Governance Renovation of the Vietnamese Higher Education and Its Influences on Teaching Quality

1. Governance Renovation of the Vietnamese Higher Education and Its Influences on Teaching Quality Thi Lan Phuong Pham PhD Candidate University of Kassel, Germany

2. Structure • Introduction • Concept of Governance in HE Research • Governance Renovation of HE in Vietnam • Influences of Governance Renovation on Quality Management • Does Governance Renovation Enhance Teaching Quality? • Questions

3. Introduction • Resolution 04-NQ/HNTW referred to non-public institutions, restructuring of the higher education system, and higher education expansion. • Since then, higher education (HE) has expanded rapidly => deterioration of higher education quality • New measures of management have been applied: institution autonomy, quality assurance, accountability • Does renovation of HE governance improve teaching quality?

4. Concept of Governance in Higher Education Research • Governance refers to an action or a method of governing • From government to governance • Governance consists of two elements: a system of rules that shapes the framework for operation of institutions and the way by which an institution is run (Mayntz 2004). • HE research has addressed two main themes: • Changing relationship between the state and universities • Shift in the model of governance of universities • This presentation focuses on the state-HEIs relation in Vietnam

5. Governance Renovation of HE in Vietnam Economic Reform and Changing State Management Ideology since 1986 • Transition from the central planning to a market economy • Recognizing private economy and promoting its development • The State reduced subsidies to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), gave them a legally autonomous entity and forced them to be independent in finance.

6. Governance Renovation of HE in Vietnam (cont.) Higher Education Policies since 1993 • Resolution 04-NQ/HNTW adopted a resolution on education renovation continuation • The first non-public HEIs were officially established • Introduction of the Western modern universities style: national universities • Regulation on accreditation of HEIs • Policies on HEIs stratification • Higher Education Reform Agenda (HERA) • Current top priority: Renovation of HE management (Directive 296/CT-TTg)

7. Governance Renovation of HE in Vietnam (cont.) Governance Renovation and Growing Level of Autonomy for Universities • Five governance dimension measure (de Boer, Enders & Schimank 2007) • state regulation • managerial self-governance • external guidance • market competition • academic self-governance

8. Governance Renovation of HE in Vietnam (cont.) • Changes in governance of HE in Vietnam • Gentle shift from the state control to state supervision of HE • Higher level of autonomy for universities or more authority for institutional leaders • Low market competition • Involvement of international partners • Societal mistrust of academic self‐governance

9. Influences of Governance Renovation on Quality Management Development of a Nation-wide Quality Assurance and Accreditation System • A national agency responsible for monitoring quality was established in September 2004 • Up to 2010, nearly half of HEIs have had quality support units • Accreditation of institutional quality standards at 20 universities was finished. • Hundreds of HEIs have been conducting their self-evaluation of quality

10. Influences of Governance Renovation on Quality Management (cont.) Introduction of Internationally Recognized Quality Standards • The top-rank universities want to integrate into the Southeast Asian region and get international recognition. • Two national universities are employing standards of AUN. • Universities have promoted reference to standards of international accreditation agencies and of professional associations. • The MOET has funded a project on development of advanced undergraduate programs.

11. Influences of Governance Renovation on Quality Management (cont.) Emphasizing Research Role of Universities • Accreditation of standards of HEIs has speeded up increasing resources for research and improving performance indicators of research • Research activities in forms of updating subject matter knowledge, inquiring and applying new ideas, practices of methods of teaching and testing have been effectively contributing to enhancement of teaching quality (Case studies).

12. Influences of Governance Renovation on Quality Management (cont.) Student-centered Approach to Quality Assurance • Student evaluation of teaching has been a compulsory practice of institutional quality evaluation since the academic year 2009-2010. • Most universities regard student evaluations of teaching as one source of information for improving effectiveness of teaching and curricula. • However, the student evaluation of teaching has a remarkably effect through the registration of courses in the credit-based system.

13. Does Governance Renovation Enhance Teaching Quality? The status quo of teaching quality • Expansion speed of HE enrollment has been many times as high as the speed of training capacity. • The same trend for elite and key HEIs • Low teachers’ commitment to teaching has deteriorated the higher education quality.

14. Does Governance Renovation Enhance Teaching Quality? (cont.) Influences of governance renovation • Quality assurance helps to stop the deterioration of quality at the domain under and around the threshold. • Un-fixed tuition fees for high quality study programs will stimulate excellent higher education • Improvement in higher education quality at the domain above the threshold will be realistic and it, in turn, helps to lift the whole-system quality.

15. Questions Effectiveness of management tools: • Disclosures: cheating, awareness and understanding of figures and meanings of disclosed documents • Un-fixed tuition fees of high quality study programs: What are the high quality study programs? What would be the acceptable levels of tuition fees? Who would be the vulnerable? The role of state? Involvement of HEIs and academics: • What would be an effective reward-punishment mechanism?

16. Thank you for your attention