The origin and development of the higher education system in Vietnam

Vietnam has a long history of higher education (Fry, 2009; Pham & Fry, 2004; Pham, 1995). In 1076, the Royal College (Văn Miếu Quốc Tử Giám), considered as

the first university in Vietnam, was founded at the Temple of Literature during the Ly Dynasty to transmit moral education to children of dignitaries (Pham, 1995). The history of modern Vietnamese higher education has been generally examined since 1945 when the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established. The new government rebuilt the higher education system in reaction to French legacies. For example, French colonialism led to over 90 percent of the Vietnamese population being illiterate even in their own language, with few colleges founded in Vietnam between 1858 and 1945 (Bui, 2008). It was reported that there was only one university in the Indochinese Peninsula until 1945 (Bui, 2008). The new Vietnamese government focused on eradicating illiteracy and establishing new universities.

According to Le (2008), the higher education system in the North of Vietnam experienced many difficulties from 1945 to 1975. Institutions had to move to mountainous and rural provinces due to the French re-invasion and the American escalation in the North, resulting in less classroom time and fewer teaching facilities, a factor which has had serious consequences for higher education in Vietnam since the end of the occupation (Le et al., 1985; Pham & Fry, 2004) .

Between 1954 and 1975, Vietnam was divided into the North and the South, resulting in the existence of two parallel systems of higher education (Fry, 2009; Le & Sloper, 1995). In the North, the Communist school model of the former Soviet Union was applied to Vietnamese universities. This model favoured education in politics and ideology; therefore, Marxism and Leninism became official subjects in higher education in the North. Many Russian experts came to Vietnam to help build universities, while outstanding Vietnamese students were sent to Russia and other Eastern European countries to study. These students later returned to Vietnam and held key positions in many fields, explaining the persistence of elements of the Soviet education system.

In the South, under American educational influence, the higher education system included four autonomous institutes, namely Saigon, Hue, Can Tho, and Thu Duc Technology institutes, divided into universities or faculties. After unification in 1975, Vietnam’s system of higher education was unified and the Communist model of universities was also applied in the South of Vietnam.

The policy of economic innovation in 1986 in Vietnam resulted in crucial changes for the Vietnamese higher education system (George, 2010; Le, 1991; Pham,

1995). During the 1990s, the government recognised the importance of education in the social and economic development of Vietnam and the need for the higher education system to be reformed and expanded (Hayden & Lam, 2010; Pham, 1995). In 1993, the government introduced new regulations to significantly reform the system of higher education (Hayden & Lam, 2010). It replaced the Soviet model which was generally small, specialised colleges and institutes, with a unified national system of large, comprehensive, research oriented universities. The reduction of the government control, the expansion of training quantity, and diversification of training modes were the transformative changes for higher education in this period (Nguyen, 2014b; Pham & Fry, 2004).

The last decade has witnessed further significant changes in Vietnamese higher education due to Vietnam’s integration in the global community. There has been a pressing need to train a more skilled labour force to meet the requirements of global integration and the country’s goal of industrialisation and modernisation by 2020 (Harman & Nguyen, 2010). During 2001-2010, the system of Vietnamese higher education was directed towards the Strategy for Educational Development (2001- 2010), which has the prime guiding principles for education: “Education as a top national policy; Develop a Vietnamese popular, national and modern education; Education as a common cause for the State and all people” (Nguyen, 2010a, p. 200). The objectives for higher education in Vietnam in this period were “to provide high quality human resources in line with the socio-economic structure of the industrialisation and modernisation of the nation; enhance the competitiveness in fair co-operation for Vietnam in its international economic integration” (MoET, 2001, p. 24). In 2004, the government identified fourteen “key” higher education institutions in order to provide more resources, and encouraged innovation. In 2005, the Higher Education Reform Agenda (HERA) indicated the main shortcomings of the system, and passed new visions for improvement by 2020.

According to the Resolution of HERA (MoET, 2005), Vietnam has reformed the system of higher education fundamentally and comprehensively. The major points are summarised by Hayden and Lam (2010) as follows. It is important to note that the last two points show the Government’s commitment to innovate teaching and assessment approaches in Vietnamese universities.

• Expand the higher education system

• Increase the number of qualified teachers to ensure a staff/student ratio of (1:20)

• Establish two types of higher education institutions, one to be research-oriented and the other to be more vocationally applied

• Expand the private sector (40 percent of all higher education enrolments by 2020)

• Develop an advanced research and development culture

• Transit from annual training to credit-based training

• Innovate curriculum which must be linked to practice

• Innovate teaching methods by applying interactive teaching modes and information and communication technologies

• Adopt teaching methods in higher education which focus on developing the autonomy of learners.

It has been argued that these reforms are ambitious in the context of Vietnam (Brooks, 2010; Harman & Nguyen, 2010; Hayden & Lam, 2010; Nguyen, Oliver, et al., 2009; Pham, 2010b). Hayden and Lam (2010) believe that there is a paradox because while the system has attempted to expand rapidly, it has been difficult to ensure a sufficient number of qualified academic staff and thus enhance the quality of the system. This predicament provides challenges for Vietnamese higher education.

Many significant achievements of Vietnamese higher education have been recorded since 1986. There has been a rapid growth in the number of universities and colleges in Vietnam, from 101 in 1987 (Bui, 2010; MoET, 2009) to 436 in 2015 (MoET, 2015). Young Vietnamese people now have a number of opportunities to participate in higher education (Hayden & Lam, 2010). According to Nguyen (2010a), these achievements include an increase in social equity, and in social participation in education. This means Vietnamese higher education has changed significantly from the model of “ivory-tower’ education” (Nguyen, Oliver, et al., 2009, p. 123) influenced by the ancient Chinese, French and the former Soviet Union, to an educational model for the masses. This achievement is considered as a positive change to build a knowledge society in Vietnam.

Despite these positive achievements, the higher education system in Vietnam continues to face many challenges. Quality has been a major concern, because most universities have been in transition from annual training to credit-based learning. This means that teachers are now expected to adopt a student-centred approach in their teaching and assessment in order to develop students’ autonomy in a more flexible

curriculum. Despite these changes, research has found that the numbers of staff, curriculum, teaching methods, and facilities have remained almost unchanged (Nguyen, 2011). According to Nguyen, Oliver et al. (2009, p. 123), “the government is under great pressure to increase access while simultaneously raising the quality of higher education”.

Some characteristics of Chinese and the former Soviet Union education systems remain (Bui, 2010; Nguyen, Oliver, et al., 2009), as impediments to quality. Educational approaches such as the separation of teaching and research, and centralised management in the former Soviet Union’s education system, combine to prevent Vietnamese higher education from striving for autonomy and building research-oriented universities (Hayden & Lam, 2007; Nguyen, Oliver, et al., 2009). Further, the model of transmission influenced by Confucian culture is believed to limit students’ critical and creative thinking skills, and has a negative impact on the quality

of training (Harman & Nguyen, 2010).

The Vietnamese higher education system has attempted to perform a radical transformation to meet the country’s needs. At the policy level, the Vietnamese government passed the Higher Education Law on 18th June 2012, to regulate the process of teaching and learning. The regulations in this law strongly assert the autonomy of universities, the expansion of private universities, and diverse training modes to enhance the quality of training. At a practical level, profound changes in financial investment, curriculum, teaching methods, modern facilities for study, and educational management have been supported and implemented to enhance quality. To integrate into the global higher education community, many Western educational approaches have been introduced and applied (Pham, 2011b). However, Vietnamese cultural, social and historical factors need to be considered if Western policies and practices are to be adopted or adapted for successful inclusion in Vietnamese education (Nguyen, Oliver, et al., 2009; Pham & Gillies, 2010).

2.3.3 Teaching and learning in current Vietnamese higher education

Because of the cultural, historical and political factors described above, Vietnamese students are used to learning through memorisation of facts (McCornac & Phan, 2005; Pham, 2010a). In recent years, innovation in the practice of teaching and learning has been encouraged by the government. Interactive models, which focus on developing the autonomy of learners, are now promoted in Vietnamese universities

(Harman & Nguyen, 2010). Information and community technologies are also increasing in popularity.

Despite policy changes and directives, many issues still need to be addressed in the practices of teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities. Teaching is still predominantly teacher-centered (Harman & Nguyen, 2010; Nguyen, 2010a; Pham, 2010b). One reason for this is that many lecturers lack understanding of concepts such as ‘learner autonomy’ and how to motivate students’ autonomy (Nguyen, 2014a; Phan, 2015), while some also lack the confidence to implement these new concepts in their classes (Nguyen, 2014a). The rigid teacher/student hierarchy continues (Harman & Nguyen, 2010; Luong, 2015; Pham, 2010b) and poor teaching facilities have also contributed to limitations in teaching and learning (Nguyen, Nguyen, & Sloper, 1995; Pham, 2010b).

Furthermore, teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities tends to be directed by tests (Can, 2011). As educational qualifications are considered as the most important factor to get well-paid jobs, Vietnamese students usually try their best to attain high scores in their exams. As a result, Vietnamese lecturers are under pressure regarding their students’ scores due to the common understanding that students’ scores reflect a lecturer’s teaching ability and the reputation of a university. In credit-based training, as students have a choice of lecturers for their subjects, so the scores of students in the previous course may impact on the decisions of students in the next course. To improve the quality of teaching and learning, it has been suggested that the system needs more resources and significant changes in all areas (Hayden & Lam, 2010).

Changes in the assessment system should be a critical part of this reform. Such changes could shape teaching and learning because assessment, teaching and learning are closely interrelated (Assessment Reform Group, 2002b; Boud & Associates, 2010). For instance, if assessment tasks only require students to recall knowledge, then a student’s approach to learning will be at a surface level (Trigwell, 2010). This is in conflict with the expectations for students in higher education to build and demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills. For this reason, reforming the assessment system is believed to be important to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in Vietnam (Nguyen, Oliver, et al., 2009; Nguyen, 2010b).