TOWARDS A STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR INTERNATIONALIZATION OF VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS A DISSERTATION Presented to The Faculty of Educational Leadership & Management Department College of Education De La Salle University – Manila In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education major in Educational Leadership & Management By LÊ HOÀNG DŨNG Manila, September 2008 ii iii Acknowledgements This dissertation project would not have been possible without the help and assistance in various forms and from different sources. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my faculty adviser, Dr. Almonte-Acosta, whose enthusiasm, advice and suggestions have guided me through the stages of this study. My special thanks also extend to the panel chair and members, Dr.
Carmelita Pabiton, Dr. Bago and Dr. Yasa, whose insightful recommendations have greatly helped me in making possible adjustments and necessary purification on this research project. I would also sincerely thank the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA) who have so far sponsored my study at the De La Salle University-Manila as well DLSU-UBCHEA program coordinators from College of Education, especially Dr.
Barbara Wong Fernandez, Dr. Rodeol Masilungan, and Ms. Tina, among others for their help in academic matters and administrative facilitation before and during my enrolment at this University. I also thank the Faculty of Department of Educational Leadership and Management, whose instruction, experience, and inspiration have been a great source of encouragement for my instillation of the topic for this study from its infancy stage to completion of this report.
I also thank Mr. Sok Uttara and other local and foreign classmates at DLSU-Manila for their sharings and insights regarding this research topic since its early stages. May I also thank the administrators of my home institution, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU–HCMC as well as the Former Dean Nguyễn Huỳnh Đạt, Dr. Nguyễn Tiến Hùng, Dean Dr.
Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Dr. Tô Minh Thanh, my professors and my faculty iv colleagues from the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, for their facilitation, encouragement, and assistance so that I was able to have a chance to pursue this course. This study could not have been completed without the very special help, document provision, willingness, participation and informative answers of all respondents from the University of Economics-HCMC, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities-HCMC, the University of Technology, Van Hien University, HCMC University of Technology, HCMC University of Foreign Languages, and Information Technology, and HCMC Open University. To all of their great help am I in debt.
May I acknowledge the help of Prof. Nguyễn Viết Lâm from National Economic University (Ha Noi), Ms. Trần Thị Bích Liên from University of Social Sciences & Humanities (HCMC), my colleague faculties, and students who participated in the pilot test, and whose insights, and recommendations were another important source of reference for adjustment and supplementation of the research instruments. I also appreciate the help from Dr.
Lê Hữu Phước, Prof. Nguyễn Viết Lâm, Ms. Trần Thị Bích Liên, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hạnh, Mr.
Lê Khánh Điền, Ms. Hoàng Tố Uyên, Mr. Nguyễn Công Trí, Ms. Huỳnh Xuân Nhựt, Ms.
Nguyễn Thị Hồng, Mr. Trần Thị Tuyết Trinh, Ms. Văn Thị Hồng Loan, Ms. Diễm Thúy, Ms.
Bùi Thị Thúy Quyên, among many others for either their introducing me to the selected HEIs or distributing and collecting the survey questionnaires. Thanks also go to Mr. Nguyễn Thành Trung for his help in translating some Chinese names into English. Last but never least, my special love, thanks and gratitude are also extended to my beloved family including my grandmother, ‘mommies’ and ‘daddies’, my wife, my daughter, my aunt and uncle, and my cousins, whose love, hope, inspiration and expectation have nurtured my life in this work and without whom I could have not been able to complete this research project.
As I now recall the non-stop working days, from the bottom of my heart I would again say “Thank You Very Much” to all. v Dedication I dedicate this work to my beloved family, whose spirit and encouragement have always been present all my life and work, and especially to my little daughter whose daily long-distance calls have kept urging me and pushing me through. vi Statement of originality I hereby declare that this study is my original work and the results of my ceaseless working days under pressure to address my curiosity and desire to better apprehend the actual practices of internationalization in Vietnamese context and to my aspiration to contribute something to the improvement of my homeland’s education. vii Table of Contents Title page .v Statement of originality .vi Table of Contents.
vii List of abbreviations .xi List of Tables. xii List of Figures .xiv CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY .1 A REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE .4 Definitions of internationalization in higher education .4 Reasons, motivations and rationales for internationalization .10 Modes of cross-border education and strategies/elements of internationalization .14 Models and/or frameworks of internationalization .19 Approaches to internationalization .24 Practices of internationalization in other countries .26 Trends of development of higher education internationalization .34 Benefits and risks of globalization/internationalization and roles of the national HE .45 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .50 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.51 DELIMITATIONS AND LIMITATIONS .53 RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY AND SOURCES OF DATA .61 COLLECTION OF DATA .63 viii TREATMENT OF DATA .63 CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND FINDINGS .66 WITHIN-CASE ANALYSIS .83 Summary of CASE A –INSTITUTION A .111 Summary of CASE B –Institution B .143 Summary of CASE C -INSTITUTION C .181 Summary of CASE D –INSTITUTION D .216 Summary of CASE E –INSTITUTION E .253 Summary of CASE F –INSTITUTION F.254 CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS .259 Current status of internationalization of the selected HEIs in light of Knight’s model .259 Other common features of the selected HEIs’ current practices of internationalization.271 Factors that affected internationalization of the selected Vietnamese HEIs.275 Positive factors to internationalization of the selected HEIs .276 Negative factors to internationalization of the selected HEIs.277 DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS .282 Three major findings on the current status of Vietnamese HEIs’ internationalization .283 Four major findings on factors that prevented development of Vietnamese HEIs’ internationalization .298 CHAPTER 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .303 Contributions of the study .304 Tentative directions for further research .326 APPENDIX A Summary tables of INSTITUTION A’s faculties’ and students’ responses.326 APPENDIX B Summary tables of INSTITUTION B’s faculties’ and students’ responses .329 APPENDIX B1 List of INSTITUTION B’S international linkages.333 APPENDIX C Summary tables of INSTITUTION C’s faculties’ and students’ responses .333 APPENDIX D Summary tables of INSTITUTION D’s faculties’ and students’ responses.337 APPENDIX D1 List of majors offered by Institution D .340 APPENDIX D2 List of Institution D’s foreign linkages .341 APPENDIX D3 List of Institution D’s annual scholarship and exchange programs .342 APPENDIX D4 List of Institution D’s MOUs signed with foreign partners .342 APPENDIX E Summary tables of INSTITUTION E’s faculties’ and students’ responses.346 APPENDIX E1 Lists of Institution E’s joint training programs .349 APPENDIX E2 List of MOUs signed between Institution E and foreign partners .350 APPENDIX F Summary tables of INSTITUTION F’s faculties’ and students’ responses .351 APPENDIX F1 List of INSTITUTION F’s foreign linkage activities .355 APPENDIX G Letter to Administrator & Faculty Respondents.356 APPENDIX H Letter to Student Respondents .357 APPENDIX I1 Interview Questionnaire to Top Administrators (English & Vietnamese) .358 APPENDIX I2 Interview Questionnaire (2) (to middle administrators) .365 APPENDIX I3 Survey Questionnaire to Faculty Respondents (in English & Vietnamese) .370 APPENDIX I4 Survey Questionnaire to Student Respondents (in English).380 xi List of abbreviations ADSL Asymmetrical digital subscriber line CFVG CFVG was founded by the Vietnamese Government and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is operated by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIP) CPC Communist Party Committee EGP English for General Purposes ESP English for Specific Purposes GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services GPA Grade Point Average HCMC Ho Chi Minh City HE Higher Education HEI(s) Higher Education Institution(s) HR/HRD Human Resources/Human Resource Development ICT(s) Information and Communication Technology/Technologies IT Information Technology LCD LCD projector (Liquid-Crystal Display) MF Mean score given by faculty respondents MF, S Mean score given by both faculty and student respondents MOET Ministry of Education and Training (of Vietnam) MOET-supervised Supervised by Ministry of Education and Training MS Mean score given by student respondents NF Number of Faculty respondents NGO(s) Non-Governmental Organization(s) NS Number of Student respondents OECD Organization of Economic and Cultural Development TOEIC Test of English for International Communication UK The United Kingdom UNESCO United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization US The United States of America VG Vietnamese Government VN Vietnam VND Vietnam Dong (Currency) VNU-HCM Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City WTO World Trade Organization xii List of Tables Table 1 Institutional-level program and organization strategies of internationalization. 17 Table 2 Approaches to internationalization at Institutional Level. 25 Table 3 A pattern for understanding internationalization practices at institutional level.
49 Table 4 Respondents of the study. 57 Table 5 Summary of interview and questionnaire items. 60 Table 6 Summary of CASE A –INSTITUTION A. 83 Table 7 Summary of CASE B –INSTITUTION B.
112 Table 8 Summary of CASE C –INSTITUTION C. 144 Table 9 Summary of CASE D –INSTITUTION D. 183 Table 10 Summary of CASE E –INSTITUTION E. 218 Table 11 Summary of CASE F –INSTITUTION F.
255 Table 12 Summary of the selected HEIs’ practices in light of seven-phase internationalization. 260 xiii List of Figures Figure 1 Davies’ Matrix Model (1992). 20 Figure 2 Internationalization Cube. 21 Figure 3 A map of related literature on internationalization of higher education.
42 Figure 4 Internationalization cycle. 45 Figure 5 The study triangulation. 54 Figure 6 Research design. 62 Figure 7 Current status of internationalization of the selected Vietnamese HEIs.
261 Figure 8 A proposed strategic framework for development of Vietnamese HEIs’ institutional internationalization. 302 xiv ABSTRACT Internationalization of higher education has become central to a large number of education agenda in the world as well as in Vietnam, particularly upon its official participation and commitment to GATS recently in 2007. This descriptive and explorative multiple case study, which employed two-level triangulation method inquired into a better understanding of the current status and practices of internationalization at six selected universities, both public and non-public, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This study, which adopted Knight’s seven-phase internationalization cycle (1995) as its conceptual framework, mainly aimed to apprehend their current status of internationalization and identify factors that affected their internationalization.
The study data were the answers from focused interviews with 26 (8 senior and 18 middle) administrators, survey results from structured questionnaires administered to 125 faculties and 332 full-time undergraduate students (including selected interviews with their representatives), and documentation. The study came up with three major findings on both current status of and factors affecting internationalization of Vietnamese HEIs. Remarkably, quality assurance was the key rationale and motivation behind these HEIs’ effort towards internationalization, and that their internationalization was mainly inhibited by their own institutional context, particularly their lack of institutional commitment, strategic plan for internationalization, and insufficient internal resources for it, etc. These findings led to four major recommended strategies for enhancing internationalization of Vietnamese HEIs, which were formulated in a proposed framework for their internationalization at present.
CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Higher education (HE) is no longer isolated in a nation’s boundary and has increasingly become a real part of the globalization process, which is obviously seen in increasing mobility of academic programs, students and professors, among others, across countries.