Reforming Higher Education in Vietnam: Challenges and Priorities

ISBN-13: 9789400731622 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 232 str.

Grant Harman; Martin Hayden; Thanh Nghi Pham

Opis

Vietnam is a dynamic member of the community of Southeast Asian nations. Consistent with aspirations across the region, it is seeking to develop its higher education system as rapidly as possible. Vietnam s approach stands out, however, as being extremely ambitious. Indeed, it may be at risk of attempting to do too much too quickly. By 2020, for example, Vietnam expects its higher education system to be advanced by modern standards and highly competitive in international terms. This vision faces many challenges. The economy, though growing rapidly, remains reliant on the availability of unskilled labour and the exploitation of natural resources, and decision making in many areas of public life continues to be hamstrung by a legacy of over-regulation and centralised control. A large number of goals and objectives have been set for reform of the higher education system by 2020. The success of these reforms will have a major bearing on the future quality of the system. This sober assessment Vietnam s global competitiveness forms a backdrop to the subject matter of this book, that is, the state of Vietnam s higher education system. The book provides a comprehensive and scholarly review of various dimensions of the higher education system in Vietnam, including its recent history, its structure and governance, its teaching and learning culture, its research and research commercialisation environment, its socio-economic impact, its strategic planning processes, its progress with quality accreditation, and its experience of internationalisation and privatisation."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"Grant Harman, Martin Hayden and Pham Thanh Nghi's book, which focuses on HE reform in Vietnam is a welcome contribution in this area, as it introduces and addresses quite details recent reforms in the HES of a developing country in South East Asia. ... The book is highly recommended, then, for policy makers, scholars and students of HE who want to benefit from the insights regarding not only Vietnamese HES, but also policies aimed at reforming HESs in developing countries in the globalisation era." (Thi Tuyet Tran, Higher Education, Vol. 65, 2013)

Spis treści

List of Contributors. 1. Higher Education in Vietnam: Reform, Challenges and Priorities; Grant Harman, Martin Hayden et al. 2. Vietnam's Higher Education System; Martin Hayden, Lam Quang Thiep. 3. Higher Education in Vietnam 1986-1998: Education in transition to a new era?; Elizabeth St. George. 4. The Higher Education Reform Agenda: A Vision For 2020; Pham Thanh Nghi, Jonathan D. London. 5. Reforming Teaching and Learning in Vietnam’s Higher Education System; Kay Harman, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich. 6. The Research Role of Vietnam’s Universities; Grant Harman, Le Thi Bich Ngoc. 7. Research-Industry Cooperation Supporting Development in Vietnam: The Challenge of Translating Policy into Practice; Marea Fatseas. 8. Intellectual Property and Vietnam’s Higher Education System; Robert Spoo, Dao Anh Tuan. 9. Reforming the Governance of Higher Education in Vietnam; Khanh Van Dao, Martin Hayden.10. Processes for Strategic Planning in Vietnam's Higher Education System; Larry Smith, Nguyen Quang Dong. 11. Processes of Modernisation in Two Public Universities in Vietnam: University Managers' Perspectives; Ta Thai Anh, Richard Winter.12. Optimising the Impact of Vietnam's Higher Education Sector on Socio-economic Development; Kiri Evans, Adam Rorris. 13. Accreditation in Vietnam’s Higher Education System; Don F. Westerheijden, Leon Cremonini et al. 14. Internationalisation of Vietnamese Higher Education: Retrospect and Prospect; Anthony R. Welch. 15. Private Higher Education in Vietnam; Martin Hayden, Khanh Van Dao.

Blurb

Here is a comprehensive and scholarly review of various dimensions of the higher education system in Vietnam. The book comes at a crucial time for this South East Asian country’s learning institutions. Vietnam is a dynamic regional player and, like its neighbors, is seeking rapid development of its higher education system. Since reform was first mooted in 1993, the numbers of young people going on to higher education have increased dramatically – up from 2 per cent in the early 1990s to over 13 per cent at present, and a higher system that was once comprised entirely of small, specialised institutions has been transformed into one in which the leading universities are large, multidisciplinary and progressively developing a research capability.

Vietnam’s current approach to reform of its higher education system is extremely ambitious. Some argue that the nation may be at risk of attempting to do too much too quickly. By 2020, for example, Vietnam expects its higher education system to be advanced by modern standards and highly competitive internationally. This optimistic vision faces many challenges. The economy’s rapid growth masks a reliance on unskilled labor and the exploitation of natural resources, while decision-making in many areas of public life continues to be hamstrung by over-regulation and centralized control. A great many goals and objectives have been set for reform of the higher education system during the next decade. Realising these aspirations will require some difficult shifts in the management culture, as well as a great deal more public investment.

Against this backdrop, the chapters included in this book cover a wide range of relevant topics, including the recent history of the higher education system, its structure and governance, and its teaching and learning culture. Chapters also examine Vietnamese universities’ research and research commercialization environment, their socio-economic impact, strategic planning processes, progress with quality accreditation, and their experience of internationalization and privatization.