Towards an efficacious system of internationalization of higher education in vietnam at present time

International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives TOWARDS AN EFFICACIOUS SYSTEM OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIETNAM AT PRESENT TIME Thái Thanh Sơn, Prof H a n o i O p en U niversity, V ietnam Abstract In this short paper we hope to be able to explain to this audience of high qualified specialists our simple remarks leading to first imagination of some models for a system of IHE in Vietnam W HY? Firstly, w e’d like to determine the reason why Internationalization in Higher Education needs to be realized and developed faster and stronger in Vietnam at the present time W HO? In this second part, we try to analyze the target groups of potential learners who should attend and could benefit from IHE in Vietnam, after some principal and most important criteria W H AT? In the third part of our presentation we propose some principal fields of specialties most needed for the current social economic development in Vietnam, and the most important skill and know-how to be trained for future learners through IHE We also try to propose the content of training curriculum in these specialties which will cope with the current demand of the economy HOW ? Basing on the determination of the potential learners mentioned above, we propose some most suitable forms o f training, criteria for choosing international partners For conclusion, we refer to the problem of organization of an efficacious system of IHE as well as to touch the problem of criteria of national human resource we need to prepare for working in this system Basically, Vietnam is an agricultural country with more than 70% of the population living in undeveloped rural, mountainous and remote areas Many of the principal export products with low value added come from agriculture, fishery and natural raw materials Besides the natural resource and the geo-political position, one of the most precious and important national capital of Vietnam is its manpower resources: millions and millions of laborious and intelligent young Vietnamese people with long tradition of learning, working and overcoming all difficulties However, the biggest disadvantages of this manpower resource - especially among the majority of rural population - are the limitation of know-how, the shortcoming of basic education and skill training which may not adapt them with the actual social economical condition and situation in the world Great achievements o f a continual development in more than 25 years in the period of the Social Economical Renovation - ĐỒI MỚI - have transformed Vietnam into a low-medium income country since 2010 but in fact, at present Vietnam still is a poor and undeveloped country in the region and in the world as well The current fast social economic development of the country - namely after the adherence of Vietnam to WTO - requires a corresponding development of high quality manpower resource [1], [2] A t present the developm ent o f human resource in general and o f high quality skilled workforce in particular is o f vital im portance fo r the Vietnamese nation 64 International Conference Internationalization o f H igher Education: North-South Perspectives WHY?-THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONALIZATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION In the past, Vietnam had to endure the impacts of a 30 years long war time (1945 - 1975) and then the heavy consequenqes of a long economic embargo (1975 - 1990), the country had been isolated from the rest of the world for too long time In period 1980 - 2000 when Vietnam begin to reintegrate with the worldwide social economic community, a big percentage of national workforce were formerly trained along different lines Nowadays they reveal inadequacies in the new condition of the open-market economy Moreover, facing the fast development of the econom y, the booming of scien ces and technology at this current digital era in the world, the national education and training sector, up to present time, still expose great shortcomings in many new fields of knowledge and technologies Implementation of new modern fields, new methods of training, facing the traditional education in a country, are obviously not an easy and simple problem With a big effort to raise suitable investment, we can try to get all the necessary infrastructures and facilities for training, but in a short time we can never assemble and organize a training community with experienced managers, advisers, specialists and lecturers! Moreover, in many training fields, the social environment is also a very important condition for learners to experiment and practice in order to improve their skill, knowledge and know-how and also their thinking Therefore, in every developing countries, at first steps in the development of new modern education and training, especially in higher and postgraduate education, international co-operation of higher education ICOHE - was being carried out under various forms: Using foreign training materials and training curricula with suitable adaptations, inviting experienced visiting lecturers from developed countries for national institutions, organizing international joint training projects and even accepting the establishment of campuses for foreign institutions International experiences proved that internationalization of education is a very efficacious supplementary support to national education in developing countries .[6], [7] Together with the efforts in the renovation and restructuring of the national education, during the last decades, many projects and activities in internationalization of Higher education - ICOHE - had been carried out in Vietnam Many of them have brought remarkable results, but there are also some projects which are not very efficacious and the learners graduated from these projects are not high evaluated by employers and by the society as well WHO? - TARGET GROUPS FOR INTERNATIONALIZATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION PRO JECTS To enhance the efficacy of ICOHE in Vietnam at present time, first and foremost of internationalization of incountry training co-operation, we are trying to analyze the characteristic features of different groups of potential learners after these following criteria A In te llig e n ce : A1: Excellent A2: Fairly good A3: Normal B Financial situation: B1: Rich family 65 International Conference Internationalization o f H igher Education: North-South Perspectives B2: Medium B3: Low income c A ge: C1: Youth (U 20) C2: Adult (U40 or over) Due to the high cost - comparing to the tuition fees of other traditional incountry institutions - the sub group B3 will not be potential learners in ICOHE For young learners - group C1: A1 * B 1: They always have intention and great possibility to look for top institutions in the country or for renowned foreign institutions A2 * B1 and even A * B1: Almost these families are looking for opportunities to send children to second/third class institutions in developed countries A1 * B2, A2 * B2: Most of them can have opportunities to find scholarships for studying incountry or overseas Then the young potential learners of in country ICOHE mostly concentrated in the sub group of medium income family B2 and some from the subgroups A2*B1 and A3*B1, i.e young students of average learning c a p a c ity b u t issu e d fro m rich fa m ilies For adult learners - group C2: Adult learners come back to study only because formerly they had no opportunities to finish their study continuously Due to their current occupation (Job, position, family ) most of them don’t have opportunity to study for long time (over 1- years) away from home, many o f them prefer part time study systems So they should be potential learners of incountry ICOHE projects (but only not includes the subgroup of low income - B3) They-are-already-grQ wn-up-and-have-gathered-som e-life-experiencer-therefore-m ost-Gfthem -perceive-clearly the real necessity of further education But in some cases, the wrong goal of a small number of learners is only: looking for a d eg ree - and not for knowledge - which m ay help them seeking for som e social position (?) A very important remark: Potential learners o f in country ĨCOHE projects are alm ost o f fairly intelligence and o f m edium fam ily income WHAT? - OBJECTIVES OF 1COHE PROJECTS IN VIETNAM AT PRESENT TIME Responding to the national social - economical demands in the forthcoming period, the government of Vietnam had set up the following objectives for national education and training sector.[2],[5] Improving th e p u b lic culture level - NÂNG CAO DÂN TRÍ - this can be compared with the well-known form ulas “Learning to KNOW, Learning to LIVE TOGETHER "in the famous report of Jacques Delors & Collaborators : "Learning - The Treasure within, The Platform o f Education in the 21st century" 66 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: Nođh-South Perspectives T in in g human resource - Đ À O TẠO NHÂN LỰC - this can be roughly understood in the same way as the formulas in J D e lo rs' report: “Learning to DO, Learning to B E ' F o ste rin g scientific talents - BÒI DƯỠNG NHÂN TÀI - this objective is very significant for the development of a prosperous and civilized Vietnam nation in the coming future In this paper I would like to limit myself in the frame o f International co-operation projects of education and training, run inside the country, organized and managed by Vietnamese education institutions The goal o f these projects, in general, is to train, to provide to the economy and the society large number of popular workers We shall not discuss about the objective o f improving the public culture level (it is the principal task of primary/secondary education and/or o f many social organizations) and about the objective of fostering (a very small number of) Vietnamese talents, future high ranking scientists or researchers! Seen the analysis previously made in part 2, we think that the principal - and may be the unique - goal of all ICOHE projects have to be concentrated in the 2nd objective: B u ild in g and tra in in g skille d m anpower resource, practitioners I workers but not theoreticians to cope with the current demands - very popular - in the national economy The choose o f objective will decide the exact fields of training and also the accurate content of training curriculum Besides, due to the difficulty of the ICOHE projects, due to the restricted investment in facilities and equipments for doing practice and experiments, we had better not include training specialties in many fields o f heavy industries: Construction, Electricity, Radio-electronics, Mechanical construction, Chemical industry, and Medicine etc One more important remark: Everybody - specifically future employers of our ICOHE projects students always think that one o f the emergent advantages o f ICOHE students - comparing with other students in incountry institutions - is their foreign language skill and their acquaintance with thinking and behavior of foreign partners The communication skill, in particular international communication, normally can assure almost 50% for the success for a person in his job! And it would be quite absurd and unbelievable if a person graduated from a renowned institution of some developed country but couldn’t endow with pretty good standards the use of the language or had no knowledge about the tradition, the thinking and the general social condition of that country: he cannot carry out favorable communication and relationship with foreign partners This gap can lead to the suspect of employers, o f future partners about the real capacity o f graduated students from some ICOHE projects and even more to the doubt about the training quality of the institutions! (I ask your pardon for my frank and sincere remark: It is a common shortcoming in many ICOHE projects run in Vietnam previously and/or presently, perh ap s due to the time limitation of each project or b ec au se of the lack of thoughtful care from organization managers!) A last, but not least, demand to all ICOHE project students is the skill of using computer and Internet services, although they will be studying and/or working in any field of specialties For foreign students and also for Vietnamese who have been studying for some time overseas - even at primary and secondary schools, the use o f computer and Internet services at our present tim e become a daily necessity, and a universal habitude Meanwhile for a proportion of our incountry students, especially for those who come from remote areas or mountainous regions, computing skill is something a bit strange, not very friendly The situation is still worse with adult learners, particularly those who are studying/ working in the non technical fields of specialties! [1], [3], [4] According to my personal opinion, the effectiveness of an ICOHE project will has to be evaluated follow these criteria 67 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives *1/ The conformity of knowledge and skills o f graduated students with the current demands of the economy, the society, and the worldwide manpower marketl Direct consequences: Large acceptance of employers, big possibility of students finding jobs and positions in the national and/or international economy *9/ Tho hinh c" /a!uatinn nnd the rp,pngnition nf thp cnn;:,c!tw nf ni-arinatert students in the society Consequences: Great attraction for potential learners and big number of participants for many continual courses of each project To cope with not only the current demand of the national economy but also with the demand of the worldwide manpower market, I think that the goal of ICOHE projects in Vietnam at present time is to train, to provide: High qualified skilled practical workers, using foreign language fluently, well acquainted with computer and Internet services, having thorough grasp of communication ability with foreign partners HOW? - SOME PROPOSALS FOR THE ORGANISATIONS OF ICOHE PROJECTS In order to realize the objectives mentioned in Part 2, we are bold enough to raise some proposals for a group of ICOHE projects being conducted in Vietnam at present time and in the neart future 4.1 Fields and contents of training programs: ®Concentrate on practical social economic subjects and training fields in: Business administration, Finance, Banking, Accounting and Commerce, with sufficient complements in new technical applications of Mathematical models and Computing skill: E-Business, E-Commerce, EAdministration, E-Banking etc ® Strengthen for learner’s foreign languages skill, knowledge and capacity in communication skill, especially in international relationship ® Enhance the habitude and skill of using computer and Internet services for students, especially for adult learners 472r~DurationandTepartltion-of training-process: e F o r un de rg d u a te p ro g m s : Total.duration: years, Full time, divided into stages: 1/ 1st stage: months - year: strengthen considerably foreign language skill (for instance in English: really equivalent to IELTS 5, orTO E LF 500 evaluated through international test) Fulfill some essential fundamental courses equivalent to the 1st year in American Community college, or the Foundation year of British system / 2nd s ta g e : 1,5 - 2,5 years: Delivery of courses mainly in foreign languages (at first, may be with the help of Vietnamese CO- trainer) All assignments, tests and exams have to be done in foreign language / 3rd sta g e : months - year: Complete the training curriculum content and carry out practice at foreign partner institution Final exam will be passed at the foreign partner institution ® F o r p o s tg d u a te p ro g m s : Total duration years, divided also in stages: 68 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives 1/ 1st sta g e : year - Full time and/or Part time: Foreign language skill training as for undergraduate programs (The manager of the project will have to attach special importance to writing and speaking skill for students in postgraduate training programs) Complete necessary refresher courses according to each training curriculum Students have to pass a final exam and will be granted a Diploma (similar to the Graduate Diploma in British system or the form er DEA in some countries of the French system) / 2nd sta g e : months - Full time or Part time: Complete essential courses in the training curriculum Course delivery, assignments, tests and exams are using foreign language / 3rd s ta g e : months - Full time: Carry out practice study and complete the final dissertation to be presented at the foreign partner institution In summary: All students of ICOHE projects will have to live and to study at the foreign partner institution in a short time, at least from to months Final exams and graduation ceremonies should take place at foreign partner Institutions O f course this arrangement will increase the total training course fees but at the same time, the quality and the prestige of the project will be also raised considerably And for all students who look for real knowledge and real certification of high value which may affirm for them good job and good position in the future, I believe that they will accept that with satisfaction: With little money you can buy only stale fish - tiề n c h ỉ m ua đ ợ c cá n - so run a Vietnamese proverb! 4.3 Selection of foreign partners With most potential learners of fairly intelligence and of medium familial income, it would be more reasonable if we don’t think about the possibility of co-operation with 1st class, renowned institutions in developed countries! 1st class institutions are very strong and always very busy in the areas of high scientific research Their principal faculty staff members often are surcharged with their tasks in the institution working plan In case we can sign a contract for a co-operation project with them, the manager will not pay much attention to this project because for them this kind of co-operation seemed to be too insignificant! And the institution often sends Us junior, inexperienced or apprentice staff members as visiting lecturers In fact with the limited financial capacity o f our students, we could not pay for some high qualified, experienced professors coming to give courses in our class for a bit long term (2-3 months), even for overseas Vietnamese On the opposite side, our project managers have to their best to avoid the trick of false institutions, of “degree-mills" In our digital era it is quite simple to verify the information of these “so called" institutions Given the current condition, I think that the most suitable partners of our Vietnamese institutions in ICOHE co­ operation projects should be authentic, legitimate education institutions - University and/or Colleges authorized and recognized by the local education authority, but not other kinds of Education & training centers, organizations We can find partners not only in first developed countries in Europe, North America, Japan or Australia but also from institutions in developing countries: experiences in their 69 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives previous and/or present international co-operations will be excellent lessons for our future projects [6], [7] In general, it should be better if we stay away from new founded institutions because normally with fewer than 10 years o f existence, these organizations themselves not have enough training experience, evnerienned faculty staff members and snprial trainịnn materials An essential, very useful and very important advice to be kept in mind: Before running a project, we should have to gather all information in depth about our future partner At present time it is not difficult to get exact information from the Internet and through official sources (embassy, consulate ) and also through direct contacts 4.4 Use of ICT support tools From the point of view o f the information theory, learning is a process of information collecting, processing, storage and transmission, in order to build new knowledge and skill for learner The Learning process In this learning process we have to enumerate the three important key interactions: Teacher, te a rn e r-C la s s m a te s a n d Learner - ■ Learner - Educational surrounding Many educational and pedagogical studies in the last some decades were focusing on the realization of these three key interactions and how to improve their efficacy for learners, especially in 'the context of Part time students and/or self taught learners in Open and Distance Education In our Digital era, ICT technology with Computer science and the Internet services have proved themselves very effective tools H ow the use o f IC T tools can benefit teaching-learning process in ICOHE? In the following I shall try to enumerate some principal advantages of ICT tools for teachers and for learners o f ICOHE projects [1], [3], [4] 1/ Enhancement of the collecting and delivery of knowledge and information: In ICOHE there are few opportunities for students and teachers to stay face-to-face, especially with foreign teachers Through websites and blogs (of the institution, of departments or personal ones) editors (teachers) can easily post not only the principal content of each course but also many tutorial notes suited for any group o f learners Filter-style weblog reveals glimpses o f a large quantity of important and interesting learning material to learners who have neither time nor experience to surf An editor with some expertise in a field might demonstrate the accuracy or inaccuracy of a highlighted article or certain facts therein; provide additional facts he feels are pertinent to the issue at hand; or simply add an opinion or 70 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives p differing viewpoint from the one in the piece he has linked More skillful editors manage to convey all of these things in one sentence or two with which they introduce the link A great difficulty that new learners in each training course have to face is an enormous quantity of special material - online/offline - which they could never make a good and reasonable selection Teachers’ website/blog provides a valuable filtering function for their readers The material has been, in effect, pre-surfed for them Out of the myriad, innumerable web pages slung through cyberspace, teacbers-editors pick out the most mind-boggling, the most stupid, the most compelling Sometimes they contextualize an article by juxtaposing it with an article on a related subject; each article, considered in the light of the other, may take on additional meaning, or even draw the reader to conclusions contrary to the implicit aim of each 21 Realization o f friendly two-way/multi-way co m m u n ica tio n s A big disadvantage for many single isolated learners in the context of part time students in ICOHE projects, and also for regular students in their home work, is the gap of group communication The possibility of posting/reading comments right after each entry on websites/blogs creates for learners a friendly atmosphere of net meeting Logging in training website/blog, participating to the virtual conversation through the comments on the virtual forum, learners can totally forget their lonely situation Besides, for the teacher-editor, comments are a very precious feed-back channel to collect learners’ objective opinions, desires and evaluations of teachers and training method, curriculum and/or material, even much more exact than face to face notes or expressions And even more, feed-back will come not only from learners but also from felated people, junior learners’ parents, future employers, specialists in each area of specialty Through iiídịỵidual website/blog, different teachers can also easily exchange their opinions, academic methods and experiences with their colleagues and that is a big advantage for junior teachers to benefit from more experienced senior colleagues Full-blown conversations are able to be carried on between two, three or many forums, each referencing the other in their mutual agreement or rebuttal of the other's positions, regardless the origin, nationality of members Mature students can also build their own learning w ebsites/blogs - individual and/or group - to run conversations and d eb ates, to ex change their opinions with teachers and/or their classmates during the teaching-learning process These websites/blogs will offer learners favorable opportunities to create and to participate in the large study communities - local and even international, first of all the study community of foreign partner institutions! 31 Simplicity and convenience in building, maintenance and management of websites The majority of teachers and learners are not IT specialists or web design connoisseurs For them, to build, to maintain and to manage a website is indeed a heavy task! Thanks to the current existence o f hundreds of free hosting website and blogging support tools, now this task has become an exciting work - even an attractive entertainment I have not made any serious and reliable survey about difficulties in creating teaching - learning websites/blogs But I have had many conversations with some colleagues - teachers of different subjects from Mathematics, Physics, and Foreign languages to social subjects: Economy, History, Literature, Philosophy from elementary school level to University level I also have close contacts with hundreds of learners, young and very young students of regular class, mature students at in-service training class as well as Distance training learners At unanimity, they declare that at first they were a bit confused; embarrassed with the job but very soon later they all feel great enthusiasm Most of them are very proud of their “products” and some of them definitely affirm that they will continue to maintain their websites/blogs for long time 4/ Low co st Perhaps, anywhere in the world, in comparison with other economic sector in the society, educational workers (and their students also) are at the lowest financial position in every society! Any new methods, measures and tools aiming to enhance the training-learning process, to ameliorate 71 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives educational results will be impossible if the cost is too high As we know: with the help of the above mentioned free hosting website/blogging support tools, the editors have to pay only the Internet fees, and of course their own working time! Building and maintenance of websites/blogs is quite possible for any teacher/student, even for new institute leaver juniors By writing a few lines each day, website/blog editors begin to redefine media as a public, participatory endeavor And it is obvious that for le a r n e r s w ho n g r t ic jn g t e d y n a m ic s ! ! '/ tn th e a c t iv it ie s nn t e a c h ịn n -Ị e a m ịn n \A/e>hcit0c/h|Q nc f h o ir co m m u n ic a tio n s k ill a n d th e ir co m p u tin g s k ill are im p ro v in g c o n s id e b ly d a y - t o - day! Because of these principal advantages, I firmly believe that ICT and Internet services will become soon a strong educational technology support, an efficacious tool which will bring great results for the teachinglearning process at any level, in any fields of study especially in the context of ICOHE projects: The use o f IC T training tools is worthy to be interested in our ICOHE community 4.5 Financial aspect of international co-operation projects in Education Education projects are in general nonprofit activities for any honest and trustful education and training institution - public or private But in general, education institutions are not charitable organizations, so education and training cannot be given free! As in the above mentioned proverb: “With little money you can buy only stale fish”, the tuition fees have to be calculated so that it covers all the necessary costs of the course, while remaining within a reasonable limit that students can accept The cost will be much deducted if the course can attract bigger number of participants, and then the financial charge for each student will be much lower This problem depends on the confidence of the society about the quality of the training course Therefore, to improve the training quality and to strengthen the confidence of the society on the final training result of each course will be the essential measure for solving financial problems! CONCLUSION I would like to affirm that: I am neither pedagogue - specialist nor education & training policy maker! I am a normal teacher who only has the chance to participate, during a period of more than 25 years - not continuously and not systematically - to some international activities in the frame of international organizations: UNESCO ASIA-PACIFIC Regional Bureau, UNESCO - UNEVOC, APEID, CIFFAD, ACCT and in some bilateral and/or multilateral inter-nations co-operations between South countries: Vietnam, Madagascar, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Thailand together with North countries: France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and USA Through these activities I had the opportunity to rake up some personal experiences which today I’d like to present to this honorable audience aiming to get precious and useful notes and remarks Internationalization of co-operation in Higher Education and/or Postgraduate Education, especially realization o f incountry co-operation projects is very effectual measure which can support successfully to push up the fast development o f the national education and training The goal of ICOHE projects is to provide to the national economy (and also to the worldwide manpower market) well trained skilled workers - but not only graduated employees with some degree! For assuring the final result of each project, right at the beginning of the project, the organization/manager would have to determ ine clearly the concrete profile of graduated learners of the project and think about their future possible positions in the economy The quality assurance is of vital importance, the organization/manager of each project had always to think about the evaluation, the recognition o f the future employers and of the society about the capacity of future workers trained through the project 72 International Conference Internationalization o f Higher Education: North-South Perspectives Finally, please allow me to sincerely say thanks to the Organizing Committee o f the Conference for having provided the author with this opportunity for presenting this paper, and thank you very much for your attention, distinauished guests, ladies, gentlemen and our dear colleagues! 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Therefore, in every developing countries, at first steps in the development of new modern education and training, especially in higher and postgraduate education, international co-operation of higher education. .. enhance the efficacy of ICOHE in Vietnam at present time, first and foremost of internationalization of incountry training co-operation, we are trying to analyze the characteristic features of. .. national institutions, organizing international joint training projects and even accepting the establishment of campuses for foreign institutions International experiences proved that internationalization