KUALA LUMPUR - Vietnam will begin recognising the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) in its university admissions process this year, expanding the international reach of South Korea’s official language certification.

The Southeast Asian nation becomes the second overseas jurisdiction, after Hong Kong, to incorporate TOPIK into its higher education admissions system, as reported by The Korea Times.

Approval was granted through a ministerial decision issued on January 12 by Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Education and the National Institute for International Education.

Vietnam’s university admissions system is based on a nationwide high school graduation examination, similar to South Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test.

Students are required to sit for mathematics and Vietnamese, as well as two additional subjects selected from a pool of nine, including foreign languages and history.

Under the new policy, TOPIK results may be used in place of the foreign language component of the examination.

Students who obtain Level 3 or above, which indicates intermediate Korean proficiency, will be exempted from one elective subject, with their converted TOPIK scores counted towards official results.

As the national examination is held in late June, the new arrangement will apply to students entering universities from September this year.

Vietnam introduced Korean as an optional foreign language in 2020 before upgrading it to a primary foreign language and an official examination subject in 2021.

The country is also among the largest overseas contributors to TOPIK candidates.

Of the 566,665 applicants worldwide last year, 85,896 were from Vietnam, the highest number among countries administering the test outside South Korea.

TOPIK examinations in Vietnam are supervised by administrators from Korean Education Centres in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, with police deployed at test venues to ensure security and prevent misconduct.

Vietnam ranked second among countries sending students to South Korea last year, with 75,144 students, narrowly behind China’s 76,541.

Growing interest in Korean is also linked to employment demand, as language proficiency is often regarded as an advantage in recruitment and may attract wage premiums.

With South Korean companies expanding their operations in Vietnam, demand for Korean-speaking workers has risen across various industries.

Globally, Korean language classes are now offered in 2,777 primary and secondary schools across 47 countries, with a total enrollment of about 235,000 students.

Of these, 24 countries have adopted Korean as an official second foreign language, while 11 recognise Korean proficiency in university admissions.

South Korean Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said the inclusion of TOPIK in overseas admissions reflects the growing status of the language and the credibility of the examination.

“The ministry will continue to work closely with governments around the world to promote Korean language education overseas and provide full support for its expansion,” he said.