However, strong enrollment interest can translate into a high-quality workforce only when universities ensure qualified faculty, adequate hands-on training facilities, and meaningful participation from businesses.
Positive signals from STEM enrollment
Since 2025, a number of new policies have been introduced to attract students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Among them, Decree No. 179/2026/ND-CP provides scholarship policies for students pursuing basic sciences, key engineering disciplines, and strategic technologies. Coupled with growing demand for workers in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, automation, and digital transformation, these support policies have provided additional incentives for applicants to choose STEM fields.
According to preliminary statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training on the 2026 university admissions cycle, about 212,600 students confirmed their enrollment in STEM fields, accounting for 33.6 percent of all students who confirmed enrollment. Of the 15 groups of basic sciences, key engineering disciplines, and strategic technologies, more than 121,000 students confirmed their enrollment, representing about 19 percent.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao, Director General of the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education and Training, said STEM fields are attracting a high-quality pool of applicants. Admission benchmarks did not rise uniformly across all disciplines, but several fields and training programs recorded high admission scores. This indicates that STEM is gaining both a larger share of enrolled students and stronger appeal among applicants with good academic performance.
However, enrollment figures only reflect changes at the entry level. The effectiveness of these policies can be fully assessed only through student retention rates, graduation quality, the ability of graduates to work in their fields of training, and how well they meet businesses' workforce needs. Expanding enrollment must go hand in hand with each institution's capacity to ensure training quality.
Businesses must be involved from the design stage
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hoai Thang, Head of the Training Department at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology under Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, said promoting STEM should not simply be understood as increasing enrollment quotas. More importantly, training institutions must provide the types of human resources needed by the economy, businesses, and the ongoing technological transformation.
According to him, training institutions must meet three conditions. First, lecturers must have strong professional and research capabilities, as well as the ability to keep pace with technological developments. Second, institutions need laboratories, workshops, simulation systems, data platforms, and equipment that closely reflect real-world production environments. Finally, training programs must increase both the amount and quality of hands-on learning, enabling students to solve real-world problems rather than merely acquire knowledge in the classroom.
Drawing on experience in working with businesses, Dr. Quach Thanh Hai, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Engineering, said businesses need to be involved throughout the training process—from forecasting workforce demand over the next three to five years and developing curricula to organizing internships, assessing students, recruiting graduates, and commissioning research. The model that should be promoted is one in which businesses define their workforce needs, the State provides support, and universities organize training.
At the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, businesses have provided equipment, software, and practical training facilities; organized technology competitions; and accepted students for internships.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Hong Hai, the university's president, said the next step is to move from businesses participating in selected stages to universities and businesses jointly delivering training. The extent of participation should be reflected in jointly developed curricula, the number of hands-on training hours, the number of students receiving internships, and the post-graduation employment rate.
Incentives to attract students
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao said that for the 2025 admissions cohort, an estimated 22,250 students will be eligible for scholarships under Decree No. 179 from September 1, 2026. For the 2026 admissions cohort, about 30,000 students are expected to receive scholarships, with total funding estimated at approximately VND1.3 trillion (US$50 million) per year.
Direct support policies help ease financial burdens and provide additional incentives for high-achieving students to pursue fields that the country needs. Their long-term effectiveness should be monitored through academic performance, graduation rates, and scholarship recipients' ability to enter the labor market.
Avoiding trend-driven program expansion
The growing appeal of STEM fields also raises the risk that universities may rush to launch new programs before having adequate quality-assurance conditions in place. Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director General of the former Department of Professional Education under the Ministry of Education and Training, said it is not necessarily inappropriate for law, economics, or social sciences universities to introduce STEM programs, particularly as interdisciplinary education continues to develop. The issue is that institutions without a tradition of engineering education may lack experience in managing laboratories, equipment, safety, supplies, project-based learning, and partnerships with technology companies.
According to Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, new programs should initially enroll students on a small scale, undergo assessment of their actual conditions, and increase enrollment quotas only when the quality of their graduates is recognized by the labor market. Post-establishment monitoring must take place throughout the training process rather than being limited to reviewing documents when a program is launched. Regulators also need data to determine how many programs a lecturer is involved in, how many students are served by available equipment, the actual amount of hands-on training, and the employment situation of graduates.
Scholarship policies can create an initial incentive, but the quality of the STEM workforce depends on both training capacity and demand from employers. If enrollment expands faster than the availability of lecturers, laboratories, and job opportunities, the current appeal could lead to imbalances in the years ahead. Therefore, breakthroughs in enrollment must be matched by quality standards and measurable graduate outcomes.
Four Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology valedictorians choose STEM
The four top-scoring entrants to the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology under Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City in 2026 have all chosen leading STEM fields. All four achieved perfect Mathematics scores in both the competency assessment test (300/300) and the national high school graduation exam (10/10).
They include Vo Gia Thinh, a former student of Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted in Dak Lak, who was a dual top scorer with 1,124 points on the competency assessment test and 98.11 points under the composite admission score and has chosen Computer Science. Also choosing Computer Science is Nguyen Hong Viet from Lam Dong, a former provincial-level Chemistry competition winner, who scored 29.5 points on the national high school graduation exam and 1,049 points on the competency assessment test.
In the Electrical Engineering – Electronics – Telecommunications – Automation – Integrated Circuit Design group, Le Cong Nguyen stood out with a score of 29.5 on the national high school graduation exam and a desire to pursue Automation Engineering as a long-term career.
Meanwhile, Vo Ngoc Thanh Ngan, who won second prize in Physics at the Ho Chi Minh City level, scored 29.5 points on the national high school graduation exam, 1,067 points on the competency assessment test, and 96.41 points under the composite admission score. She is confidently embarking on her studies at the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
