higher in national science and technology competitions.

The second is admission based on high school graduation exam results with four combinations, including A00 (Math, Physics, Chemistry); A01 (Math, Physics, English); D01 (Math, Literature, English), and D07 (Math, Chemistry, English). The minimum score for this group is 22, 2 points higher than expected.

The third is combined admission, including: international SAT certificates from 1200/1600 or ACT 26/36 or higher; aptitude and critical thinking test scores of at least 85/150 HSA, 700/1200 APT, or 60/100 TSA, or these scores combined with IELTS certificates from 5.5, TOEFL iBT 46 or higher; a combination of English certificates with high school graduation exam scores in Math and another subject.

The conversion table for NEU benchmark scores between methods is as follows:

The expected benchmark scores will be announced before 5 PM on 22/8. For the 2025-2026 academic year, tuition fees at NEU are around 18-25 million VND for standard programs.

Thanh Hang