Higher Education in Vietnam

Flexibility, Mobility and Practicality in the Global Knowledge Economy

L. Tran, S. Marginson, H. Do, T. Le, Nhai Nguyen, T. Vu, Kenneth A. Loparo, Thach Pham

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781137436474
• eBook ISBN: 9781137436481
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Higher and tertiary education are crucial to modern nations. Vietnam has great potential, but its universities and colleges are poor-performing, under-funded and slow to change compared to those in neighbouring East Asian nations. This book analyses the problem and provides constructive solutions for the reform of higher education.

Part I

Students and Structures

2

Higher and Tertiary Education in Vietnam

Hoàng Minh Đỗ and Quyên Thị Ngọc Đỗ

It is crucial for educational issues to be placed and discussed in their own contexts. This chapter provides a national framework, including socio-economic, cultural and legislative aspects of the country’s education and higher education system. Here readers are provided with fundamental facts and figures about Vietnam’s demographic characteristics, recent economic development and framework of educational legislation. This will help to shape a preliminary panorama of the system. This chapter will facilitate a more rounded and insightful analysis and understanding of the issues to be discussed in other chapters of the book.

The chapter provides an overview of the country, people and education system of Vietnam, summarizing present conditions and structures. The aim is to provide a summary picture as the starting point for exploring the specific issues dealt with in later chapters, which provide more historical and critical accounts. Thus, for example, this chapter provides an outline of governance in higher education, but Chapter 3 will include a more extended examination of the issues in governance. This chapter concludes with a summary of key challenges.

Vietnam

Population

Vietnam is a developing nation with the world’s 14th and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN’s) third biggest population, that is, with a population of over 90 million. The average yearly population growth rate from 2005 to 2011 is 1.14 per cent. It is now decreasing slightly (Tổng cục Thống kê Việt Nam [General Statistics Office – GSO], 2012b). People of working age from 15 to 64 years constitute 56 per cent of the total population, with 27 per cent aged between 15 and 29 years (Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN], 2011). Such a young population is an advantage, but also places strong pressure on general education, and creates great demands on higher education and vocational training to fulfil their roles in national modernization and socio-economic development.

In 2010, about 70 per cent of the population lived in rural and mountainous areas (ASEAN, 2011; Tổng cục Thống kê Việt Nam [General Statistics Office – GSO], 2012b). The rural–urban population ratio changed from 80/20 in 1995 to 70/30 in 2010. The trend, in an agricultural country that has always been farming-based, indicates that a more industrialized economic structure is developing. It also indicates the mobility of the workforce from rural to urban areas. This is an important trend, which has ultimately influenced tertiary education.

Ethnicities and languages

Scattered across the 1650-km-long country are 54 ethnic groups. The Kinh (Việt) people account for over 86 per cent of the population (Cổng thông tin điện tử Uỷ ban Dân tộc [Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs – CEMA], 2013). The Kinh live largely in the delta and urban areas, while almost all the rest of the ethnic groups inhabit the highlands and mountainous areas. Although these ethnic groups have their own languages, including eight language systems, Vietnamese is the common language of communication. To maintain language and cultural diversity is part of the national unification and consolidation policies. Some television programmes are broadcast in ethnic minority languages. Because of the demographical features of Vietnam, bilingualism is natural and common among communities of minority people. Bilingualism contributes to the increasing mobility of the labour force between regions and to the development of remote areas.

Although they represent only 14 per cent of the population, minority people play an important role in national defence and political stability. In 1946, the government established a governmental agency, currently known as the Committee for Ethnic Minorities, responsible for studying and resolving all issues related to the ethnic minorities, in order to maintain and ensure social equality, equity and harmonization (Cổng Thông tin điện tử Uỷ ban Dân tộc [Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs – CEMA], 2013). Various policies to support the development of minority ethnic communities and mountainous areas have been adopted. In education, enrolment privileges and scholarships are granted to students coming from ethnic minorities. For example, selected students with ethnic minority background are sent to provincial boarding schools or granted access to universities without having to sit for the national entrance examination. These policies are expected to provide access and equity for ethnic communities with the hope that after graduation these individuals will come back and contribute to their communities. However, the impact of such policies is in question. It appears that there are problems of poor performance by students, and low rate of return to their communities.

Language development and policy

Language development in Vietnam reflects the country’s history over a long period of nearly 2000 years. The Vietnamese language originally existed only in spoken form. During the near 1000 years of Chinese colonization, Chinese characters were used in written language. Although Nôm, a Vietnamese ancient ideographic vernacular script developed on the basis of Chinese characters, was devised in the tenth century when the Việt people successfully reclaimed independence from China (Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation, 2013), Chinese characters were still the written and instruction language (Nguyen Thien Giap, 2013). It was not until the fifteenth century that Nôm started to be used widely in literature and education. Nôm was at times the official written language of the Việt people.

With the advent of Quốc Ngữ, the Vietnamese modern Roman-style script, in the seventeenth century, there existed two spoken languages (Vietnamese and Chinese) and three written scripts (Nôm scripts, Chinese characters and Quốc Ngữ). During the French colonization from 1860 to 1945, the French language (written and spoken) gradually replaced Chinese as the language of instruction Quốc Ngữ was growing while Nôm was fading out.

Since Vietnam’s independence from France in 1945, the government has adopted a relatively consistent policy in terms of language of instruction, official language, languages of ethnic minorities and foreign languages. Vietnamese (Quốc Ngữ) is stipulated by law to be the official language of instruction at all levels from primary to higher education (Revised Education Law, 2010). However, at the primary education level, the languages of minority people in spoken and written forms can also be used concurrently (Education Law, 2005). It is also stipulated in Education Law that foreign languages that are studied as a subject in educational programmes should be languages of popular use in international communication. In practice, French, Russian and English are taught courses in general education, while other languages such as German, Korean and Japanese are also offered in higher education. (Note that more detail on foreign language policy is provided in Chapter 8.)

In terms of the use of foreign languages, before the 1990s, Russian was the major foreign language in education and at work. This is because Vietnam maintained an educational, economic, military and political relationship with the former Soviet Union, above all other countries. Most scholars and researchers were educated in Russia and Soviet countries and labour export at the time was also solely targeted at these countries. Since the 1990s, the Open Door Policy has led to pervasive business and commercial transactions and cultural exchanges with the United States and Western countries. As a result, English has replaced Russian as the dominant foreign language in cultural and socio-economic life.

The shift to the English language has enhanced the competitiveness of the local workforce in the country and the ASEAN region. However, in general, the average level of English competency is low in comparison with that in some neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. To improve the English level of Vietnamese youngsters in the next ten years, a national project, known as the National Language Project 2020, has been approved and launched since 2008.¹ As specified in the project’s implementation pathway, English will be taught as a subject from primary education; English teachers’ education, qualification and assessment will be strengthened to improve teachers’ proficiency and standardization of teacher’s English proficiency will be an important task. The successful implementation of the programme will make a significant contribution towards improving the quality of the education system and ultimately to the socio-economic development of the country.

Economic development and growth: poverty and inequality

In early 2010, Vietnam was categorized by the World Bank to be a lowermiddle-income country. Its gross national income (GNI) per capita reached US$ 1030 in 2009. To develop and grow from one of the poorest countries in 1986 to a middle-income country in 2010, within just 25 years, was a big success for Vietnam and a good lesson for others (World Bank, 2012). Steady economic growth has led to significant reduction in poverty. The number of people living on US$ 1.25 a day reduced from 64 per cent in 1993 to 13 per cent in 2008 (Sumner et al., 2012). Also, in this period, the number of people living on US$ 2 a day or less fell from 86 per cent to 39 per cent.

However, the country’s poverty rate remains high. The overall poverty rate, which was 12.6 per cent in 2011 (Tổng cục Thống Kê Việt Nam [General Statistics Office – GSO], 2012b), is likely to increase to 20.7 per cent in 2012 under the new World Bank’s poverty line of VND (Vietnamese đồng) 653,000/person/month, or US$ 2.24/person/day (VUFO-NGO Resource Centre).

Inequality remains a major challenge in the country. The Gini coefficient, a standard economic measure of income inequality, has worsened (Sumner et al., 2012). The share of GNI to the poorest 40 per cent and to the middle five deciles declined from 19.2 per cent and 51.8 per cent in 1990 to 18.3 per cent and 51.5 per cent in 2009, respectively, while that to the richest decile rose from 29.0 per cent to 30.2 per cent in the same period. The 10 per cent richest people earn 30.2 per cent of GNI, while the 40 per cent poorest earn 18.3 per cent of GNI. As per the latest statistics, Vietnam’s GINI index in 2011 was 37.6. On this indicator, the country was ranked 82nd out of 129 countries worldwide (World Bank, 2012).

Inequality is also reflected in the pattern of educational access in small remote communities. Due to difficulties and challenges such as inadequate human resources, different languages, high poverty rates and lack of adequate financial resources, schooling conditions are hard. It is estimated that 20 per cent of ethnic minority children have no access to primary education (World Bank, 2007).

The state of the economy has also had a visible impact in terms of public expenditure on education in general and higher education in particular. Public expenditure on education has gone up remarkably, from 8.9 per cent of the total government expenditure in 1990 to around 20 per cent between 2008 and 2011. In 2010, Vietnam’s public spending on education accounted for 5.32 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), more than twice the figure of 2.03 per cent in 1990. Compared with other countries, it is a relatively high rate. However, given the low total GDP, which was US$ 123.96 billion in 2011 (World Bank, 2012), the absolute amount of spending is very modest for a system of around 20 million learners at all levels.

People and education

The education reforms that commenced in the late 1980s have led to certain achievements. After 25 years of innovations, the enrolment rate in 2010 at primary, junior secondary and senior secondary education reached 97 per cent, 83 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively (Thủ tướng Chính phủ, 2012b). In addition, there has been a dramatic increase in the enrolment in tertiary education. In 1990, only 2.8 per cent of all people at the official age of tertiary schooling went to a tertiary institution. The figure was 9.7 per cent in 2000 and 22 per cent in 2010 (Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo [Ministry of Education and Training – MOET], 2012). In higher education, the number of students in the total population in 2011 was 245 students per 10,000 persons, ten times higher than in 1987, though the number was much lower than that of neighbouring countries (it was approximately 400 in Thailand, for example). The country has also achieved a high rate of adult literacy, 92.5 per cent.

Despite significant achievements in education, health and income, Vietnam’s HDI (Human Development Indicators) index has been lower than the world average, and the East Asia and Pacific region. Vietnam’s HDI index in 2011 was 0.593 (up from 0.435 in 1990), so that Vietnam was ranked 128 out of 187 countries (UNDP, 2011). In parallel with the low human development index, the labour force is judged to be of low quality and competitiveness. The lack of basic working skills such as knowledge of the English language, computer skills and other soft skills, and inadequate technical and professional skills, is holding the nation back. According to a World Bank survey, up to 60 per cent of vocational graduates need to be retrained after graduation to be able to meet work requirements (Tran Thi Binh, n.d.). Another finding of the survey was that software companies have to retrain 80 per cent of fresh graduates for a year before they can take over job responsibilities.

National Development Strategy and education development strategy

Vietnam’s National Sustainable Development Strategy, promulgated in April 2012, sets general and specific goals and objectives. The key focus areas are people and social developments, and the national priorities of development are education reform and improvement. Among the educational targets, it is expected that in 2020, 70 per cent of the workforce will be trained, compared to 40 per cent in 2010. The number of students in every 10,000 people was originally meant to be 300 in 2015, and 450 in 2020 (Thủ tướng Chính phủ, 2012a). The target was recently adjusted to 256 students per 10,000 population, according to Decision 37/2013/QĐ-TTg, dated 26 June 2013, by the Prime Minister.² The Strategy also focuses on the appropriate management of mobility in the workforce to promote the proper allocation of labour in the population. The Strategy states that there should be substantial and comprehensive education reforms targeted to quality improvement solutions, curriculum updating, pedagogic and methodological innovations at all levels of the education system, and catching up with regional and global educational development.

To realize the goals of the National Sustainable Development Strategy, later in 2012 Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved the Educational Development Strategy. This Strategy sets enrolment targets of 99 per cent and 95 per cent at primary and junior secondary education, respectively. At the senior secondary education level, the graduation rate should reach 80 per cent, and especially 70 per cent of disabled children should have access to education. In vocational and higher education, the Strategy focuses on the system structure, quality assurance (QA) and improvement, graduate competencies and enhancement of labour force competitiveness. The literacy rate among the population aged 15 years and more is set to reach 98 per cent. To realize these goals, the Strategy specifies eight major solution packages, including (1) reforms in education management; (2) development of teaching force and management staff; (3) innovation in curriculum, teaching–learning approaches, testing and assessment methodologies and quality accreditation; (4) increase in investment and innovatory funding and financial mechanisms; (5) enhancement of academic–industry linkages; (6) increased education development support to remote areas, minority ethnics and other disadvantaged people; (7) the development of educational studies; and (8) broadening and improving the effectiveness of internationalization in education (Thủ tướng Chính phủ, 2012b). The successful implementation of these policies will determine the results of the National Development Strategy.

Legislative framework in education: education law and higher education law

In terms of the extent of regulation, Vietnam has an adequate system of legal frameworks and documents specifying educational activities at all levels from laws and sublaws to rules and regulations. At the top level, Vietnam’s Education Law was first enacted in 1998, and has evolved through revisions in 2005, 2009 and 2011. The latest version of the Law has been in effect since July 2010. This Law, consisting of 9 chapters and 120 articles which cover the entire national education system, specifies and regulates educational activities in all sectors at the pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels within the country (Chủ tịch Quốc hội, 2009). Apart from the Education Law, there is a set of regulations on primary schools, junior and senior secondary schools, high schools and universities and colleges that also play a part in the governmental management of the education system.

Under much social pressure, the Law of Higher Education was passed by the National Assembly in August 2012 t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• Part I: Students and Structures
• Part II: The Global Challenge
• Part III: Extending the Boundaries
• Conclusion
• References
• Index