Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemInternational practices in quality assurance for higher education teaching and learning: prospects and possibilities for Vietnam( 2003)For the last decade, improving the quality of teaching and learning has been high on the agenda of the Vietnamese government and central to higher education (HE) in Vietnam. Recent plans for establishing a national quality assurance system in Vietnamese higher education have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). This research introduces the cultural and social background of Vietnamese higher education by presenting its history, and the influences that other countries have had on Vietnamese values, traditions and beliefs. It also explores the experiences of quality assurance in Western higher education, and several adaptations by Asian countries that have implemented quality assurance in their higher education systems. It then proposes a possible model for the establishment of a quality assurance (QA) system in Vietnamese higher education. The thesis also focuses on cultural obstacles for establishing a national quality assurance system in Vietnam. The study has found that Western approaches to quality assurance cannot be adopted without modification in Vietnam. Fundamental characteristics upon which Western quality assurance is based include institutional autonomy, accountability, transparency, strategic planning, consensus, close relationships between universities and industries, and well-chosen mechanisms for quality assurance. Those characteristics are still poorly developed in Vietnam. In addition, the study observes that quality assurance systems in Asian countries, which are culturally different from Western countries, have experienced many difficulties when adopting quality assurance approaches from the West. Moreover, the most successful quality assurance systems in Asia are found among those with the most Westernised systems. 1) The Vietnamese perception of quality is different from that in Western cultures. The findings of the study reveal that quality in Vietnamese higher education is viewed as not only transforming students according to course objectives but also meeting the needs of a rapidly changing society such as Vietnam; 2) Frequent surveys to collect clients' opinions on the quality of graduates in order to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning are currently considered as an appropriate option for external quality evaluation in Vietnam; 3) There are several significant cultural obstacles to establishing a national quality assurance system in Vietnam; and 4) Vietnamese higher education can adopt a quality assurance system using models from Western and some advanced Asian countries but this would require strict adherence to basic principles of quality assurance that challenge the core characteristics, beliefs, and values underpinning Vietnam's forms of higher education.
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ItemThe potential of appraisal policies to improve the quality of teaching in Ho Chi Minh city College of Education, Vietnam( 2000)Appraisal policies in universities are important and essential for improving the quality of teaching, especially in Vietnam, where education is considered one of decisive factors that helps to develop the country. In order to encourage teachers to improve their work, attention to university appraisal policies may provide guidance to evaluate and improve teacher performance. In this investigation it is argued that the current appraisal policies in Vietnamese HE generally and in The College of Education particularly, are not effective in encouraging teachers to improve their work, as the policies do not have powerful and full working processes to appraise teachers’ work. It is also claimed that if student evaluations could be used to give teachers feedback on their teaching performance, the quality of teaching would be improved. In addition, this study explores the use of student evaluations of teacher work and their ability to be used in Vietnamese Higher Education. This is a critical element for success in changing policy. One leading hypothesis of this research is that if tradition in Vietnamese education is aided by a more open view concerning the use of learners' evaluations to appraise teachers' work - based on the assumption that teachers would perform better if students expect them to be better - teachers would perform more effectively. It is demonstrated in the dissertation that in an educational organisation if teachers could get the feedback from various sources of information on their work, the quality of their teaching would be improved. In an open-market society as Vietnam, the education system seems to be backward compared with other industries. More well educated people with critical thinking are required by the society. If the education system is to survive, it should become more open to change, including teacher appraisal.