STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE ACADEMY OF FINANCE (AOF) CENTER FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HANOI, VIET NAM FOR THE YEARS 2013-2017 I Brief history of AOF and CFL Academy of Finance – the former name is Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting – was founded in 1963, located in Phuc Yen district, Vinh Yen province, 30 km away from Hanoi The school primarily specialized in providing graduates and post graduates of finance and accounting for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia AOF was founded according to Decision 120/2001 QD/TTg dated August 17th 2001 AOF is a merger between Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting, Institute of Finance Research – IFR, (established in 1963) and Improvement Center for Financial Officers However, IFR and the Improvement Center are two legal entities The activities of HUFA are now directly under the control of AOF As a state owned institution, administrators usually come from in-house staff and teachers and most of them go after their promotion while only few quit or are sacked Most of presidents also come from in-house administrators till their retirement or outside promotion Overall, AOF’s people are almost the same except for the retired and the newly recruited They saw the growth of the school: from a humble 523 students in 1963 to an overflowing number of 7,375 students in 2012 The increase in population has been a witness for the quality education that the school has delivered over the past 49 years CFL was established by the Director of Academy of Finance in 2010 with the aim of providing AOF students with English proficiency to better meet the market’s needs CFL has served 300 learners II Overall performance CFL has enrolled only 300 out of about 7,375 students This is a relatively small number Learners sat in the TOEIC exam on May 20th 2012 and one third has got TOEIC 450 and higher CFL has one manager who majored in Accounting and staff none of who specialize in English 2.1 Major concerns: There are three major concerns of the center First is the size of enrollment CFL is aimed at providing AOF students with a certificate of 450 TOEIC through English courses at AOF campus At present, CFL has served only 300 learners out of about 2000 students who are required to obtain 450 TOEIC within the school year 2013 – 2014 Second is teacher collaboration CFL has hired 50% of teachers from outside FFL, AOF and the rest from FFL, AOF This has raised some difficulties in managing some academic issues Third concern is the building of qualified workforce 2.2 Institutional Activities Overview: Institutional activities are divided into two categories: Major activities and Support activities Major activities of the school/ language center include logistics, operations, marketing and sales Support activities are procurement, technology development, human resource management and infrastructure Identifying the key elements in the activities of the language center is important in order to surface the different strengths and weaknesses of the institution Strategy for the institution will be generated from these 2.3 Evaluation of institutional activities Logistics The Center has a strength of customized courses for AOF learners, while it suffers some weaknesses such as: difficulties for learners and teachers due to the insufficient classroom facilities; not enough investment in technology in teaching force; open on Sunday evenings due to shortage of teachers; not enough attention to upgrading of academic curriculum; and low enrollment Operations The Center’s strengths are strong awareness of teaching methods; strong emphasis on the importance of faculty members; and its weaknesses are very limited programs where students exposure in the actual practice of their courses; limited revenue generation; bad financial situation; low faculty loyalty; low investments in HR; low teacher collaboration Marketing and sales Large budget and reasonable tuition fees are strengths of the Center and its weaknesses are no promotion programs to attract a large number of AOF students; no contact with AOF teachers; no campaign and recruitment medium; and not active website Services The Center has no strength but some weaknesses such as no scholarship program for poor but deserving students; not good coordination of different student organizations; no alumni activities; and poor supports from staff Infrastructure In-house promotion for Vice Director and Director, and other senior positions is the good point in the Center but there is no academic manager; None of the center member majors in English; and promotion regardless the employees’ opinions Human Resource Management The Center has a high profile of teachers and strong staff loyalty as evidence by the low turnover rate Its weaknesses are low faculty loyalty; weak recruitment, hiring and employment policy The process is not stringent enough in order to get the best and qualified faculty; compensation scheme does not emphasize the efficiency; no policy for performance appraisal; no policy to encourage teachers to acquire their masters or doctorate degrees III Proposed strategic plan objectives To prepare AOF students with English proficiency To enhance welfare and competence of teaching and non-teaching employees To enrich curriculum and course offerings key result areas Exam results Placement of graduates Percentage of MBA’s, MA’s and PhD’s Faculty Development Program Staff Development Program Compensation Enrollment market share Curriculum development To modernize facilities Investment in renovation past performance indicators Worse than its competitors No career placement for graduates Decreasing satisfaction from employers 26% Bachelor, 53% Masteral, 21% Doctorate seminars and workshops per year, time per years per faculty 3 seminars and workshops per year, time per years per staff No.1 in English for Accounting and Finance Decided by academicians 21% of classrooms are equipped with computers and projectors; Each unit under department proposed performance indicators Reach the bench- mark Enroll 50% of AOF students No need of retraining graduates 10% Bachelor, 55% Master, 35% Doctorate by 2015 seminars and workshops per year per person time frame before 2016 before 2016 – continuing activity by 2016 beginning in Sept of 20014 – 2020 2014 – continuing activity 3 seminars and 2014 – workshops per year continuing per person activity No.1 in English for Accounting and Finance and TOEIC Decided by academicians and industry practitioners 100% classroom is equipped with computers and projectors; Each unit under department is 2014 – continuing activity; except for English for Acc & Finance course: 2020 – continuing activity by 2015 – once every years activity before 2020 To improve financial stability Liquidity Revenues has one computer No debt Revenues from state budget provided internet No debt Additional revenues 2014 – continuing activiy SWOT matrix External Opportunities Factors Demand of Business and Industry for quality workforce Positive culture for education Government support for education Internal Growing population for the Factors next five years Strengths S.O Strategic Options Strong staff loyalty How can AOF utilize its Convenient location strengths to exploit the AOF’s strong financial opportunities it faces? support Re-engineer focus of AOF’s familiar students vision-mission to learning as a product where students and employers as the customers S1, S2, S3, O1, O2, O3, O4, O5 Strengthen staff loyalty S1, S2, S3, O1, O2, O5 Implement stringent hiring policy S3, O1, O4 Strengthen policy for poor but deserving students S4, O2, O4 Weaknesses Marketing and Sales Weak faculty collocation Insufficient facilities Poor academic management Poor admin support Loose hiring process W.O Strategic Options How can AOF overcome its weaknesses in order to exploit the opportunities? Build corporate image/ center image to attract learners W1, W2, W5, O1 Intensify recruitment program W3, W6, O2, O3, O5 Offer courses responsive to demands of the economy W2, Threats Government regulations Difficulty in forecasting the need of the society Competition from private educational institutions S.T Strategic Options How can AOF utilize its strengths to ward off threats? Strengthen staff loyalty to retain qualified people S1, S2, T1 Strengthen policy to attract master’s and doctorate degree holders to be a faculty S1, S2, T1, T3 Introduce scholarships programs to poor but deserving students S3, S4, T1, T3 Introduce short courses and seminars and workshop on English for accounting and finance issues S4, T2, T3 W.T Strategic Options How can AOF overcome its weaknesses to ward off threats? Build up relationship with FFL and other language centers in the area W1, W2, W3, W4, T2 Implement guest-teacher program with FFL W3, W4, W6, T1 W4, O5 The Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Matrix which is the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the school fitted to the opportunities and threats identified in Part I draw the different strategic options enumerated in the table above 3.1 Comparison with the current strategy Functional areas Changes Organizational involving the all stakeholders of the school and center Strategy getting all the school’s people committed to the vision-mission statement HRM strategy incorporating both theory and practice in faculty and staff development program with priority of faculty over staff aggressive and active recruitment strategies efficiency of the employees being considered in compensation and benefit scheme Operations Strategy involvement of FFL and AOF key persons in curriculum development applying learner-centered teaching method more intensively and improving the traditional methods implementing Customer Relationship Management program new short course offerings establishment of Quality Control Unit Marketing Strategy creating the position of Marketing and Recruitment Officer implementing direct marketing activities: FFL teachers can be a good influence Financial Strategy source additional revenues 3.2 Management of changes Strategic plan for CFL to manage above-mentioned changes is in Organization, HRM, Operations, Marketing and Finance In HRM Strategy, Faculty Development Guidelines and Staff Development should be implemented General Recruitment Guidelines for Staff and Faculty is also important Position description and announcement, Recruitment strategies, Recruitment Advertising Plan are to help increase the quality of the Center’s workforce Compensation and Benefits should also be the key area to encourage staff and teachers to work effectively and creatively In Operations Strategy, Curriculum Development, Teaching Method, Customer Relationship Management – CRM and Short course offerings are key areas in operations to improve the Center performance