"Foreign professors protect prestige and opportunities for the next generation as their own honor. Because of that, their reference letters are very serious when being evaluated", shared by Vietnamese - American Prof. Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh, on the story that Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City  applied a "western-like" enrolment model.
Born in 1961, Prof. Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh graduated from North Dakota State University (United States). In 1990, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis and then he continued with post-doctoral program of physiological simulation.
In 2002, he was awarded with Professor (the highest rank in 3 ranks of Professors in United States) when he was 41 years old. From 1992 until now, Prof. Truong Nguyen Thanh has had nearly 200 articles published in international scientific journals.
He is now teaching and doing research in the University of Utah (United States), at the same time is a Science Director of the Institute for Computational Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2016, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City is the first school to apply  "western-like"  enrolment model in which 10% of candidates are straightly admitted to member schools. The conditions are that students must belong to 82 high schools for gifted students, and these applicants must have an essay and letters of recommendation from teachers. This is the new way, driven by the general standard of international progressive education.
Talking about pioneering in applying the enrolment model using letters of recommendation, essays as universities of the USA, the UK, Singapore, etc. do of Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Dan Tri's reporter had an interview with Prof. Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh (Professor of the University of Utah - USA ) .
A new theory-based plan is a good solution.
Professor, the admission form with recommendation letters, essays have had the history of hundreds of years in the world. How do you think about applying this enrolment model of Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City?
Prof. Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh: Applications to high education/ postgraduate education in the USA and most developed countries have essays and letters of recommendation from their teachers, professors. Those two criteria help Admission council have more extensive information on maturity as well as reviews from the people who know the candidate's qualifications (other than test scores, transcripts, etc.).
Bringing the "western-like" enrolment model on the application in Vietnam is an encouraging step.
The public is concerned about the level of effectiveness of the new enrolment mode brought to Vietnam, what's your opinion, professor?
As I said, essay and letters of recommendation are two criteria. However, those two criteria based on essay principle must be written by candidates and recommendation letters by teachers/ professors must show the true assessment of the candidates.
The new theory-based plan is a good solution, but to know if it works or not in reality, we need to know whether the two principles can be applied in Vietnam society:
1. Are essays written by candidates themselves? How can it be guaranteed? If essays can be purchased, they are no longer valid.
2. Do letters of recommendation from teachers/ professors really reflect candidates? How can it be guaranteed? If teachers/ professors are "supported" to give these letters, they are no longer valid, either. Another difficulty is how to standardize letters of recommendation for the evaluation of each teachers/ professors is different. I think using sample assessing the potential and ability first is better.

Prof. Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh is currently teaching and doing search in University of Utah (United States)

Essay is actually just a piece of information in the record!
It is concerned that asking for letters of recommendation from teachers in Vietnam will have negative risks. Professor, why for American universities, recommendation letters usually reflect quite truly the qualifications of candidates?
The foreign teachers/ professors protect prestige and opportunities for the next generation. Their letters of recommendation, therefore, are very serious, not because of "politeness" or any other factor that they give priority to a certain candidate. Protecting the rights of the future generations is as important as and even more than honour and prestige of foreign teachers/ professors' own.
It is not because this is their student that they speak high of him/ her. If candidate's academic performance is really bad, their evaluation/ comments will no longer be valid for their next-generation students.
Since Vietnam has not traditionally used letters of recommendation, teachers/ professors will find it unfamiliar with writing them. Universities need to make clear assessment criteria, even including the evaluation form for teachers/ professors to fill in so that standardization may be easier. Usually, Admission council will get more information about the candidates' soft skills in their letters of recommendation/ assessment. Learning capacity may be shown through test scores/ transcripts.
Furthermore, universities should develop a data warehouse linking letters of recommendation of teachers/ professors in applications to students' transcripts so that in the next enrolment, negative letters can be eliminated.
And what role does an essay play in enrolment with "explain reasons for choosing program" requirement set forth by Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City?
Actually, an essay speaks of thinking and maturity in the thought of a candidate,so it helps reflect a comprehensive view of the candidate. In addition, it also eliminates irrational applications. For example, if the records are normal and essays are so good, there is something wrong.
So how should essays and letters of recommendation/ review of teachers/ professors be used to be effective?
In my opinion, Admission council including all faculties' representatives should screen applications by a variety of steps:
Preliminary step: Using test scores/ transcript like at the moment. It should be more general in the step.
Semi-final step: Mark essays and letters of recommendation/ review of teachers/ professors to screen in this step.
Final step: There should be a short interview to verify the reliability of the information in the applications and filter the most elite candidates.
For instance: If Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City needs to recruit 500 students, the preliminary round may contain 1000 candidates meeting fully the criteria of test scores or the scores maybe a bit less. In the semi-final round, the scores of essays and letters of recommendation/ assessment are important and they help to filter the entire 1000 candidates to pick 700 successful candidates for the semi-final round. There might be cases in which candidates with low scores can pass the semi-finals as they have good essay/ assessment. The final round is to remove all applications having negative signs or suspicious thanks to a direct interview.
With this enrolment form, Admission council will be able to make comprehensive assessment of candidates in such Vietnamese educational and social environments.
To let competition control quality of enrolment
In addition to letters of recommendation and essays, according to Professor, in what  way can universities in Vietnam do so that the enrolment become more accurate when applying international enrolment model?
This is difficult, but it doesn't mean impossible. The project in which letters of recommendation/ assessment and essays are used as I said is time-consuming, but it will make the brand of school if it is done seriously.
However, Vietnamese education is driven too much by the Ministry of Education and Training. If universities had more autonomy and self-responsibility, they would do better. To let the market competition in training decide the quality of each university. As a consequence, to protect their reputation as well as their brand, universities will do enrolment thoroughly.
If they do it seriously, the enrolment will be fine. And universities should note that: Good students would motivate professors to be good and therefore, improve the quality and brand of the school.
Thank you very much, professor!
(Souce: dantri.com.vn)