Vietnam is a dynamic member of the community of Southeast Asian nations.
Consistent with aspirations across the region, it is seeking to develop
its higher education system as rapidly as possible. Vietnam's approach
stands out, however, as being extremely ambitious. Indeed, it may be at
risk of attempting to do too much too quickly. By 2020, for example,
Vietnam expects its higher education system to be advanced by modern
standards and highly competitive in international terms. This vision
faces many challenges. The economy, though growing rapidly, remains
reliant on the availability of unskilled labour and the exploitation of
natural resources, and decision making in many areas of public life
continues to be hamstrung by a legacy of over-regulation and centralised
control. A large number of goals and objectives have been set for reform
of the higher education system by 2020. The success of these reforms
will have a major bearing on the future quality of the system.
This sober assessment Vietnam's global competitiveness forms a backdrop
to the subject matter of this book, that is, the state of Vietnam's
higher education system. The book provides a comprehensive and scholarly
review of various dimensions of the higher education system in Vietnam,
including its recent history, its structure and governance, its teaching
and learning culture, its research and research commercialisation
environment, its socio-economic impact, its strategic planning
processes, its progress with quality accreditation, and its experience
of internationalisation and privatisation.
