The Political Economy of Education Reforms in Vietnam 9781032155760, 9781000635423, 9781032155777, 9781003244776

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Routledge Critical Studies in Asian Education

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF EDUCATION REFORMS IN VIETNAM Edited by Nguyen Minh Quang and James Albright

The Political Economy of Education Reforms in Vietnam

This book, drawing on a political economic perspective of education development, is a comprehensive account of the question “why some education systems flourish while others falter”. It provides a state-of-the-art review of the Vietnamese way of education development, figuring out the pitfalls, challenges and opportunities of neoliberal reform. It also sheds new light on the rise of neoliberal capitalism in contemporary Vietnam as the country intensifies its market-oriented economic transition. Starting from educational development concerns, this book differentiates the growth and development concepts in education. While “growth with limited development” is well reflected in many developing education systems, the Vietnamese experience of education development stands to provide readers with unique insights about education in developing economies, especially in understanding how a socialist-oriented education system is struggling to thrive in the times of neoliberal capitalism. Authored by scholars specialising in Vietnamese education and politics, the chapters address key issues pertaining to the political economy of education reform in Vietnam and the government’s enduring efforts to drive education towards international standards through its costly marketinfused education reforms. This book will appeal to postgraduate students, educators, educational policy-makers and scholars interested in Vietnamese studies, Vietnam education reforms, education governance, education for sustainability, internationalisation of education and the politics of education reforms. Nguyen Minh Quang is a senior lecturer at the School of Education, Can Tho University and currently a PhD researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), the Netherlands. He has authored numerous academic publications covering politics, education reforms, and environmental geography in Vietnam. James Albright is an emeritus professor at the Newcastle University’s School of Education. He is internationally known for his contributions to the sociology of education and his research in curriculum theory, literacy education, professional development and school change.

Routledge Critical Studies in Asian Education Series Editors: S. Gopinathan, Wing On Lee and Jason Eng Thye Tan

Education and Social Justice in Japan Kaori H. Okano The Privatisation of Higher Education in Postcolonial Bangladesh The Politics of Intervention and Control Ariful H Kabir and Raqib Chowdhury Tamils, Social Capital and Educational Marginalization in Singapore Labouring to Learn Lavanya Balachandran Families, the State and Educational Inequality in the Singapore City-State Charleen Chiong School Leadership in Malaysia Policy, Research and Practice Edited by Tony Bush STEM Education from Asia Trends and Perspectives Edited by Tang Wee Teo, Aik-Ling Tan and Paul Teng Risk Society and Education in Post-Disaster Fukushima Kaoru Miyazawa The Political Economy of Education Reforms in Vietnam Edited by Nguyen Minh Quang and James Albright For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Critical-Studies-in-Asian-Education/book-series/RCSAE

The Political Economy of Education Reforms in Vietnam Edited by Nguyen Minh Quang and James Albright

First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Nguyen Minh Quang and James Albright; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Nguyen Minh Quang and James Albright to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 9781032155760 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032155777 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003244776 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776 Typeset in Galliard by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.

Contents

List of figuresvii List of tablesviii Prefaceix Acknowledgementsxi List of abbreviationsxiii Contributorsxv 1 Introduction: The Vietnamese Way of Education Development under Challenges

1

NGUYEN MINH QUANG

2 Change and Continuity of Education Reforms in Vietnam: History, Drivers, and Niches

21

MINH Q. HUYNH

3 Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam: A Political Economic Perspective

40

NGUYEN MINH QUANG

4 Impact of Education Reforms: A Focus on National High School Graduation Exam

59

NGUYEN MINH QUANG

5 Vietnam’s Private Higher Education: Saturation or Maturation?

73

QUANG CHAU

6 Exploring Informality in Vietnamese Higher Education: Causes, Impacts and Government Responses JOOP DE WIT

88

vi  Contents 7 Human Rights Approach to Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam: A Policy Review

108

NGO THI HANG NGA, NGUYEN THI THANH HAI, TRAN THI LY

8 Education Matters for Sustainable Development: Reconsidering the Environmental Education in Vietnamese General Education

123

KIEU THI KINH, NGUYEN THU HA, NGUYEN PHUONG THAO, NGO THI HAI YEN, NGUYEN NGOC ANH

Index

138

Figures

1.1 Per-worker labour productivity of ASEAN countries in 2018 7 2.1 The evolution of national education administration in Vietnam (pre-1945–present)27 2.2 The four key niches of education reform in Vietnam  35 4.1 Number of high school graduates and university exam takers over the years, from 2010 to 2020 62 5.1 Four higher education governance models 77 8.1 EE themes implemented at schools 127 8.2 Perceived accessibility to and effectiveness of regulation documents on EE 129

Tables

1.1 Number of university degree holders without work in 12 months after graduation, 2013–20196 1.2 Number of unemployed youth by level of completed educational attainment, 2013–20157 2.1 The niches of education reform in Vietnam (based on the niches of educational improvement in the U.S. by Rowan 2002)34 8.1 Survey questionnaire respondents (N = 156)125 8.2 Pedagogical approaches in EE at schools127 8.3 Solutions proposed by teachers to improve the effectiveness of EE130

Preface

With the rising tide of public demand on a qualified and competitive education, Vietnam has launched a series of reforms at different levels and varying degrees, aiming to make the education system more responsive to current and future labour demands. The Communist Party of Vietnam and its government both want to standardise and modernise the education system to align with international standards. Equally, the country has made remarkable progress in its socialisation of education strategy. The preliminary fruitfulness of Vietnamese education reforms is characterised by massification, rapid growth of private educational institutions, and a rapid shift away from subsidised, highly centralised towards a market-infused education. Yet these significant changes are not completely without problematic. There is a prevailing sense that the current approach and existing institutions by and large have demonstrated little progress while some adverse impacts and new challenges emerge. These include what is referred to as a “neoliberal capitalist encroachment in education”, commodification of education, informality and educationalisation. After all, the costly and ambitious reforms over the last decades have not substantially addressed the mismatch between education and society’s demand, failing to produce a highly competitive workforce for economic transition. While the higher education sector has been flourishing, a persistent lack of skilled workers fails to help the country get rid of heavy economic dependence on foreign-owned labour-intensive industries. This represents a core problem undermining education progress in many developing countries across the world: “education growth” does not always lead to “education development” – i.e. education is strongly expanding but it has limited to no substantial linkages with the rest of the society and in particular with economic prosperity. Because the Vietnamese experience of education development is fluid and dynamic, it stands out to provide readers with unique insights about developing educations in the so-called Global South, especially excellent understanding as to how an underdeveloped education is struggling to thrive in the times of neoliberal capitalism while retaining its national ideal, i.e. socialism. Under the neoliberal reforms, the education system in Vietnam has witnessed the emergence of different stakeholders, including corporate giants and supranational institutions, who have different interests, positions and influences in policy-making arenas.

x  Preface While the government remains determined to move forward with ambitious reforms to make greater progress in education, little is known about the impacts of their policy solutions from the perspectives of teachers and students, who are more often marginalised in decision-making processes that directly affect them. In addition, what implications the current reforms have for the whole of society are under-researched. None of existing books looking at Vietnam education includes examining these problems. This book differentiates itself from other books dealing with education in Vietnam by exclusively focusing on the educational reforms from a political economic perspective. Starting from educational development concerns, this book is designed to combine insights from political, historical, economic and educational theories and empirical discussions to complement the literature on education development and neoliberalism in education. Extensive use of concrete examples and empirical data are made to enrich the discussion. In many Asian countries where human capital is arguably the most important resource enabling countries to sustain growth, the approach to education development displays the national development strategies, and has broad implications for societal, political and economic development. By identifying and examining the Vietnamese approach to educational development and emerging challenges, this book proves to be helpful for government policy planners to reconsider their reform strategies and to better understand education development in the country. Thus, issues identified and new findings discussed in the book would remain worthy and necessary in the future reforms.

Acknowledgements

In May 2017 when I was presenting at the 5th Network in Education for Sustainability Asia Conference hosted by Singapore’s National Institute of Education, Routledge Singapore reached out, encouraging me to consider my own book publication with a particular focus on Vietnamese education. I am grateful to Katie Peace, Editor in Education, Behavioral Sciences and Linguistics, for seeking me out and placing her trust in a first-time author. At that time, marked my 7 years teaching at the Department of Geography Education, Can Tho University, I was extensively writing about education reform and domestic politics in Vietnam, and conflict management in Southeast Asia, most of which were published as feature articles in The Diplomat and East Asia Forum, book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals. I also founded the Mekong Environment Forum (MEF), a non-profit organisation that promotes pragmatic solutions to protect Lower Mekong Delta’s ecosystems and support the rights of communities who depend on them. A scholar-practitioner, I have led numerous study tours for Vietnamese and foreign students, researchers and journalists throughout Vietnam several times a year in the past years. These trips enriched my understanding and unique experience about complex issues facing the Vietnamese education system, among other sectors, and extend my network of individuals and institutions whose wisdom and inspiration help make this work shine. This book was kick-started in early 2021 and would not have been possible without the integral collaboration of James Albright, a well-quoted emeritus professor in education at the School of Education, University of Newcastle, Australia. I am extremely grateful for his valuable contribution to this book both substantive over months of working together and editorial. I am also grateful to James Borton, MEF co-founder, who is a veteran editor and writer with over 25 years of experience in Vietnam, and currently a senior fellow at Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Joop de Wit, a retired associate professor in public policy and development management at the International Institute of Social Studies, for their longstanding support and steadfast trust in my work, and for casting their experienced eyes over introductory sections of this book. They have all generously provided me with much encouragement and stimulation, and are always there to help and point me in the right direction in times of need.

xii  Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the contributions provided by many people throughout the course of this study. First, sincere thanks go to the contributors the reader meets in this book, who have worked so hard and seriously on their fascinating chapters that form the heart of this book. Second, many of my colleagues at Can Tho University and MEF and my former students working in different parts of Vietnam assisted with interview arrangements and were available on social media chat lines for hours while collecting primary information. While some of them will remain anonymous at their request, those that I am happy to name are Chau Hoang Trung, Ho Thi Thu Ho, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuc, Nguyen Hoai Phong, Tran Thi Diem Suong, Duong Quoc Bao, Nguyen Trong The, Nguyen Thi Thu, Dang Van Xung, Kieu Thoan Thu, Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet, Tran Thuy Huynh and Tran Thi Truc Quynh. I owe my special thanks to all of you. Due to the devastating COVID-19 outbreak in 2021 in Vietnam, it has taken a longer time to complete this volume than initially expected. I am very grateful to Kendrick Loo, Editorial Assistant at Routledge Singapore, for his patience and understanding of the delay. My special thanks are due to leaders of the School of Education, Can Tho University for their encouragement and allowing me to spare working days to successfully complete this project. Finally, this book is dedicated to my stellar former teachers who have managed to overcome adversities to provide the best lessons and planted seeds of researching for a better education a long time ago. And it is also dedicated to those educators, researchers and policy makers who are contributing to renovating the Vietnamese education system.

List of Abbreviations

ADB ASEAN AVUC BOET CEMA CESCR CPI CPV DOET DRV EE EFA EMG ESD FDI GDP GOV GPA GSO HSEG HE ICESCR IUCN MOET MOHPE MOLISA NGO OECD PHE PISA ROV SEAMEO SGDs

Asian Development Bank Association of Southeast Asian Nations Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges Bureau of Education and Training Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Corruption Perceptions Index Communist Party of Vietnam Department of Education and Training Democratic Republic of Vietnam Environmental education Education for All Ethnic minorities groups Education for Sustainable Development Foreign direct investment Gross domestic product Government of Vietnam Grade point average General Statistics Office of Vietnam High School Graduation Exam Higher education International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights International Union for Conservation of Nature Ministry of Education and Training Ministry of Higher and Professional Education Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Non-governmental organisation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Private higher education Programme for International Student Assessment Republic of Vietnam Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Sustainable Development Goals

xiv  List of Abbreviations SOEs STEM TI UNDP UNESCO UNICEF VWED VHLSS WTO

State-owned enterprises Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Transparency International United Nations Development Program United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Children’s Fund Vietnamese Way of Education Development Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey World Trade Organisation

Contributors

Jim Albright is an emeritus professor at the Newcastle University’s School of Education. Over his career he has taught and conducted research at Singapore’s National Institute of Education (Nanyang Technological University) and Teachers College, Columbia University. He has made contributions to the sociology of education, curriculum theory, literacy education, professional development and school change. Two of his pertinent recent publications are English Tertiary Education in Vietnam (2018) published by Routledge and Vietnamese Education and Neoliberal Policy (2022) accepted for publication in the Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Education. He continues as the inaugural editor-in-chief of the Educational Sciences. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, PhD, is currently a lecturer and researcher at the University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. His research interests include geography education, education for sustainable development, application of IT in teaching history and geography, developing teacher competencies and digital transformation in education. Quang Chau is a lecturer in the Department of Education Management, University of Education (Vietnam National University Hanoi), concurrently a PhD candidate at the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership, State University of New York at Albany, where he also works as a research assistant at The Program for Research on Private Higher Education (PROPHE). His primary research interests include higher education policies, especially governance and privatisation ones. He is an editorial board member of the book series Global Realities in Private Higher Education (with Routledge), and a co-editor of the series’ volume on Asian Private Higher Education. In addition to academic publishing and editing, Quang has penned education commentaries, organised and presented at many conferences and participated in several policy consultation projects. Joop de Wit is a political anthropologist, affiliated to the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University (ISS) in The Hague after retiring in 2018 as associate professor in public policy and development management. He taught in the fields of governance, policy and political science, and remains a supervisor of PhD students working on India and Vietnam. He got

xvi  Contributors engaged in the study of urban India from 1984, targeting relations between actors in slum upgrading in Madras (Chennai), succeeded by his PhD studies (Poverty, Policy and Politics in Madras Slums, Dynamics of Survival, Gender and Leadership completed in 1996). His latest book is Urban Poverty, Local Governance and Everyday Politics in Mumbai published by Routledge in 2019. From 2004 he became engaged with Vietnam for research and capacity development programmes on local and urban governance. He worked with the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) in the field of training and research for local governments across seven provinces. To support evidence-based policy research he worked together with the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA). As a consultant to UNDP, Dr. de Wit investigated land governance in Vietnam’s suburban areas as well as the livelihood choices of farmers displaced after land requisition, including the nature and use of financial compensation. Nguyen Thu Ha is a researcher working at the Institute of Educational Research, Hanoi National University of Education. Her main research interests include geography teaching theory and methods, teacher competencies and education for sustainable development. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai is an associate professor of human rights in the Institute for Human Rights, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Hanoi, Vietnam. She holds a PhD in human rights from the University of Sydney. Her research areas focus on international human rights law, human rights and business, rights-based approach and human rights of vulnerable groups. She has taught in these areas extensively in Vietnam and consulted for major UN and other international agencies. Minh Q. Huynh is a research fellow in the project Community Research Ecology at the University of Michigan, where he studies knowledge infrastructure and the development of research commons. He also works as a consultant for the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), where he helps design and develop training programmes and materials. Minh received a PhD in Educational Foundations and Policy from the University of Michigan with a dissertation studying the conceptualisation of education equity in an international organisation. Minh’s research interests centre on education governance in the global and international contexts, as well as the thematic issues involving global education governance. He is particularly interested in the ideas of educational equity, quality, reform and improvement. His works in this area focus on international organisations, particularly UNESCO, World Bank and OECD, and their roles in the global governance of education, with methodological emphasis on organisational ethnography and discourse analysis. Apart from the global governance focus, he is also interested in studying and comparing systems of education. In his past and current work in this area he has studied the educational systems of Vietnam, India, France, the Netherlands and Poland. Minh also studies information infrastructures and the application of infrastructure studies in developing education knowledge

Contributors xvii commons. His current work in the Community Research Ecology project features several preliminary publications on this topic. Kieu Thi Kinh is currently a lecturer of the University of Danang – University of Science and Education. She obtained her PhD degree in training teachers on education for sustainable development at Kyoto University, Japan. Her research focuses on promoting sustainability culture of higher education institutions. Tran Thi Ly is a professor in the School of Education, Deakin University. Prior to coming to Australia, she was an academic at Hue University, Vietnam. She is a visiting professor at Phu Xuan University, Vietnam, Toyo University and Hitotsubashi University, Japan. Ly’s research focuses on international education, international students, education-migration nexus, Australian student mobility to the Indo-Pacific and internationalisation of higher education in East Asia. Her work has been featured in multiple languages and media outlets in Australia and internationally. Ngo Thi Hang Nga is a lecturer at the Faculty of General Education, Tay Bac University, Vietnam. She holds a PhD degree in education from the University of Sydney. Her research interest is education access and equity and employability for ethnic minorities. Nguyen Minh Quang is a senior researcher at School of Education, Can Tho University where he is teaching geopolitics, world regional geography and academic English for undergraduate students. He holds a Master’s degree in Southeast Asian Studies from Brunei Universiti Darussalam, the premier public university in Brunei Darussalam. He completed his research fellowship at the University of Warsaw, Poland, in 2016–2017, and then begun his PhD research at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), the Netherlands, in late 2017. Over the last ten years he has authored numerous academic publications covering education reforms and politics in Vietnam, ethnic conflict and territorial dispute management in Southeast Asia, and environmental geography (Lower Mekong Subregion). Quang is the founder of the Mekong Environment Forum, a non-for-profit organisation working to protect the Mekong Delta’s ecosystems and build support for the good governance and inclusive politics through bottom-up sustainability education and policy approach strategies. He is also contributing to The Diplomat and East Asia Forum. Nguyen Phuong Thao is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Geography, Hanoi National University of Education. She earned her PhD in geography education at the University of Muenster, Germany. She has highly developed qualitative research skills. Her research interests include education for sustainable development, geography education, pedagogies and competencybased education. Ngo Thi Hai Yen is an associate professor of Faculty of Geography, Hanoi National University of Education. She has experience in training and in-service training geography teachers at all levels in schools. Her main research interests are in environmental education, theory and teaching methods of geography.

1

Introduction The Vietnamese Way of Education Development under Challenges Nguyen Minh Quang

Education Reforms in Vietnam: Remarkable Progress and Emerging Challenges Vietnam, an elongated country occupying the eastern edge of the Indochina Peninsula and bordering the South China Sea, is an emerging economy, the fastest-growing in Southeast Asia. The geographic proximity to aggressive Chinese empires and its unique geostrategic importance made Vietnam vulnerable to foreign invaders for centuries. Despite centuries of foreign domination, the Vietnamese people were never assimilated. Rather, they adapted foreign ideas, institutions, and philosophy into their own indigenous values and institutions, creating a synthesis (Lockard 2009; Osborne 2021). This is evident in every twist and turn of the country’s education history. Before French colonial times, as with its political and cultural life, Vietnamese education was profoundly influenced by Confucianism, which had been introduced to the country during Chinese rule (111 B.C. to 939 A.D.). In turn, Vietnam’s Confucian education was gradually overshadowed by the colonial French education system (1880s), which ended in Northern Vietnam after the Democratic Republic of Vietnam declared its independence on September 2, 1945, and more fully when the French vacated Indochina (1954). During the American War (1954–1975), the North Vietnam government adopted a centralised, teacher-centred, the Soviet model of education which aimed to produce an educated workforce supporting the civil war and economic recovery (Ha 2016; Kelly 2000). Yet, Confucian traditions remained relatively strong in North Vietnamese education, with its focus on principles of ethically guided behaviour, showing respect to one’s superiors, self-discipline, and patriotism. In Southern Vietnam, a Western model of education was employed and in opposition to the Marxist-Leninist North Vietnam, guided by humanistic, nationalist, and liberal values. Both private and religious education institutions were encouraged (Dodd 1972). After the fall of Saigon in 1975, these private schools were nationalised and religious influence was removed from Vietnamese education (Osborne 2021; Quang 2019a). Since the launch of Doi Moi (a series of economic and political reforms) in 1986, the government subsequently pursued a policy of holistic educational reform. DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-1

2  NM Quang Doi Moi policies increased school funding and state attention to education development as a priority in the government’s agenda. As a consequence, Vietnamese education has experienced four national reform periods: 1986–1996, 1996– 2006, 2006–2016, and 2016–present. Each of these reforms was characterised by the introduction of new school curriculum objectives and content, textbook modifications, changes to the national examination system in general education, new forms of governance, and attended policies designed for improving education institutions and teaching. In 1990, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) was established. Vietnam National University, the country’s largest and premier multidisciplinary higher institution, with campuses in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and a few new public and private universities were established in the 1990s. This expansion of tertiary education led to a substantial growth in faculty, many of whom were graduates from the Eastern Europe and Soviet Union higher education institutions. Eight years later, the country’s first legal framework for education was approved by the National Assembly in December 1998 to solidify the objectives of Doi Moi and guide the development of national education. In 2005, this law was revised to enable the second national education reform took place in 2006. Since mid-2010, the government has launched a set of new reform policies as its endeavours to realise the National Strategy on Education Development 2021–2030 and Vision to 2045. The latest law was adopted in 2019 to provide a new framework for current instance of national education reform. In addition to these laws, several decrees, resolutions, and decisions issued by MOET, the government, and the Central Committee of Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), such as Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, Resolution 29-NQ/TW/2013, and Decree 84/2020/ND-CP, translated these laws into action. Since 2004, billions of US dollars have been allocated to implement numerous reform programs, much of which came from loans from World Bank and other foreign development partners (Vietnam Education News 2015, 2018; Vietnam News Agency 2020). The country’s persistent attempts to boost education development through costly reform efforts over the last three decades have constituted what may be called “the Vietnamese Way of Education Development” (VWED). So far, the recurring reforms have resulted in important changes in terms of governance systems, school curricula, mission focus, external relations, research, and financing (Viet 2009; Thanh Nien 2015), including a remarkable increase in government expenditure on education (about 33–46 per cent of total government spending in the early 1990s and around 20 per cent per year in recent years), socialisation of education and training, and liberalisation of educational provision, allowing public education institutions to levy tuition fees (Kelly 2000; Cuc 2020). The reforms have gradually shaped a progressive and diverse education system which appears more receptive and innovative (Quang 2019a). The socialisation of education has also triggered the proliferation of private and foreign-owned educational services in Vietnam over the last two decades with more than US$4.3 billion of foreign investment in educational institutes in 2019 (Cuc 2020; Quang 2019a). As of 2019, Vietnam has 15,400 pre-schools (5.7 million

Introduction 3 children), 27,000 compulsory schools (17 million students at primary, secondary and upper secondary levels), 237 universities (1.5 million undergraduate students), and over 3,000 vocational training schools and colleges (2,200 graduates per year) (Cuc 2020). Household expenditures on education have significantly increased to almost 50 per cent of family total spending each year (Linh-Huong 2016). The country has also made remarkable progress in education reforms, characterised by a rapidly improved literacy rate, increased educational equity, greater quality in teaching and learning, a rapid transition to apparently productive career-oriented education models, and more scientific publication and international integration (Nhan Dan 2021; Quang 2019a). Despite the ambitious objectives of those policies which are expected to generate a new momentous turning point in Vietnam’s education development, there is no shortage of sceptics of the government’s plan. In spite of some early encouraging outcomes, the education remains underdeveloped, less competitive, and unable to meet the needs of industrialisation, modernisation, and disconnection between classroom and the needs of the market. A large percentage of university graduates often cannot find jobs in their area of specialisation (Dai Doan Ket 2019; Horn 2014; Quang 2019a; Thanh Nien 2019a). At the pre-tertiary education level, Vietnam’s general education curriculum is still strongly influenced by a classical approach and less inter-subject coherence (Quang 2019b). While reform programmes have been ambitious, they may be considered unrealistic because little attention has been given to those directly affected – the teachers, the students, and their parents (Quang 2019a; World Bank n.d.). What is more challenging is that teacher-centred “chalk and talk”, out-dated curricula, inadequate textbooks, and a philosophy of education that stresses abstract conceptual learning rather than practical and soft skills (Quang 2019a; Thanh Nien 2019a,b). At the tertiary level, there have been profound governance failures, limited autonomy, and a prevailing lack of funding and accountability. Limited substantial international connections in most of universities are another prime culprit that undermines the intellectual dynamism and academic freedom and prevents Vietnam’s tertiary institutions from doing well on global education rankings (Ha 2020; Quang 2019a; Kataoka et al. 2020; Vallely and Wilkinson 2008). After all, these challenges are causing what some called “a crisis in education”, threatening to undermine the decades-long achievements and new-found strengths in the country’s education (Hop and Yang 2013; Thanh Nien 2019a; Vallely and Wilkinson 2008). Although there remain a number of emerging challenges as Vietnamese education enters into global free markets, the early achievements of its education reform are the backbone of the country’s societal and economic development (Kataoka et al. 2020). Political economy and development research suggest that the “type” and the degree of education development are of “considerable importance” for determining the way in which the society as a whole, and economy in particular, will change and develop (Dodd 1972), and suggest that the quality education that determines the aggregate cognitive skills of the population, or the knowledge capital of a nation, is related to the country’s long-run

4  NM Quang economic growth (Hicks 1987; Hanushek and Woessmann 2010; Hanushek 2012; Marquez-Ramos and Mourelle 2019; Kataoka et al. 2020). In developing countries such as Vietnam, efforts to prepare a skilled workforce for economic development through education reforms have achieved too little, albeit their respective education systems’ rapid expansion (Hanushek 2012, 2013; Quang 2020; Kataoka et al. 2020). This mismatch between educational and societal needs hampers economic and social development, particularly as Vietnam’s population ages. The next decade is crucial for its education to prepare its younger generations for a globally competitive and sustainable future. Following the evolution of post-Doi Moi education reforms, from 1986 to present, this book, which adopts a political economy perspective, seeks to address the following questions: What are the contextual changes in Vietnam post-Doi Moi that shape today’s Vietnamese education? What are the drivers influencing education reform policymaking? What are the major internal and external obstacles and challenges underpinning the underperformance of the education? How have top-down reform policies impacted local education institutions and how have teachers and students responded to perceived adverse impacts? In particular, how has globalisation affected education reforms and what does that mean for future economic and society development? And do the country’s current efforts to deal with these challenges represent a new Vietnamese Way of Education Development? With these questions in mind, this chapter establishes a perspective on growth and development in education to understand the current achievements of education reforms and explore why the expansion of Vietnam’s education system is better conceived as “education growth” than “education development”. A brief description of the Vietnamese higher education is provided to demonstrate the distinction between growth and development in developing educations. Building on this understanding of the nature of growth and development in education, this chapter then identifies the critical components constituting the country’s new approach to education development which are reflected in their neoliberal reforms over the last three decades. In doing so, this section informs key arguments to be investigated across seven chapters that follow. The last section introduces the book’s organisation and is followed by a brief summary of each chapter.

How Is Growth Distinct from Development in Education? The world’s interest in education development has continued at pace in the new millennium as part of the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals in 2000, which ended in 2015 and were succeeded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) thereafter. These interlinked goals serve as the global development framework to build a collective sustainable world for all. In the light of SDGs and the forces of intensive globalisation, education is acknowledged as the key to achieve the SDGs and advance economic development in

Introduction 5 the world. Across developing societies, widespread poverty, economic inequality, low comparative advantage of labour force, and low cognitive skills of the population, among others, persist despite significant educational progress (Bokova and Figueres 2015; Dahl 2021; UNDP 2014; Hanushek 2012, 2013; Herr et al. 2016). In other words, the expansion of education system (e.g. increases in adult literacy, educational enrolment rates, and number of education institutions and university graduates) has not realised the hoped-for improvements in national comparative advantages and reducing dependency on foreign-owned labour-intensive industries, and thus economic and social well-being (Hanushek 2012, 2013; OECD 2015; Quang 2020; Ravago et al. 2018; Thorbecke 2018). These problems reveal an urgent need to reconsider education development policies and approach strategies to education reforms in developing countries. Educational growth and educational development are often used interchangeably, referring to professional and personal growth of faculty members, students, and education entities (Australian Council for Educational Research, n.d.; Gibbs 2013; Vancouver Island University 2017; Zimmerman 1995). As noted above, the two concepts of growth and development are, however, not necessarily similar in development literature. In this book, “growth” and “development” refer to the level of mature of an education. Education development relates to levels of humanitarian and economic achievement, and means the growth in education system accompanied by an improvement in cognitive skills of its population and comparative advantage of its labour force. To a large degree, education growth leads to education development in a country. However, the experiences of many developing educations have shown that education growth can occur with limited or without any improvement in the quality of labour force of a country (Battu and Bender 2020; Lee 2020; Tentua and Winarko 2020; Wan et al. 2020). Often, this occurs when education is progressing, but it has limited to no substantial linkages to the society, and economic development in particular. The economic impacts of education in Vietnam, like many other developing countries, stand for a good example of growth limited development (Hirosato and Kitamura 2009; Tentua and Winarko 2020). As the country has undergone a rapid transition to a market economy, since the early 1990s, the government and education policy planners have developed ambitious strategies to make the education system more responsive to the current and future labour demands (Duggan 2001). In 1993, the Communist Party of Vietnam issued the Resolution 04-NQ/TW that strongly affirmed “investment in education is the most prudent, profitable investment as it has direct impacts on economic development” (Duggan 2001; Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics 2018). Thanks to the Resolution 04 and associated education reforms, the country’s higher education has rapidly expanded since 2000 in order to keep pace with the growing demand of its productive transition. Today, there are 237 universities operating in Vietnam, of which 60 are private and 5 foreign-funded, producing 250,000–300,000 bachelor’s degree holders and almost 38,000 post-graduates at master’s and doctoral degree levels each year (MOET 2021). Vietnam also outperforms its Southeast Asian neighbours and other lower middle-income

6  NM Quang countries on education rankings in terms of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests and Human Capital Index run by OECD and World Bank (Asadullah et al. 2020; Reed 2018). Its high test scores contributed to its place in the World Bank’s Human Capital Index – 48th – the highest rating for any. It stands out relative to its wealth. In spite of continuous improvements in education, the economy remains heavily dependent on labour-intensive industries with critical reliance on an imported qualified workforce, while about 100,000–120,000 Vietnamese university graduates are publicly reported failing to get employed in their area of specialisation each year (Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs 2016, 2019). The unemployment rate of university-educated youth is higher than those with lower levels of education (see also Dung 2019; Montague 2013; Quang 2019a). Recent reports published by International Labour Organization (2016), the Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs (2016, 2019), and Trang (2017) have shown that although Vietnam does not experience alarming high youth unemployment, the high unemployment rate of university degree holders has undermined the public trust in a higher education sector (see Tables 1.1 and 1.2). This worrisome situation reflects the persistent issues of skills mismatch, underutilisation, and low-quality jobs which are highlighted in the International Labour Organization’s 2016 School-to-work Transition Survey report as follows: Young university degree holders need 7.3 months on average to find their first stable or satisfactory job (…). Those educated at general secondary education level needed a much longer time – an average of 17.8 months to complete the transition from school to a first stable or satisfactory job (…). Yet not all educated youth is able to find a job that matched their level of qualifications; 26 per cent of working youth were overeducated for their job in 2015. At the same time, undereducation of young workers remains a problem in the country, impacting as much as 23.5 per cent of young workers. (International Labour Organization 2016: 2) Low labour productivity adds another challenge to economic growth. Vietnam’s labour productivity has witnessed a positive increase over the last decade, but it remains much lower than that of its neighbouring countries in Table 1.1  Number of university degree holders without work in 12 months after graduation, 2013–2019 Year

Number of students

Number of graduates

Number of unemployment

2013 2015 2017 2019

1,670,023 1,824,328 1,767,879 1,672,881

244,880 353,936 305,601 263,172

18,611 16,635 22,951 20,001

Source: Adapted from MOET’s Statistics Database (2020), International Labour Organization (2016), Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs (2016, 2019)

Introduction 7 Table 1.2  Number of unemployed youth by level of completed educational attainment, 2013–2015 Year

Secondary vocational

Secondary general

Post-secondary vocational

University and higher

2013 2015 2017 2018 2019

37,000 45,200 34,200 25,400 18,200

63,000 117,700 92,700 70,300 43,800

72,000 101,400 82,600 75,200 79,000

158,000 199,400 183,100 151,800 186,800

Source: Adapted from Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019)

ASEAN, except Cambodia and Myanmar (Figure 1.1). The 2020 Vietnam Productivity Report concludes that, Unlike countries that have achieved high economic development in the rest of Asia, Vietnam has not experienced a period of very rapid productivity increase that allows an economic take-off to high income. In absolute value (constant 2010 price), labour productivity of the whole economy grew from 18.9 million VND per worker in 1991 to 54.4 million VND per worker in 2015, or by 2.88 times. Any rapidly industrializing economy is expected to attain higher labour productivity growth than this within a quarter century. China, which had labour productivity similar to Vietnam in 1991, raised it by 8.9% annually or 7.8 times by 2015. Thus, Vietnam’s past productivity performance was good but not spectacular. Because of this, Vietnam’s speed of catching up with high-income economies has been slow. (Kenichi et al. 2020: v)

Figure 1.1  Per-worker labour productivity of ASEAN countries in 2018 Source:  Adapted from ASEAN (2021). Note: Output per worker (thousands of USD, constant 2017 PPP)

8  NM Quang As a result, the fruits of education growth have not linked with real demands of the labour markets, and the recent holistic reforms in education have so little achieved in addressing this serious mismatch and preparing Vietnamese young generations for an industrialising economy (see also An Dien 2013). Failure to produce a better skilled workforce would threaten Vietnam to take advantage of new economic opportunities through trade openness and narrow the employment options for the country’s growing workforce. Some development researchers have proposed different methodologies for measuring the education development and its impacts on economic growth, each with different assumptions, indicator selections, and calculation models (Grant 2017; Hanushek et al. 2008; Marquez-Ramos and Mourelle 2019; Radcliffe 2021). But the literature reaffirms that how well a country’s economy will perform is primarily determined by the present-day level of cognitive skills of its students learn in schools (Barro 2001; Hanushek and Woessmann 2010; Mankiw and Romer 1991; Mankiw et al. 1992). Some proponents of the “new growth theory”, including the Nobel Prize winner Robert Lucas (1990), suggest that education is one of the most crucial ingredients determining and maintaining rapid rates of economic growth in Asian “miracle” economies. They argue that education is even more important than natural and physical capital as a more educated workforce enabled those countries to raise productivity at a very rapid rate (Lucas 1990; Dowling and Valenzuela 2010). While such assessment methodologies provide quantifiable metrics for understanding and predicting the large effect of education development of a country on its subsequent economic growth rate for a certain period of time, the drivers and dimensions of education development and national approach to education development through reform strategies are under-researched. Without understanding of these factors as well as the challenges, we have little evidence and information to explain why some educations flourish while others falter, and governments may not be able to pinpoint areas of greatest concern, and thereby adjusting their policy responses where needed to get their reforms right. Against this backdrop, this book aims to theorise the education development and complement the literature on education and economic growth by exploring the Vietnamese approach to education development through its enduring reforms since Doi Moi. As mentioned earlier, Vietnam has experienced three major regular holistic system-scale reforms, each with different objectives, visions, and outcomes associated with public debates. As it normally takes two decades or more to see the impacts of any education reforms (Hanushek and Woessmann 2010), the public debates over the drawbacks of previous reforms prove there are substantial challenges that the Vietnamese government needs to carefully take into account as it introduces a completely new philosophy of education. Thus, rather than focusing on future prospects, the rest of this book looks back at the legacy issues posed by the recent reforms and also explores the impacts and challenges facing the current policies to reveal some valuable lessons for the country’s education development. The following section is designed to

Introduction 9 identify and discuss the major components that constitute the contemporary Vietnamese approach to education development.

The Vietnamese Way of Education Development in the Neoliberal Times As developing countries want their economy to grow faster in today’s globally competitive epoch, it is vital for education policymakers to ensure that education reforms need to be broadened in order to include innovations in teaching and learning for sustainable growth and prosperity. There is a growing awareness across countries that education reforms should result in robust and resilient education systems in which quality and learning outcomes at all levels are improved; students are equipped with “twenty-first-century skills” to respond to and thrive in the world of the economical, technological, and societal shifts; gender and ethnic parity in education is ensured to reap substantial benefits relating to health, equality, and job creation; and multi-level and multi-stakeholder institutional governance is mainstreamed to enable and empower nonstate actors and civil-society organisations in reform policymaking to find the best and most constructive ways to improve the quality of education (Ameli 2020; Brende 2015; Patrinos 2016; UNICEF 2019). Vietnam is no exception to these trends. The country is restructuring its economy towards market orientation and global integration. The growing economic and geopolitical importance makes it one of the largest beneficiaries of new-generation free trade agreements in Asia-Pacific Region and the trade spat between China and the United States (Deprez 2018; Pearson and Phuong 2019; Quang 2019a; World Bank 2020). Yet the new context is aggravating an existing shortage of Vietnamese skilled labours. As the population is rapidly aging, the next decade is critical for Vietnam to employ ground-breaking education reforms to further spur economic growth. The government of Vietnam is well aware of these problems and has recently implemented a set of ambitious reform policies at all levels of education to advance its human capital as a way to spur transition to knowledge economy. Their reform policies, as mentioned above, reveal three important components constituting the Vietnamese approach to education development: (i) a transition to market-oriented and neoliberal education, (ii) greater decentralisation and autonomy, and (iii) mainstreaming education for sustainable development. Over the last three decades, education reform policies have gradually yet profoundly changed the institutional governance of education system, whereby the role of state is being diminished in the face of the global onslaught of private capital, the public schooling is being commodified, and funding for public schools is increasingly curtailed. The country’s increased immersion into neoliberal globalisation removes barriers to capitalist and international investments and shapes competitive markets in education. This new context of educational change induces the CPV and its government to renovate the education system through institutional changes and neoliberal reforms in order to produce skilled

10  NM Quang workforce for a market-oriented economy while sustaining the goal of socialist education. At the pre-tertiary level, a new general educational curriculum, which emphasises student’s holistic competency development and reduces abstract concepts, was adopted in 2018 to serve as the national framework for new subject textbook designs and guiding the selections of teaching methods and learning activities at general education levels. The new curriculum and philosophy of education envision a modernised education system that can produce a skilful and competitive workforce and prepare new generations with the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to find effective solutions – individually and collectively – for the interconnected challenges that are threatening to undermine the socio-economic progress in Vietnam, including youth unemployment and low labour productivity, poverty and disparities, climate change, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and other non-traditional security issues (Kataoka et al. 2020; Quang 2019a, 2019b, 2020). To that end, decentralisation is boosted in governance of general education through greater power and autonomy dispersion to the local authorities in charge of education and schools (Government of Vietnam 2006; Tien 2018). MOET is no longer monopolist in publishing and distributing textbooks in the country; rather textbook designs and publications are now open for the engagement of non-state actors such as universities, private publishers, and independent educators (National Assembly 2014). At the tertiary level, some policies were issued from 2014 onward, such as the Government Resolution No.77/NQ-CP and the revised Law on Higher Education in 2019, to increase independence, autonomy, accountability, and international integration of universities. These policies have fuelled the expansion of private higher education sector, followed by the emergence of corporate culture in universities that blurs distinction between student and consumer. This new approach to the higher education development reflects the three-pronged intertwined discourses that underpin MOET’s education reforms over the last decades: mismatch discourse, human capital discourse, and neoliberal discourse (Chapter 3 tells us more detail). These enduring efforts of restructuring of public schooling and higher education potentially have significant implications for developing population’s cognitive skills and increase the rhetoric of “Education for All” (EFA) in the country. Like many developing countries (Hirosato and Kitamura 2009; Noui 2020; Patrinos 2016), education in Vietnam has witnessed an increased expanding access to education and a proliferation of education institutions to cater for increased number of students while offsetting the increasing costs for “student consumers” and private sector. This massification of education has ultimately resulted in commodification and privatisation of humanity as education is open to competitive markets. These trends of education are discussed in detail in Chapters 3–5. In this neoliberal education, the cutting of state subsidies to education and the increasing capitalisation of schools and other public services are only a part of ideological and policy offensive and educational strategy of domestic capitalist class, who are greedy for maximising surplus accumulation, and supranational institutions, who have imposed neoliberalism in the form of

Introduction 11 structural adjustment policies which are developed in a “close process” of concentrate research, funding, and policy formation (Chapter 3; see also Adhikary 2012; Eurodad 2006; Hill et al., 2009; Klees 2020). The ruling CPV and its government still manage to circumvent adverse impacts and risks of these neoliberal trends by, for example, reinforcing paramount leadership of CPV in public education institutions, clampdown on academic freedom and curriculum, and subsidising politically important education areas (e.g. teacher education, political sciences, and security- and military-related fields) to ensure the education innovation is on the right track. In spite of this, the present evolution of education system is arguably to exacerbate inequalities as it increases profits and better education opportunities for the rich (through favourable tax reduction and incentives and school-of-choice system) at the cost of the poor (through a resurgence of high-stakes testing, user-pay regimes, and illusion of meritocracy) (Chapters 3 and 4; see also Brathwaite 2017; Klees 2016). The formation of a neoliberal education, albeit at the early stage, further sheds light on an emerging VWED, which is greatly aimed at shifting to a threefold process to more responsively and efficiently sustain the country’s economic growth: (i) educating the workforce for future capitalist enterprises’ need, (ii) commodifying the education for profit making, and (iii) opening education to the market that allows corporate giants to profit from privatisation activities.

How the Book Is Organised The all-pervading phenomenon of neoliberal capitalist expansion in Vietnam highlights a need to exploring the way neoliberalism has affected the education system in terms of equality, quality, inclusiveness, and sustainability which are addressed in the following seven chapters. While this book is not aimed to focus merely on education under the encroachment of neoliberal capitalism, diverse aspects of neoliberal diffusion in education and their consequences thereof reflected in different chapters allow for understanding as to why the education has rapidly been growing but has limited impactful linkages to economic and societal development. This book, however, by no means is aimed at providing a built-in bias against the cause of education modernisation of a wartorn yet indomitable nation of Vietnam. If one finds the book anti-anything or too critical, it is most critical of the approach strategy to education development that the Government of Vietnam has appropriated from external masters. This education model is defined by highly centralised governance, Confucian meritocracy-driven culture, and neoliberal education that have been widely dominant in the Soviet Union, China, and the West, respectively. Throughout this volume, the contributors argue that while this model might result in progressive outcomes for the education system, it might at the same time bring about emerging challenges such as increasing inequalities and marketisation of education. Ultimately, the chapters in this volume provide critical evidence and analysis that complement existing understanding of Vietnam’s education development and mark an important contribution to broader understanding of

12  NM Quang how an emerging country of socialism is struggling with capitalism in a sea of neoliberal capitalism. In Chapter 2, Change and Continuity of Education Reforms in Vietnam: History, Drivers, and Niches, Minh Q. Huynh introduces an account of the history of education reforms and discusses the changing contexts and drivers fuelling education reforms in Vietnam under the forces of open-door policies and neoliberal globalisation. By employing Brian Rowan’s (2002) framework of school improvement, the chapter proposes a niche-based understanding of the education reform landscape in the country. The chapter then identifies 16 different configurations where reform activities can initiate and progress, and a few critical sources of reform activities, including political (authority-based), economic (market-based), professional (profession-based), and developmental (aids-based) drivers. In this complex education landscape, different actors with different, and sometimes conflicting, interests and positions such as state authorities, education consumers, practitioners, and granting agencies interact and are interconnected as the education is being marketised and commodified. With the shifting impacts of these drivers on the system and the emergence and disappearance of new and old actors, new niches are subject to be opened and old ones closed, which makes it worthwhile to revisit and modify the framework along the trajectory of education development in the country. In Chapter 3, Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam: A Political Economic Perspective, Nguyen Minh Quang presents the Vietnamese experience education development in the times of neoliberal globalisation and provides insights into how the education has evolved over the past three decades of neoliberal reforms. Central to this chapter is that the new Vietnamese approach to education development, characterised by neoliberal reforms through autonomy and socialisation policies that aimed to solve the triple challenge of poverty, inequality, and unemployment, and endorsed by supranational institutions and national elites, has ultimately resulted in a market-infused education system. In this education, universal low-fee state provision of education is increasingly undermined by commodification and where possible, privatisation of education. Under neoliberal reforms, some areas of education have experienced progressive achievements that help the country join the world’s high human development category group to surpass other countries with similar levels of development. That being said, the present evolution of the education system has been accompanied with relatively high risks of class inequalities and educationalisation. This chapter further sheds new light on as to why neoliberalism is a useful lens for understanding the political economy and nature of power in education development under the neoliberal global forces that has been profoundly impacting Vietnamese society. Now that the neoliberal contexts of educational change and fundamental drivers that shape the new Vietnamese Way of Education Development are explored, it is important to look down at some concrete impacts of the reform policies on education development. Particularly, the next three chapters look at education reforms and their impacts in three areas that are the most critical cause for concern in the country: national exam system, informality in higher

Introduction 13 education, and the growth of private higher education sector. These chapters provide robust empirical data and findings to demonstrate the gap between education growth and education development. They further reveal the emergence of different stakeholders outside the state in decision-making arenas and their strategies to have access to policy benefits as well as their responses to perceived adverse impacts of reforms. In particular, Chapter 4, Impact of Education Reforms: A Focus on National High School Graduation Exam, provides evidence of the adverse impacts of recent high school graduation exam restructuring which has been a cause for public concern in recent years. By drawing on results of policy analysis and semi-structured in-depth interviews with high school teachers and students across Vietnam (n = 11), Nguyen Minh Quang explores numerous problems that challenge the government’s current exam reforms, including fraud and corruption, thus threatening to undermine the overall achievements of education innovation. Vietnam’s long-standing exam-oriented education, pervasive achievement obsession, and non-participatory approach to reform that excludes teachers and students in political decision making that affect them are significant part of the explanation why reform actions have made little progress. A review of the latest ambitious high school curriculum and exam reform reveals an in-the-making hybrid institutional governance of education in Vietnam. In this governance model, the central government (MOET) is closely working with local authorities (DOETs) and regional state-mandated universities to empower and encourage accountability and innovation at the local level to advance the standardisation and modernisation of the exam system, and ultimately to impact broader decentralisation across the whole education system. This, together with the increasing influence of non-state actors, underscores a quickening in the pace of the decentralisation process as a part of the neoliberalisation of education. In Chapter 5, Vietnam’s Private Higher Education: Saturation or Maturation?, Quang Chau focuses on public policy perspectives to review the development of private higher education sector in Vietnam and analyses its prospects. He finds that this sector has contributed significantly to expanding higher education access over the last three decades, while at the same time has faced with low-quality and commercialisation criticisms. Signs of enrolment stagnation and more broadly systematic crisis are emerging. The crisis of private higher education stems from both external (especially unfavourable public policies) and internal factors (e.g. insufficient focus on quality improvement). However, his findings suggest that the ongoing shift in Vietnam’s higher education governance, from the state-steering to the plural-market model, will likely further facilitate public-private competition, and thus will help the private sector to keep expanding, at least in terms of size. The chapter indicates, although only implicitly, the rise of non-state stakeholders that are now dominating the private higher education – corporate giants – who have tactically taken advantage of the neoliberal reforms to make profits. This chapter, thus, further enriches the neoliberal capitalist picture of Vietnamese education presented in Chapter 3 and reminds us that neoliberal discourses and policy recommendations of supranational

14  NM Quang institutions, such as the World Bank and ADB, and by domestic neoliberal elites and associations are the key drivers commercialising private higher education in the country. In Chapter 6, Exploring Informality in Vietnamese Higher Education: Causes, Impacts and Government Responses, Joop de Wit investigates the impacts of corruption on the education system where too many cases, scams, or scandals have been reported in state media. This chapter argues that it is critical to first map the informal dynamics and mechanisms where students may enter universities illegitimately through bribing, where research may be contracted out, and where promotions may be based on invoking powerful relations. Hence, this exploratory text aims to be constructive by studying such issues with a view to help frame relevant policy. It argues that malfeasance in education can only be understood against the wider context of informality in Vietnam’s governance; against recent (neoliberal) governance shifts as well as cultural legacies and informal power dynamics. Against the gloomy depiction of corrupt practices, there appears to be some reason for optimism. For one thing, there is reason to believe that there are plenty well- or adequately performing universities across the country. Most importantly, the Government of Vietnam and the ruling Communist Party are well aware of the issues and their negative impacts on national development. Policy and reforms to address educational corruption have been and are being implemented, raising hopes that things may improve – along with increased mechanisms of accountability, transparency, and participation. Chapters 7 and 8 are designed to investigate the other two important areas of education to which the CPV and Government of Vietnam have been committed in their educational renovation policies: inclusive education for ethnic students and education for sustainable development. Ngo Thi Hang Nga, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai, and Tran Thi Ly present findings from their intensive analysis of national ethnic minority education policies in Chapter 7, Human Rights Approach to Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam: A Policy Review. For nation-states such as Vietnam, inclusive education for ethnic minorities is an integral part of human rights and education modernisation cause. Although the Government of Vietnam has seriously committed to and made some early progress in fostering equal access to education and employment opportunities, challenges remain tough, preventing ethnic minority students in Vietnam to fully enjoy their rights to education. Drawing on a “4A” framework involving four components: availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability, this chapter reviewed 64 ethnic minorities-related policy documents on a range of education levels, from general to higher education. Findings show that some critical aspects concerning the right to education, including availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability, are not adequately addressed in the analysed documents. What is more challenging is that ethnic policymaking processes are still highly centralised, although public consultation and field research may be included to some extent. This is reflected in a pervasive lack of contextual and cultural appropriateness in ethnic policies and exclusion of ethnic minorities

Introduction 15 in inclusive education decision-making spheres that directly affect them. As a result, there is a mismatch between policy objectives and reality as many education policies have not been successfully implemented in ethnic regions due to infrastructure, language, and cultural constraints. Another emphasis is about the promising transition to education for sustainable development in Vietnamese general education, albeit at a slow pace. Vietnam has experienced increasing impacts posed by climate change, Mekong upstream hydropower dams and internal environmental insecurity threats on its people and wildlife. As a low-laying and furthest downstream country, the Vietnamese people, especially the next generations, are being forced to shoulder those increasingly unbearable impacts. This well-established fact highlights the urgent need to reconsider the government’s approach to education reforms and requires a closer focus on sustainable community and climate-resilient development in education. Thus, it is worth acknowledging not only does Vietnam need a skilled labour force to sustain socio-economic growth, but it will need a population with global competence, having courage to take action for collective well-being and sustainable development. This is analysed in the last chapter, Chapter 8 – Education Matters for Sustainable Development: Reconsidering the Environmental Education in Vietnamese General Education – which focuses on the implementation of environmental education in Vietnam. Kieu Thi Kinh, Nguyen Thu Ha, Nguyen Phuong Thao, Ngo Thi Hai Yen, and Nguyen Ngoc Anh conducted surveys and interviews with senior teachers to understand how environmental education is introduced in schools in North Vietnam. Their results suggest that although environmental education is well institutionalised in policy documents, there is a lack of provisions for teaching methodology to assist teachers in implementing environmental education. Moreover, in many schools teachers find it difficult to embed this field in classroom due to the current overloaded curriculum. To this end, the authors call for development of a specific framework to coordinate and facilitate environmental education in Vietnamese schools.

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16  NM Quang Australian Council for Educational Research. n.d. Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth. Camberwell, Australia: The ACER Centre for Global Education Monitoring. Barro, Robert J. 2001. “Education and Economic Growth.” The Contribution of Human and Social Capital to Sustained Economic Growth and Well-being 79: 13–41. Battu, H., and Bender, K.A. 2020. “Chapter 20 – Educational Mismatch in Developing Countries: A Review of the Existing Evidence.” In The Economics of Education (Second Edition), edited by Steve Bradley and Colin Green, 269–289. Academic Press. Bokova, Irina and Figueres, Christiana. 2015. “Why education is the key to sustainable development.” World Economic Forum. May 19, 2015. https://www.weforum.org/ agenda/2015/05/why-education-is-the-key-to-sustainable-development/ Brathwaite, Jessica. 2017. “Neoliberal Education Reform and the Perpetuation of Inequality.” Critical Sociology 43(3) 429–448. Brende, Børge. 2015. “Why education is the key to development.” World Economic Forum. July 7, 2015. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/why-education-is-thekey-to-development/ Cuc, Bui Thi Kim. 2020. “Chú trọng đầu tư cho Giáo dục đào tạo.” Figures and Events Review, September 09, 2020. http://consosukien.vn/chu-trong-dau-tu-cho-giao-ducdao-tao.htm Dahl, Arthur Lyon. 2021. “Why Education Is Key for Sustainable Development Goals.” Global Governance Forum. January 19, 2021. https://globalgovernanceforum.org/ education-sustainable-development-goals/ Deprez, Sophie. 2018. “The Strategic Vision behind Vietnam’s International Trade Integration.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 2(2018): 3–38. Dodd, Joseph W. 1972. “Aspects of Recent Educational Change in South Vietnam.” The Journal of Developing Areas 6(4): 555–570. Dowling, Malcolm J., and Valenzuela Rebecca Ma. 2010. Economic Development in Asia 2nd Edition. Singapore: Cengage Learning Asia. Duggan, Stephen. 2001. “Educational Reform in Viet Nam: A Process of Change or Continuity?” Comparative Education, 37(2): 193–212. Dung, Vu Thi Phuong. 2019. “Current Skilled Labour Shortage in Vietnam.” Journal of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences 4 (192): 40–48. Dai Doan Ket. 2019. “Gần 19 vạn cử nhân thất nghiệp.” July 10, 2019. http://daidoanket.vn/ xa-hoi/gan-19-van-cu-nhan-that-nghiep-tintuc441624 Eurodad. 2006. World Bank and IMF conditionality: A Development Injustice. https:// www.eurodad.org/world_bank_and_imf_conditionality_a_development_injustice Gibbs, Graham. 2013. “Reflections on the Changing Nature of Educational Development.” International Journal for Academic Development 18(1): 4–14. Government of Vietnam. 2006. Nghị định 43/2006/NĐ-CP quy định quyền tự chủ, tự chịu trách nhiệm về thực hiện nhiệm vụ, tổ chức bộ máy, biên chế và tài chính đối với đơn vị sự nghiệp công lập. https://chinhphu.vn/default.aspx?pageid=27160&docid=15218 Grant, Catherine. 2017. “The Contribution of Education to Economic Growth.” K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. Ha, Ngo Van. 2016. “Dac diem giao duc dai hoc o Mien Bac thoi ky 1954–1975.” Journal of Historical Studies (Vietnamese) 11(2016): 38–46. Ha, Ngo Van. 2020. “Higher Education in Vietnam in the Period of 2010–2020: Achievements and Challenges.” In Proceedings of International Conference on Higher Education in Vietnam and Asia, 120–134. Hanoi: Social Science Publisher. Hanushek, Eric A., and Woessmann, Ludger. 2010. “Education and Economic Growth.” In Economics of Education, edited by Dominic J. Brewer and Patrick J. McEwan, 60–67. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Introduction 17 Hanushek, Eric A. 2012. “The Economic Value of Education and Cognitive Skills.” In Handbook of Education Policy Research, edited by Gary Sykes, Barbara Schneider, David N. Plank, and Timothy G. Ford, 39–50. New York: Routledge. Hanushek, Eric A. 2013. “Economic Growth in Developing Countries: The Role of Human Capital.” Economics of Education Review 37: 204–212. Hanushek, Eric A., Jamison, Dean T., Jamison, Eliot A., Woessmann, Ludger. 2008. “Education and Economic Growth.” Education Next 8(2): 62–70. Herr, Hansjörg, Schweisshelm, Erwin Truong, Minh Huy Vu. 2016. The integration of Vietnam in the global economy and its effects for Vietnamese economic development. Global Labour University Working Paper, No. 44, International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva. Hicks, N.L. 1987. “Education and Economic Growth.” Economics of Education. https:// doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-033379-3.50022-X Hill, Dave, Greaves, Nigel M. and Maisuria, Alpesh. 2009. “Education, Inequality and Neoliberal Capitalism: A Classical Marxist Analysis.” In Global Neoliberalism and Education and Its Consequences, edited by Dave Hill and Ravi Kumar, 102–121. New York: Routledge. Hirosato, Y., and Kitamura, Y. eds. 2009. The Political Economy of Educational Reforms and Capacity Development in Southeast Asia. Dordrecht: Springer. Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. 2018. “Cơ hội đi học ở Việt Nam – Từ cải cách giáo dục đến đổi mới căn bản, toàn diện giáo dục.” May 28, 2018. http:// lyluanchinhtri.vn/home/index.php/dao-tao-boi-duong/item/2526-co-hoi-di-hoc-oviet-nam-tu-cai-cach-giao-duc-den-doi-moi-can-ban-toan-dien-giao-duc.html Hop, Mai Phu and Yang, Jun Wu. 2013. “The Current Situation of Vietnam Education.” Social Sciences 2(6): 168–178. Horn, M. 2014. “Visits to Vietnam’s schools shed light on opportunities for innovation.” Forbes, February 24, 2014. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2014/02/24/ visits-to-vietnams-schools-shed-light-on-opportunities-for-innovation International Labour Organization. 2016. The ILO School-to-work transitions surveys (SWTS): Country brief – Vietnam. Geneva: ILO. Kataoka, Sachiko, Vinh, Le Anh, Kitchlu, Sandhya, and Inoue, Keiko (2020). Vietnam’s Human Capital: Education Success & Future Challenges. Washington, DC: World Bank. Kelly, Kritsy. 2000. “The Higher Education System in Vietnam.” World Education News and Reviews, May 1, 2000. https://wenr.wes.org/2000/05/ewenr-mayjune2000-the-higher-education-system-in-vietnam Kenichi, O., Thanh, N.D., Anh, P.T., Huong, P.T., Linh, B.T.T. 2020. Vietnam Productivity Report 2020. Hanoi: Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research. Klees, Steven J. 2016. “The Political Economy of Education and Inequality: Reflections on Piketty.” Globalisation Societies and Education 15(4): 410–424. Klees, Steven J. 2020. “Beyond Neoliberalism: Reflections on Capitalism and Education.” Policy Futures in Education, 18(1): 9–29. Lee, S. 2020. “Challenges and Opportunities for Transforming Skills Development in Bangladesh: The Case of the Skills for Employment Investment Program.” In Anticipating and Preparing for Emerging Skills and Jobs. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, edited by B. Panth and R. Maclean. Singapore: Springer. Linh-Huong, Nguyen Thi. 2016. “Chi tiêu cho giáo dục trong các hộ gia đình ở Việt Nam năm 2015.” NCIF, May 23, 2016. http://ncif.gov.vn/pages/newsdetail. aspx?newid=18779

18  NM Quang Lockard, Craig. 2009. Southeast Asia in World History (1st Edition). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Lucas, Robert E. 1990. “Why Doesn’t Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?” American Economic Review 80: 92–96. Mankiw, N. Gregory, and Romer, David, Eds. 1991. New Keynesian Economics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Mankiw, N. Gregory, Romer, David, and Weil, David N.. 1992. “A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 107: 407–437. Marquez-Ramos, L. and Mourelle, E. 2019. “Education and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis of Nonlinearities.” Applied Economic Analysis 27(79): 21–45. Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. 2014. Vietnam’s Labour Market Update Newsletter. http://www.molisa.gov.vn/Images/FileAnPham/fileanpham 2014771436556.pdf Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. 2015. Vietnam’s Labour Market Update Newsletter. http://www.molisa.gov.vn/Images/FileAnPham/fileanpham 20151121629714.pdf Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. 2016. Vietnam’s Labour Market Update Newsletter. http://www.molisa.gov.vn/Images/FileAnPham/fileanpham 2017918937744.pdf Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. 2017. Vietnam’s Labour Market Update Newsletter. http://www.molisa.gov.vn/Images/FileAnPham/fileanpham 2017918937744.pdf Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. 2018. Vietnam’s Labour Market Update Newsletter. http://molisa.gov.vn/Upload/ThiTruong/LMU-So18-Q22018-Final(1).pdf Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. 2019. Vietnam’s Labour Market Update Newsletter. http://www.molisa.gov.vn/Upload/ThiTruong/LMU-So24-Q42019Eng-final.pdf MOET’s Statistics Database. 2020. Thống kê Giáo dục Đại học. https://moet.gov.vn/ thong-ke/Pages/thong-ko-giao-duc-dai-hoc.aspx MOET. 2021. Số liệu thống kê giáo dục đại học năm học 2019–2020. https://moet.gov.vn/ thong-ke/Pages/thong-ko-giao-duc-dai-hoc.aspx?ItemID=7389 Montague, Alan. 2013. “Vocational and Skill Shortages in Vietnamese Manufacturing and Service Sectors, and Some Plausible Solutions.” Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 51(2): 208–227. National Assembly. 2014. Resolution No. 88/2014/QH13 on curriculum innovation and textbook compilation and publication. https://vbpl.vn/bogiaoducdaotao/Pages/vbpqvan-ban-goc.aspx?ItemID=144398 Nhan Dan. 2021. “Những thành tựu đổi mới, sáng tạo trong giáo dục.” January 25, 2021. https://nhandan.vn/tin-tuc-giao-duc/nhung-thanh-tuu-doi-moi-sang-tao-tronggiao-duc-632842/ Noui, R. 2020. “Higher Education between Massification and Quality.” Higher Education Evaluation and Development, 14(2): 93–103. OECD. 2015. Universal Basic Skills: What Countries Stand to Gain. Paris: OECD Publishing. Osborne, Milton Edgeworth. 2021. “Vietnam.” Britannica. https://www.britannica. com/place/Vietnam Patrinos, Harry Anthony. 2016. “Five innovative education trends from Korea.” World Bank Blogs. December 12, 2016. https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/ five-innovative-education-trends-korea

Introduction 19 Pearson, J., and Phuong, Nguyen. 2019. “Choke point: Vietnam skilled labor squeezed by Sino-U.S. trade war.” Reuters. October 11, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/ us-vietnam-labour-idUSKBN1WP35P Quang, Nguyen Minh. 2019a. “Geographies of Education for Sustainability (EfS): Shaping the EfS in Vietnam’s Approach to Education.” In Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability, edited by Chew-Hung Chang, Gillian Kidman, and Andy Wi, 129–142. Singapore: Routledge. Quang, Nguyen Minh. 2019b. “Examining the Cross-subject Coherence in Environmental Education in Vietnamese High School Curricula.” Journal of Educational and Human Research Development 7:78–99. Quang, Nguyen Minh. 2020. “STEM Higher Education in the Mekong Delta: Too Much or too Little.” In Proceedings of International Conference on Higher Education in Vietnam and Asia, 476–500. Hanoi: Social Science Publisher. Ravago, M.L., Brucal, A., Roumasset, J., and Punongbayan, J.C. 2018. “The Role of Power Prices in Structural Transformation: Evidence from the Philippines.” Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Paper 312. London: London School of Economics and Political Science. Radcliffe, Brent. 2021. “How education and training affect the economy.” Investopedia. May 11, 2021. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/educationtraining-advantages.asp Reed, John. 2018. “Education in Vietnam: very good on paper.” Financial Times, October 11, 2018. https://www.ft.com/content/da4387d0-aba8-11e8-8253-48106866cd8a Rowan, Brian. 2002. “The Ecology of School Improvement: Notes on the School Improvement Industry in the United States.” Journal of Educational Change 3(3): 283–314. Tentua, Meilany N. and Winarko, Edi. 2020. “Applying Data Mining to Analysis of Mismatch Between Education and Labor Market in Indonesia.” IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Volume 771, 012020. Thanh Nien. 2015. “Vietnam’s ambitious education reform plans come in for praise.” November 11, 2015. http://www.thanhniennews.com/education-youth/vietnamsambitious-education-reform-plans-come-in-for-praise-53391.html Thanh Nien. 2019a. “Giáo dục đang khủng hoảng?”, January 12, 2019. https:// thanhnien.vn/giao-duc/giao-duc-dang-khung-hoang-1042631.html Thanh Nien. 2019b. “Việt Nam vẫn đang dạy cái thế giới không còn dạy: Giáo viên phát ngượng, học sinh phản ứng!”, May 4, 2019. https://thanhnien.vn/giao-duc/ viet-nam-van-dang-day-cai-the-gioi-khong-con-day-giao-vien-phat-nguong-hoc-sinhphan-ung-1077801.html Thorbecke, Willem. 2018. “Investigating ASEAN’s Electronic and Labor-Intensive Exports.” Journal of Asian Economics 55(2018): 57–80. Tien, Pham Do Nhat. 2018. “Tự chủ trong giáo dục phổ thông ở nước ta hiện nay: Hiện trạng và những việc cần làm.” Communist Review. https://tapchicongsan.org.vn/ web/guest/van_hoa_xa_hoi/-/2018/50739/tu-chu-trong-giao-duc-pho-thong-onuoc-ta-hien-nay–hien-trang-va-nhung-viec-can-lam.aspx Trang, Nguyen Thi Thu. 2017. “Sinh viên thất nghiệp sau khi ra trường – Nguyên nhân và cách khắc phục.” Tap Chi Cong Thuong. https://tapchicongthuong.vn/ bai-viet/sinh-vien-that-nghiep-sau-khi-ra-truong-nguyen-nhan-va-cach-khac-phuc48972.htm UNDP. 2014. Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries. New York: UNDP.

20  NM Quang UNICEF. 2019. Education for the 21st Century: Placing skills development at the heart of education. April 22, 2019. https://www.unicef.org/thailand/stories/ education-21st-century Vallely, T. and Wilkinson, B. 2008. Vietnamese Higher Education: Crisis and Response. Massachusetts, USA: Harvard Kennedy School. Vancouver Island University. 2017. Dimensions of Educational Development. https:// ciel.viu.ca/sites/default/files/dimensions_of_educational_development_viu_0.pdf Viet, Le Cong Luyen. 2009. “Education Reform in Lower Secondary Education in Vietnam.” In The Political Economy of Educational Reforms and Capacity Development in Southeast Asia, edited by Yasushi Hirosato and Yuto Kitamura, 217–36. Dordrecht: Springer. Vietnam Education News. 2015. “Chương trình, sách giáo khoa mới và những con số nhảy múa.” June 5, 2015. https://giaoduc.net.vn/giao-duc-24h/chuong-trinh-sachgiao-khoa-moi-va-nhung-con-so-nhay-mua-post186837.gd Vietnam Education News. 2018. “2 tỷ USD vốn vay ODA đem lại lợi ích gì cho giáo dục Việt Nam?” August 27, 2018. https://giaoduc.net.vn/giao-duc-24h/2-ty-usd-vonvay-oda-dem-lai-loi-ich-gi-cho-giao-duc-viet-nam-post161281.gd Vietnam News Agency. 2020. “Rà soát kinh phí xây dựng chương trình giáo dục phổ thông mới.” November 6, 2020. https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/ra-soat-kinh-phi-xaydung-chuong-trinh-giao-duc-pho-thong-moi-20201106133939324.htm Wan, Hongyu, Yoo, Chung Sik, and Cho, Insook. 2020. “Educational Mismatch and Job Satisfaction in China.” Journal of Applied Economics & Business Research, 10(3):131–147. World Bank. n.d.Report on Education in Vietnam: Development History, Challenges and Solutions. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/ 278200-1121703274255/1439264-1153425508901/Education_Vietnam_ Development.pdf World Bank. 2020. Vietnam: Deepening International Integration and Implementing the EVFTA. World Bank, Hanoi. Zimmerman, Barry J. 1995. “Self-efficacy and Educational Development.” In Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies, edited by Albert Bandura, 202–231. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2

Change and Continuity of Education Reforms in Vietnam History, Drivers, and Niches Minh Q. Huynh

Introduction The Vietnamese public have always been enthusiastic about improving education, and yet they have grown weary of education reforms (Bui and Nguyen 2019; Duggan 2001). That is because, since education was moved to the forefront of the nation building project, various reforms have been introduced. These reforms often take roots in ambitious educational, social, and political goals. They often take aim at addressing various “wicked” problems that plague national education, threaten national security and identity, and peril the success of socialism (National Assembly 2020). Often these reforms succeed in addressing the problems they set out to address. More often, however, they reveal further problems that persist and jeopardise educational development in the country (Duggan 2001; London 2010). To understand the persistent problems that keep surfacing each wave of reform in Vietnam, it is important to grasp an understanding of the history of education and reform in the country, the many forces that have driven reform movements since the birth of the modern nation, and the resources and transactions that support and facilitate reform movements. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the history of reforms in Vietnam, from which the forces driving reforms are identified and discussed, and characteristics of both the system and its many reforms described. It then depicts the landscape of reforms in Vietnam through the lens of niches to provide an overview of the ways these forces intersect and interact in their transactional spaces.

A Brief History of Education and Reforms in Vietnam Pre-Independence Vietnam The roots of education reform date back further than the birth of the modern nation. Education, though nowhere near mass public education in its modern sense, was centrepiece in the pre-modern governance project. The teaching of classical text and Confucian ideas founded the basis of the governing philosophy that shaped much of Vietnam’s pre-modern history and provided the pool from which ruling dynasties selected its governors and administrators. Education, DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-2

22  MQ Huynh which alongside music, ethics, diplomacy, rites, and rituals comprised what was known collectively as rites, was overseen by the Ministry of Rites. Teaching and learning, however, were by no means centrally governed activities outside of the exercised entitlements of the privileged elites. In villages, it embodied the communal image of Confucian scholars or retired public officials providing service to the community (Vu 1959). Education up to the early twentieth century was marked with a curriculum centred on classical Chinese literature and Confucian texts, and a heavy emphasis on testing. Tests were, in fact, the only formally organised aspect of education and guided much of the content and pedagogy. High stake mandarin exams were offered every three years at the regional, national, and imperial levels (Vu 1959). Education, in the strictest sense, was not wholly the practice of shaping one’s mind and developing one’s knowledge, skills, and disposition. It was more a preparational phase for the important highstake exams that open the doors to public service and the ranks of mandarins, and which the aspiring young is expected to take later in life. With the French invasion and colonisation of Vietnam in the nineteenth century, the mandarin testing system gradually fell out of popularity and became obsolete. It existed alongside the last dynasty as an instrument of public governance as it did centuries earlier, but after the French annexed parts of Vietnam as its protectorates, the colonisers saw the need for – besides tapping into and exploiting the colonised labour source – training the local populace to meet its colonising and governing agenda. By the time the last imperial exams were abolished in 1918, colonial elements had found its way in, with questions given for essays in the national script (Kelly 1977; Vu 1959). By the early twentieth century, a French system of schooling had been established serving the children of French colonisers and those of upper- and middle-class Vietnamese. A network of universities and institutes that laid the foundation for the development of higher education in Vietnam was in place. In all, although reserved only to a privileged few, the French succeeded in laying the grounds for a colonial system of education (Nguyen 2004).

Early Independence and the First Indochina War (1945–1954) Among the many problems pervading a new nation at its infancy, education found its way into the priorities of the newly established Government of Vietnam (Nguyen 2005). The demand was clear and urgent to irradicable illiteracy and to educate the populace in the shortest of time. A ministry for national education was established to that purpose and for developing a national system of education. This national system took after the schooling system put in place by the French, and would gradually inherit features of Soviet education systems, as aid from and technical cooperation with the bloc grew. Despite France’s return and the ensuing war that lasted until 1954, education managed to see its first major reform in 1950. The purpose of the reform was to speed up the early achievements of the adult literacy programme, and to organise formal schooling into 9 years (4 at primary, 3 at lower-secondary,

Education Reforms in Vietnam 23 and 2 at upper-secondary). It also developed a tracking system that catered to post-primary vocational and post-secondary higher or professional training. A national curriculum was introduced, tailored to the specific priorities and the limited resources of the country in wartime. Primary textbooks were completed for the primary level in 1952, while for upper levels they were still in slow development. The early success of the adult literacy programme resulted in Vietnamese replacing French as the language of instruction (Bui and Nguyen 2019). In parts of the country still occupied by France, the previous 12-year system was in place, and French remained the language of instruction. Even after its defeat and withdrawal in 1954, France maintained its educational presence in Vietnam through the lycée Albert-Sarraut in the North through an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), and French schools in South Vietnam (Nguyen 2013).

North and South Vietnam (1954–1975) North Vietnam Between 1954 and 1975, there existed two education systems in both the DRV (North Vietnamese Government) and the Republic of Vietnam (ROV, South Vietnamese Government). While the system in the DRV mirrored those of Soviet nations, the one in the ROV, funded in large part from American aids, was still marked with strong French influences (Dror 2018). The DRV went through another major reform in 1956, which unified the two systems of 9- and 12-year schooling into a 10-year system (4 primary, 3 lower-secondary, and 3 upper-secondary, with a standard exam at the end of each level). Adult education was accelerated with this reform, building on the successes of former programmes. By the end of 1958, 93.4% of those between 12 and 20 years of age were fully literate. Higher education, thanks to increased aids and technical assistance from the Soviet Union, saw major developments. In 1956, five institutions of higher learning in Hanoi left behind by the French were converted into Soviet-styled universities. Between 1956 and 1960, nine universities were established, and by 1965 the number went up to seventeen. Technical cooperation in higher education and human resource capacity development flourished. By 1965, more than 500 higher education instructors pursued graduate programmes in Soviet Union and Eastern European universities, half of whom at the doctoral level. Along the growth of teacher-training colleges and universities, the number of trained teachers quickly multiplied. By 1960, the number reached 40,000, three times as many as in 1954, and again doubled by 1965. In 1968, a ministry-affiliated office tasked with teacher education was created (Bui and Nguyen 2019; Nguyen 2005). In 1965, by a government decree, the higher education branch separated from the Ministry of Education to form the Ministry of Higher and Professional Education (MOHPE), which regulated and oversaw issues related to higher education (Pham 1994). These included supervising university staffing and

24  MQ Huynh budgeting, organising annual college entrance exams, and facilitating international cooperation and exchange student programmes. In 1970, MOHPE issued a decision stipulating part-time, transfer, and distance higher education programmes, laying the groundwork for non-traditional modes of higher learning that would later flourish (MOHPE 1970).

South Vietnam In the ROV, the education system was modelled after the French system that was in place decades earlier. French (Catholic) schools continued to grow and gain popular attention, mostly thanks to the power wielded by the Catholic church during the first republic (1955–1963). The educational goals were nationalistic and centred on individual development. Schools were modelled after a 12-year system (5 at primary level, 4 lower-secondary, and 3 upper-secondary). Alongside popular education, there was a technical track, with technical high schools present in almost every province of the south. At the beginning of the second republic, French schools saw declining popularity and were eventually nationalised in 1965. Vietnamese replaced French as the language of instructions in these schools, and schooling steered away from the elitist approach towards a more popular approach (Dror 2018; Nguyen 2013). The growing reliance of the ROV on U.S. aids resulted in strong American influences in the education system, such as in the introduction of comprehensive high schools in the 1960s. Higher education was more developed in the ROV compared to the DRV. Universities offered both undergraduate and graduate programmes, which admitted small numbers of applicants and involved highly selective entrance examinations. Public universities were tuition-free, while most private institutions were religiously affiliated. With the prospects of national unification in the late 1960s and early 1970s, community colleges emerged as a new type of higher education institutions to meet new social demands. Graduate and exchange programmes were mostly coordinated with western nations, chief among those were France and the U.S. (Smith 1967). Since mass public education was not a priority for the ROV governments, literacy outcomes in the south were not as successful as those in the north. By the time the ROV lost in 1975, less than 70% of the population was fully literate (Nguyen et al. 2006).

Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1975–2000) Education and Reform in the Post-Unification Period (1975–1986) After the fall of the ROV to the DRV in 1975, preparations were set for unification. As the two prior systems of education differed in both form and function, it was a priority to bring them together into a unified system. Resolution 14-NQ/TW enacted the third education reform, which prescribed a universal

Education Reforms in Vietnam 25 12-year system, tying together the first 9 years (5 primary and 4 lower-secondary) as basic education. Curriculum and textbook development underwent several attempts before completion in 1986, resulting in instructional materials that would last until the end of the century (Duggan 2001). The newly unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam took control of a welldeveloped network of higher education in the South. Many of these universities and colleges had enjoyed an affluence of resources thanks to a regular inflow of aids and technical assistance prior to the ROV’s defeat and dissolution. These institutions were converted and repurposed to take after the higher education system in the north, which was influenced by the Soviet model (Nguyen 2005; Pham 1994). Though ambitious in its goals, this reform brought a lot of problems in implementation, chief among which a severe lack of resources owing to 30 years of war, economic sanctions from the U.S., and two successive border conflicts within three years of unification. The merging of primary and secondary schools proved chaotic as schools scrambled to mobilise and distribute their human, financial, and material resources. It was then not surprising that the two levels were soon re-separated. Moreover, the progressive emphasis of education as a social benefit was not materialised in national budgets, where it was allocated a tiny share (Bui and Nguyen 2019). This resulted in a system lacking both capacity and resources to sustain and grow, thus laying the grounds for yet other reforms following a major political and economic shift in 1986: the political and economic reforms (Đổi Mới) and the introduction of a socialist-oriented market economy.

Post-Đổi Mới Period (1986–2000) The most notable change post-Đổi Mới is the absence of a holistic, centrally planned reform programme. Reforms since 1986 instead became somewhat regular administrative activities. New laws, regulations, and decisions would be introduced, addressing parts and areas of the system that needed improvement. Several of these authorised the creation of non-public educational institutions, which diversified types of schools and their funding sources, and which led in a host of such new school types as semi-public (cf. voucher), people-founded (cf. private non-profit), and private schools (MOET 1990b; 1990c; 1991a; 1991b). Another policy stipulated the specialised tracking groups in some high schools, with weighted curricula geared towards high school completion and university entrance exams (MOET 1990a). While in theory education governance and administration was still highly centralised, these stipulations – especially the one specifying school types – allowed for much flexibility and room for growth at the local and organisational levels. At the national level, the Ministry of Education and MOHPE continued to coexist until their merger in 1990 into the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). Today, MOET remains the government office in charge of all levels and types of education and training, overseeing a large national network of universities, colleges, and schools, as well as providing technical guidance and support for provincial departments of education.

26  MQ Huynh

Contemporary Vietnam (2000–present) Education since the start of the twenty-first century has seen a steady growth in resources afforded by economic development. Many important reform initiatives have thus taken place. Schools have become better funded and equipped, class sizes have become smaller, teachers have been better trained, and gained more credentials. Students are generally better supported than the generations before them. Enrolment and literacy rates have reached a universal level. Vietnamese students have fared quite well compared to their peers in large-scale international tests (OECD 2016; 2019). Curricula and textbooks have gone through several phases of revisions and updates, each garnering considerable interests and sparking extensive debates from the public (Le 2009). However, the changes that attract most public interests and debates happened in the testing arena, with the monopolisation of the university entrance exam by MOET in 2002 and the move towards standardised testing methods for both the high school completion and university entrance exams in the years that followed. These two exams were replaced by one in 2015, with just a single round of tests in early July, and with greater varieties of subject combinations (Trines 2017). This period has also seen growing international cooperation, with increased aids and development projects invested alongside the growing presence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and development partner agencies in education, as well as growing participation in the global education agenda, with national education goals and strategies reflecting the vision and echoing the language of global movements like Education for All (EFA) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. There also have been concerns for growing inequity in education, with children in rich urban areas better resourced and enjoying higher-quality education compared to their peers in poor, remote, and rural areas. A high rate of parental contribution to education funding, at about 25%, also widens the socio-economic gap in terms of access and resources for many students (UNESCO 2016). Growth in higher education has boomed within the first two decades of the century. The introduction of new guidance and regulations on private and non-public institutions has led to the number of universities and colleges quadrupling from 101 (all public) in 1987 to 357 public and 88 private in 2015. The number of students went from 133,000 to 2,120,000 within the same period (Trines 2017). There has additionally been a wave of transformation within higher education institutions, with more and more specialised universities and colleges transformed into multi-disciplinary universities. The move towards the academic credit system swept through most universities in the late 2000s. International cooperation and exchange programmes have flourished in this period, as the numbers of both overseas Vietnamese students and international students to Vietnam consistently peak in recent years. Alongside the history of education and reforms in Vietnam, the roles of the national education administration also evolved and changed. This evolution, which follows the transformations from the dynastic Ministry of Rites to the

Education Reforms in Vietnam 27

Figure 2.1   The evolution of (pre-1945–present)

national

education

administration

in

Vietnam

present-day MOET, can be illustrated in the following diagram (Figure 2.1), which summarises the major roles and functions of this cabinet-level office, as well as the characteristics of the system within each period.

The Drivers of Education Reform in Vietnam From this glimpse into the history of education reform in Vietnam, reform efforts are observed to be driven by five major forces, which, ranging from the relative impacts they exert, are the legal/political, historical/cultural, economic, global, and technical/professional. These forces come together to shape the state of education and reforms in Vietnam over its history, and explain why after changes upon changes, many of the problems facing education and reforms remain more or less the same. Understanding how these forces work will also help determine the niches of education reforms in Vietnam, which is another topic of this chapter. In a system as centralised and hierarchic as Vietnam, sources of legitimacy such as legal and political drivers are the key to the formulation, implementation, success, and failure of reforms. The system of educational guidance, which includes laws, regulations, resolutions, directives, and decisions, makes up the legal frameworks for reforms. They also provide the context and a frame of reference for reform ideas and initiatives lower in the hierarchy. Since education is stated as a national priority in the Constitution (National Assembly 2013), education reforms usually carry quite a lot of political weight. On the other hand, because of the level of public attention and engagement they attract, reforms

28  MQ Huynh are also highly politically sensitive. Often reform efforts are direct responses to public opinion, and often they are driven by public feedback. Reforms are also political in the way that they bear personal impressions of educational leaders, who until recently have more often been lifelong politicians than educators (MOET 2016). The second driver of education reform in Vietnam is found in the cultural and historical sources of the system. Many characteristics of the present-day system and reforms, such as a heavy emphasis on high-stake testing and the high level of centralisation, take root in history. The high level of household contribution and involvement in education and the prevalence of the public feedback system are yet other traces of history, where the Confucian ideals of education as a social leveller and an induction to civic engagement and social participation are very much alive today in the public mindset. Since the public voice is heard throughout much of the education and reform discourses, the platforms that give rise to it – the media and, more recently, social media – also have their fair share of impacts on reforms, and often serve as an important intermediary feedback channel between reform policies and their beneficiaries. Economic forces are also an important driver of education reforms in Vietnam. With the shift towards a market economy in 1986, the education arena has increasingly been populated by diverse economic actors. While the state, with its arms of public corporations and institutions, still has a large enough share of the education market that significantly influences both policies and reforms, non-public and private actors have emerged as new potential leaders of reform initiatives, especially those from the grassroots level. Concerns of growing inequity aside, the increasing participation of consumers and their large share of educational expenses, coupled with the characteristics of a system prone to public interests and opinions, has also driven system evolution and reform initiatives in ways that reflect the principles of market Leninism (London 2006, 2010). From the last decade of twentieth century onwards, international exchange and cooperation has increasingly played in important part in Vietnamese education reform. Lessons and good practices have found their way into the national education reform discourse through international cooperation, whether at the regional stage through the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) – the education arm of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – or at the global stage through its coordination with such intergovernmental organisations as UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, or World Bank. A marked increase in investment and development aids to the country since the early 1990s, many of which on education have added to the flows of reform efforts at all levels. The global movements on education initiated by key development actors – such as EFA (1990–2015) and the comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (2016–2030), of which education is a focus (SDG 4) – have also played their parts in shifting the reform foci and dialogs in Vietnam. Within the Global Education Monitoring programme, MOET has worked with UNESCO to produce national monitoring reports using the EFA global

Education Reforms in Vietnam 29 monitoring framework (MOET and UNESCO 2015). The strategies for educational development between 2021 and 2030 are well aligned with the targets and indicators of SDG 4 (United Nations Vietnam 2017). The opening up of the education market post-Đổi Mới and the growing effects of globalisation on the economy have seen sweeping changes to education in Vietnam, many of which have had to do with reforms. The increased presence of global and international education actors in the market, the surging waves of international exchanges in education, and the growing interests in comparative reform and policy have altogether reshaped the reform landscape. Educational services preparing for and providing international education experiences to Vietnamese consumers have added alternatives to the traditional general and higher education routes. A growing number of students from middle- and high-income families are now seeking education abroad (BMI 2021). At the policy level, national programmes that facilitate and support graduate education using national budgets have sent thousands to seek a graduate degree abroad (Government of Vietnam 2000; 2010). Furthermore, frequent international study trips and growing interests in international assessment programmes, such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), have brought a new comparative focus the reform discourse within the past decade (Asadullah et al. 2020; Parandekar and Sedmik 2016). The technical and professional force makes up the last key drivers of education reform in Vietnam. While the country boasts a fairly large number of schools and colleges of education, some housed in big national universities and others independent as regional institutions, the national impact that education technocrats exert on reform has so far been modest, save for the frequently larger share from key think tanks and research institutions like the Hanoi National University of Education or the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences. Apart from the larger-than-life influences of prominent educational theorists in earlier reforms, recent reforms have been more products of collective efforts. And even though technical participation from local and regional institutions have been modest, they have also added technical voices to the education reform dialogue through means of professional and public discourses.

Characteristics of the Vietnamese Education System In many ways, education reform in present-day Vietnam reflects these many vestiges of the past. The education system and its many reform movements place a heavy focus on outcomes and less so on process. This is manifested in the tremendous resources and public attention that high-stake testing garners, and the many reform initiatives seek to address and change it. The Confucian view of learning that see its value as a social equaliser and a career advancer, coupled with the unique function that high-stake testing played in the governing order, is very much alive today in the way the Vietnamese public view and value education. On the positive side, it stresses the idea of education as a personal endeavour that facilitates social advancement and challenges structural inequity.

30  MQ Huynh On the negative side, it prescribes an unhealthy amount of attention to highstake tests, which often leads to cheating and manipulated quality and performance measures (Asia Times 2019). Strong centralisation, another distinctive feature of the Vietnamese education system, reflects both postwar Soviet-style central planning and the colonial influences that came before it. Reforms and the sets of guidance that accompany them almost always take a top-down approach. Even with the levelling of the playing field and the introduction of new education actors post-Đổi Mới, education in Vietnam still has not seen decentralisation and the strong regionalism that is often associated with less centralised systems. This leads to education being provided within entangled policy networks, where laws, regulations, and policies often provide abundant instruction but not enough guidance. Even at the highest level, MOET often finds itself in legal coordination with multiple agencies and committees. The move to diversify types of educational providers, coupled with the waves of autonomy within higher education institutions in recent years, also shows a system grappling to sustain a healthy dose of institutional autonomy while maintaining effective checks and balances. A third characteristic of education in Vietnam is the high level of engagement of the public, mostly through financing. A 2017 data release from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics indicated that Vietnamese households provide roughly a quarter of education funding for their children (UNESCO 2016). Earlier studies in the 1990s and 2000s gave higher estimates at above 50%, considering the hidden costs and transactions like private tutoring and informal fees, terming education financing an informal economy (Bélanger and Liu 2008). This relatively high level of family support is a potential source for inequality in access and outcomes, as children from less affluent families have fewer means to compete equitably with their peers. Furthermore, the deeply rooted Confucian tradition that places learning at the centre of a child’s upbringing is another ground for strong parental involvement, even in matters related to the content and method of instruction. Related to this heavy public involvement, the characteristic of a system that is highly sensitive to public opinion is another feature of the past. Since education in Vietnam, for most of its history, was more of an individual aspiration than a public service, individual involvement and opinion often drove the way it is organised and provided, channelling a market-like symbiotic relationship between the clients (the public) and the service provider (the system). Lortie (1975) attributed this to the apprenticeship of observation: as almost everyone in society has spent at least some time at school as a learner, everyone has some basic idea about education and how it should be done. This lends them the confidence to enter themselves into the discourse on education reform, often bypassing the opinions of education experts. This can be seen in the many recent (and notso-recent) debates on curricula and textbooks (VietNamNet 2020), on methods of teaching and learning (Tuoi Tre 2020), and on teacher image (VietNamNet 2015). Reforms are particularly prone to this kind of public scrutiny and public opinion, where change is always demanded, but often rejected on the grounds

Education Reforms in Vietnam 31 that things are too different from the ways they were in the past. Education reform, therefore, must be new and innovative, but it must not be different. It is hard to understand education in Vietnam without mentioning tests. A distinct Confucian remnant shared with its East Asian sisters, high-stake tests have – desirably or undesirably – come to define much of the educational process and system in the country. Every exam season (June and July), most of the country turn their eyes towards the once-a-year event that determines the future of its 18 years and older. Talks of how fair or unfair, how efficient or inefficient these exams are, and how they should be combined, separated, substituted or abolished altogether fill the education discourse every year, and yet like the ghosts of a mandarin past, every year they come back in one form or another to make sure students are graduating or not graduating, and go on to colleges and universities or take alternative career routes. The high-stake nature of these tests has for decades given rise an informal economy of private tutoring and test preparation, which especially in urban contexts have diverted much attention from formal schooling and widen the gap of inequality between students from more affluent and those from less advantaged backgrounds (see also chapter 4). These informal arrangements have also for a long time raised questions about ethics and transparency, in cases where public-school teachers directly provide these services outside of their school time, creating unspoken (or sometimes outspoken) pressures for their public-school students to enrol (Bélanger and Liu 2008; Nguyen et al. 2021). As the education market expands to incorporate more choices and to cater for a wider variety of interests, so grows this informal economy. These days a variety of educational services, from private and/or online tutoring to counselling, language lessons, vocational training, or university entrance preparation, can easily be provided in the forms of private academies, centres, or educational institutions. The last and most important feature of the education system in Vietnam is that it is prone to growing inequity. Along the rapid growth of the past 35 years, the economic gap has also widened, with a World Bank’s Gini Index estimated at 35.7 in 2018 (World Bank 2021). This has made the gap between rich and poor, urban, and rural, and advantaged and disadvantaged areas wider and harder to bridge. For a system that still relies quite substantially on parental contribution, inequalities are prone to exacerbate in the absence of effective measures to combat them (UNESCO 2016).

Characteristics of Vietnamese Education Reform The Vietnamese fascination and troubled relationship with education reforms carry various social, historical, political, and economic connotations. These in turn impact and characterise much of the reform efforts themselves. As have been the case with reform movements and initiatives in modern and contemporary Vietnam, the major themes have centred on system form and formalisation, its structures and organisation, student assessment, content, and teaching and learning.

32  MQ Huynh At the system level, many reform efforts have grappled with the types of educational provision (traditional and non-traditional), in which non-public types of schooling have been introduced, abolished, and reintroduced over the years. The major socioeconomic shift of Đổi Mới in 1986 has led to a consequential growth of the private sector, which has significantly impacted the education market in Vietnam, especially at higher and postsecondary levels (Chau et al. 2020). Alongside this sectorisation, the shift from a traditional mode of education to a variety of other types of training, which is consolidated in the dual authority over education and training by MOET, has allowed for greater flexibility within the system. In terms of structures and organisation, the system has evolved over the years to adapt to special wartime circumstances and the demands for nation-building post-unification. The shifts from a 9- to a 10- to a 12-year general education system reflect distinct phases of internal efficiency goals, which to some extent inherit the formalisation of the colonial system, as well as a growing comparative approach to conform to international contexts (Dror 2018). The experiments with tracking groups and specialised high school programmes added to the flexibility and efficiency of the system, though some came with high costs as they were often closely connected to high-stake tests. At the higher education level, the shift towards an academic credit system and greater institutional autonomy in the early twenty-first century reflected a move towards internationalisation and comparative system formalisation (Nguyen 2009; Nguyen 2011). Equity in education is another focus of reforms, given the quite substantial gap in educational achievements between urban and rural schools and the dire educational conditions in some remote, highly disadvantaged areas (Bélanger and Liu 2008; 2004; Liu 2001). Reform efforts are often manifested in macro social policy, which creates incentives for teachers and administrators to work in less privileged schools in less developed areas, where students often receive preferred treatments, such as bonuses on exams or special considerations for financial aids and scholarships. The area of reform that draws the most public attention, debate, and sometimes outcry is educational assessment. Education talks and debates seem always directed to national exams, and reforms of internal system arrangements, especially the experiments with academic and vocational tracking in high schools, seem to also be geared towards that end in sight. Ever since the integration of the high-school graduation and university entrance exams in 2015, the attention has slightly shifted from standardised testing to formative learning assessment, as academic track records have increasingly become a key evaluation criterion. Curricula and textbooks were a centrepiece of earlier reform movements, especially when the system was met with an urgent formalisation demands. After the third reform of 1976, educational content reforms have slowly moved to the forefront, albeit with several failed reform attempts during the 1980s and 1990s (Duggan 2001). The long-time monopoly of the Education Press, a subsidiary of MOET, in textbook publishing was also a cause for unease. It was not until the early 2000s that national textbook reform committees saw the need for

Education Reforms in Vietnam 33 diversifying teaching and learning materials (VietNamNet 2019). This is also an arena where public debate and resistance are fierce. The major argument against textbook reforms has long been the cycles of reusability, especially during the more economically difficult years pre-Đổi Mới. Pedagogy reform, the improvement of teaching methods and teaching and learning arrangements, is arguably the most important aspect of education reform, and yet it is arguably the area that receives the least attention and supervision. While a plethora of educational guidance never fails to mention teaching and learning, the implantation is often superficial and ineffective, owing to the difficulties in measuring and controlling quality. This is thus one area of reform where initiatives are often local and school-based. Even so, aside from irregular and often uncoordinated training and professional development workshops piling on top of teachers’ already hectic schedules, progress on a national level has been scarce and unsubstantial. This is also an area where private actors have leverage and potential to make a difference, especially with the move towards educational technologies and the growing investment to the education market from the private sector.

The Niches of Education Reforms Based on Brian Rowan’s characterisation of the niches of the school improvement industry in the U.S. (Rowan 2002), the subsequent discussion attempts to thus describe the niches of education reform in Vietnam. Centring on the idea of organisational niche, a “multidimensional resource space [or] a set of resources upon which the organisations in a given population depend for survival”, Rowan identified and described nine niches of the school improvement industry in the U.S., intersecting the two resource dimensions of primary sources (capital, membership subscription, and endowment) and transactional resources (exchanges with school systems, with education employees, and with granting agencies) (see Rowan 2002). It is within these niches, Rowan argues, that school improvement activities (or reforms) are initiated and sustained. The niche model presents an insightful way to capture and describe education reform landscapes from a resource – transaction perspective. Building upon Rowan’s characterisation of school improvement niches while accounting for the contextual characteristics of Vietnam, I propose a mapping of the niches of education reform which comprises 16 niches intersecting the primary sources of policy, market, practice, and development aids, and the transactional resources with system entities, education consumers, education practitioners, and granting agencies. In each of the key niches (in bold) where the most prevalent source interacts with the most relevant system agents, reform activities are most likely to take place (Table 2.1). I argue that education reforms in contemporary Vietnam can be viewed in this lens of analysis, which affords a deeper understanding of the interactions and exchanges of reform agents within each resource space, as well as the agentic role of each stakeholder in relation to the reform context. Such analyses will also shed light on why and how reforms would succeed or fail.

34  MQ Huynh Table 2.1  The niches of education reform in Vietnam (based on the niches of educational improvement in the U.S. by Rowan 2002) Transactions with...

Authority-based Market-based Profession-based Aids-based

System authorities

Education consumers

Education practitioners

Granting agencies

1 5 9 13

 2  6 10 14

 3  7 11 15

 4  8 12 16

The first of such niches (#1) is where authority-based source (laws, policies, or guidance) interact with system authorities (administrators at different levels). The centralised, hierarchic structure of education governance in Vietnam regulates the policy flow in a coherent top-down direction, and entities lower in this hierarchy rely largely on the orders and guidance of their superiors to operate. This source of authority also serves the purposes of system formalisation and legitimisation, as can be seen in earlier national reform initiatives and directives. In the case of Vietnam, this authority source derives mostly from the state, which to a certain extent is shaped by market-driven socialist ideologies (London 2006). The second key niche (#6) is where market-based resources interact with education consumers. With household spending racking up a large share of education expenses, education consumers have an increasingly stronger say on the educational choices available to them and thus dictate a market approach to reform. The increased presence of private and for-profit schools and educational services in recent years is examples of such market-driven reforms. The next key niche (#11) involves education professionals and profession-based sources. Even though teacher unions and professional societies play very modest roles in the reform landscape, mostly having to do with teacher’s working condition and professional development, this is the space where most grassroots, practice-based reforms and initiatives take place. Innovations in teaching and learning methods, for example, mostly involve the efforts of education practitioners. Part of this profession-based sources can also be institutionalised and overlap with authority-based resources, with schools of education and teacher-training institutions playing an important role in principle in teacher education, credentialing, and professional development (#9). The last key niche (#16) involves aids-based resources and transactions with granting agencies. While education philanthropy in Vietnam is still small in both scope and impact, the growing investment in education as a public service from the private sector, development assistance, grant aids, technical cooperation, or INGOs/NGOs have created a resource space where reform activities and their impacts are accumulating. Such globally coordinated efforts as EFA or SDG also bring levels of education governance to working closely with such international

Education Reforms in Vietnam 35 and intergovernmental agencies as UNESCO, UNDP, or UNICEF, thus blending the development aids and policy resource spaces (#13). An illustration of these four key niches (clockwise from top: #1, #6, #11, #16) is presented as Figure 2.2, which depicts the four major sets of interactions (dashed ovals) between the primary resources (dotted circles) and the key system agents (unbroken circles). Rotating the outer circles clockwise while stabilising the inner ones will bring about other niche configurations (in the same order: #13, #2, #7, #12; #9, #14, #3, #8; and #5, #10, #15, #4; respectively) Besides these four key niches, the actors also interact in different resource spaces to generate and facilitate transactions that serve as the bases for reforms (i.e., other unmentioned niches). Furthermore, since traditions and historical antecedents also play a strong role in the education and reform landscapes in Vietnam, a fifth source of “tradition-based” resources may also be relevant, which would interact most prominently with the public at large, as is the case with public opinion and reaction towards reforms discussed earlier. Since both

Figure 2.2  The four key niches of education reform in Vietnam (dashed ovals, clockwise from top: #1, #6, #11, #16), each depicting transactions between primary resources (outer dotted circles) and system agents (inner unbroken circles)

36  MQ Huynh the space and the scopes of transactions are too large and too generic in this measure, I do not include them in this typology.

Reform, Repeat, Resistance: Plus ça change… The chapter has so far presented a brief history of education reforms in Vietnam from its pre-modern Confucian practices to its current system that involves tens of millions of students, millions of teaching staff, tenths of thousands of schools, and thousands of administrative offices. Throughout history, education in Vietnam is characterised with strong public involvement and a deep general belief in its power to facilitate social mobility. It places special emphases on the centralised aspects of high-stake testing while teaching and learning has – until more recently – been more idiosyncratic and less attended to. Reforms throughout history are also marked with strong political determinisms and heavily prone to public sentiments. These features result in an education system with its many peculiar characteristics and its many problems. With most of its twentieth century spent in bloody civil wars and border conflicts, education in Vietnam did not enjoy favourable conditions to modernise and develop until reunification in 1975 and the subsequent economic reform in 1986. Apart from major reforms in early stages that addressed system formalisation and mobilisation, recent attempts at system improvement have taken a more piecemeal approach, aiming at coordinating structural changes with incremental gains in human, capital, technical, and political resources. The chapter also identifies the forces that drive reform efforts, the major reform movements and their characteristics, and the characteristics of the education system as a product of these reforms. It portrays reform policies and implementation in a centralised, bureaucratic, and top-down direction, tangled in the webs of legal and political iterations. They are often met with much public debate and resistance, where the expert voices are often absent or subdued. They are often driven by economic reasons, where consumer demands have increasingly diversified the education landscape with choices and providers, and where aids, investments, transactions, and monopolies have propelled and stagnated reform policies. And lastly, they are also driven by the numerous and continuous waves of globalisation sweeping the nation, resulting in reform language and policies that are increasingly in line with the global community. Characterised by such drivers, reforms are prone to be faddish, erratic, lacking structure and coordination, and are often subject to both political determination and public whim. This explains why, after numerous reform efforts at multiple levels and scales, education in Vietnam still has not met their desired effects and there are still much left to be done. The chapter also proposes a framework for understanding and classifying education reforms in the context of Vietnam, building on the niches of education improvement developed by Brian Rowan (2002). This framework, which characterises education reforms based on the sources of reform transactions and the spaces in which they take place, identifies 16 different configurations

Education Reforms in Vietnam 37 where reform activities can initiate and progress. The sources of these reform activities include political (authority-based), economic (market-based), professional (profession-based), and developmental (aids-based) drivers. They interact with system authorities, education consumers, practitioners, and granting agencies to initiate efforts of education improvements and reforms that populate and complicate the education landscape in the country. While in reality transactions in these spaces are often more complex and interrelated, this typology is useful in piecing out the sources and the actors involved in the reform processes, which in turn afford a deeper understanding and a more thorough evaluation of reforms. With the shifting impacts of these drivers on the system and the emergence and disappearance of new and old actors, new niches are subject to be opened and old ones closed, which makes it worthwhile to revisit and modify the framework along the trajectory of education development in the country. These pieces bring together a view of the education reform in Vietnam, characterised with its social, political, economic, and historical antecedents. It is bound with the historical constraints of its many failures and setbacks, but also afforded with the many opportunities of a rapidly changing world and a rapidly growing economy. The more things change, the more they stay the same; but consistent among the things that stay the same are the renewed hopes for yet more changes to come. Things – in other words – will continue to be new; they just will not be different!

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38  MQ Huynh Government of Vietnam. 2000. Quyết định phê duyệt đề án “Đào tạo cán bộ khoa học, kỹ thuật tại các cơ sở nước ngoài bằng ngân sách nhà nước”. Decision 322/2000/QĐ-TTg. ———. 2010. Quyết định phê duyệt đề án “Đào tạo giảng viên có trình độ tiến sĩ cho các trường đại học, cao đẳng giai đoạn 2010–2020”. Decision 911/QĐ-TTg. Kelly, Gail P. 1977. “Colonial Schools in Vietnam, 1918 to 1938.” Proceedings of the Meeting of the French Colonial Historical Society 2: 96–106. Le, Cong Luyen Viet. 2009. “Education Reform in Lower Secondary Education in Vietnam.” In The Political Economy of Educational Reforms and Capacity Development in Southeast Asia, edited by Yasushi Hirosato and Yuto Kitamura, 13:217–36. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Liu, Amy Y. C. 2001. “Flying Ducks? Girls’ Schooling in Rural Vietnam.” Asian Economic Journal 15 (4): 385–403. London, Jonathan D. 2006. “Vietnam: The Political Economy of Education in a ‘Socialist’ Periphery.” Asia Pacific Journal of Education 26 (1): 1–20. ———. 2010. “Globalization and the Governance of Education in Viet Nam.” Asia Pacific Journal of Education 30 (4): 361–79. Lortie, D.C. 1975. Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study. Illinois: University of Chicago Press. MOET. 1990a. Quyết định ban hành Quy định về mục tiêu và kế hoạch đào tạo của trường phổ thông Trung học. Decision 1447/QĐ. ———. 1990b. Quyết định ban hành Quy chế nhóm trẻ gia đình, lớp mẫu giáo gia đình, nhóm trẻ và trường mẫu giáo dân lập. Decision 1245/QĐ. ———. 1990c. Quyết định ban hành Quy chế trường lớp mầm non tư thục. Decision 1447/ QĐ. ———. 1991a. Quyết định ban hành Quy chế trường phổ thông bán công. Decision 1932/ QĐ. ———. 1991b. Quyết định ban hành Quy chế trường phổ thông dân lập. Decision 1931/ QĐ. ———. 2016. “Bộ trưởng Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo qua các thời kỳ.” August 12, 2016. MOET, and UNESCO. 2015. Báo cáo quốc gia Giáo dục cho mọi người 2015 của Việt Nam. Hanoi: Ministry of Education and Training and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. MOHPE. 1970. Ban hành Quy định tuyển sinh vào các trường, lớp đại học và trung học chuyên nghiệp tại chức. Hanoi: Ministry of Higher and Professional Education. National Assembly. 2013. Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. https://moj. gov.vn/vbpq/lists/vn%20bn%20php%20lut/view_detail.aspx?itemid=28814 ———. 2020. Law on Education No. 43/2019/QH14. https://vanban.chinhphu. vn/?pageid=27160&docid=197310&classid=1&typegroupid=3 Nguyen, Khac Vien. 2004. Viet Nam, a Long History. Hanoi, Vietnam: The Gioi Publishers. Nguyen, Quang Kinh, ed. 2005. Giáo dục Việt Nam, 1945–2005. Hanoi: National Politics Publishers. Nguyen, Thanh Liem, Huu The Tran, Van Truong Nguyen, and Ngoc Ninh Tran. 2006. Education in South Vietnam before 1975. Santa Ana, CA: Le Van Duyet Foundation. Nguyen, The Cuong, Abdul Hafeez-Baig, Raj Gururajan, and Nam C. Nguyen. 2021. “The Hidden Reasons of the Vietnamese Parents for Paying Private Tuition Fees for Public School Teachers.” Social Sciences & Humanities Open 3 (1): 100105. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100105 Nguyen, Thi Kim Quy. 2011. “Globalization and Higher Education in Vietnam.” Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies; Pasadena 23 (1/2): 117–36.

Education Reforms in Vietnam 39 Nguyen, Thuy Anh. 2009. “The Internationalization of Higher Education in Vietnam: National Policies.” Working Paper 2008-E-21. Nguyen, Thuy Phuong. 2013. “L’école française au Vietnam de 1945 à 1975 : de la mission civilisatrice à la diplomatie culturelle.” Thèse de doctorat, Paris 5. http://www. theses.fr/2013PA05H009. OECD. 2016. PISA 2015 Results (Volume I). Paris: OCED. ———. 2019. PISA 2018 Results (Volume I). Paris: OECD. Parandekar, Suhas, and Elisabeth Sedmik. 2016. “Unraveling a Secret: Vietnam’s Outstanding Performance on the PISA Test.” SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 2763967. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. Pham, Minh Hac. 1994. Education in Vietnam, 1945–1991. Hanoi: Ministry of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Rowan, Brian. 2002. “The Ecology of School Improvement: Notes on the School Improvement Industry in the United States.” Journal of Educational Change 3 (3): 283–314. Smith, Harvey Henry. 1967. Area Handbook for South Vietnam. Washington: American University Foreign Area Studies. Trines, Stefan. 2017. “Education in Vietnam.” WENR. November 8, 2017. https://wenr. wes.org/2017/11/education-in-vietnam. Tuoi Tre. 2020. “Bộ GD-ĐT đối thoại với GS-TSKH Hồ Ngọc Đại” January 3, 2020. https://tuoitre.vn/news-20200103082203491.htm. UNESCO. 2016. “Who Pays for What in Education? The Real Costs Revealed through National Education Accounts.” Montreal, Canada: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. United Nations Vietnam. 2017. “One Strategic Plan 2017–2021 between the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the United Nations in Viet Nam.” https:// vietnam.un.org/en/4131-one-strategic-plan-2017-2021. VietNamNet. 2015. “Teacher with Tattoo Reported to School’s Management Board.” October 14, 2015. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/education/143654/teacherwith-tattoo-reported-to-school-s-management-board.html. ———. 2019. “Monopoly in Textbook Publishing Still Exists in Vietnam.” December 3, 2019. https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/monopoly-in-textbook-publishing-still-exists594154.html. ———. 2020. “Textbook Changes – a Test of Education Reform.” December 24, 2020. https://vietnamnet.vn/en/feature/textbook-changes-a-test-of-education-reform699464.html. Vu, Tam Ich. 1959. A Historical Survey of Educational Developments in Vietnam. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky. World Bank. 2021. “Gini Index (World Bank Estimate) – Vietnam.” The World Bank Data. 2021. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=VN.

3

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam A Political Economic Perspective Nguyen Minh Quang

Introduction: Neoliberalism and Education Over the last three decades, Vietnam has witnessed significant achievements in socio-economic development thanks to increased integration into global markets, rapid formation of a freer market economy, and decreased State’s interference in many socio-economic spheres through privatisation, deregulation, and decentralisation processes (Masina 2012). The increased forces of globalisation, as it became an official member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006, and the urgent need to transition to socialist-oriented market economy have led the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) to reconfigure and restructure the party-state and institutional reforms in a rapidly changing world to adapt themselves to neoliberal globalisation while sustaining its goals toward socialism. This is explicitly reflected in the 2013 Constitution that recognises the role of market principles, private property, economic laissez-faire, and to some extent the freedom of individuals against the excessive power of government (Pham 2016). As the 2013 Constitution reaffirms the supremacy of the CPV and the leading role of state actors in all aspects of the economy and society, the advance of market economy has resulted in “the binary dichotomy between socialism and neoliberalism”, which is characterised by a twin process of accommodating and resisting neoliberalism (Bui 2015; Gainsborough 2010). However, the increased privatisation and marketisation of public services such as energy, water, health, roads, and state-owned enterprises over the last decades have revealed that neoliberal ideology and practices are becoming increasingly evident and influential in many corners of the country. In the field of education, the policies of autonomy and socialisation of education in Vietnam have reduced the State’s role as a sole provider of education, and increased incentives to private investments in for-profit education services at all levels (Dao 2016; Lan Hoang 2019; Nhan Dan 2020; Phung 2020; Quang 2020). This leads to a market-driven approach within which education is no longer subsidised and exclusively controlled by the State, and public and private education institutions now compete to enrol students and increase revenues. In addition, neoliberal policies, such as marketisation, commercialisation, privatisation, and deregulation, have facilitated the expansion of market forces in DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-3

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 41 Vietnamese education. Under recent education reforms, including Resolution 88/2014/QH13 on general education reform, and Law on Higher Education issued by the National Assembly in 2014 and 2019, respectively, education is increasingly subject to neoliberal governance within which greater power is dispersed down to education institutions; schools and universities are operating in a complex context involving a large range of stakeholders who govern elected school boards; more traditional public schools are transformed to charter schools; and school resources, such as textbooks, facilities, and even the training of teachers – which are traditionally controlled by the government – are now provided by for-profit education enterprises. Theoretically, neoliberalism promotes educational sufficiency as the provision of schooling and university placements are no longer constrained by limited government resources. Moreover, it helps increase accountability and quality of education system, and advances the state goals to produce “efficient, creative and problem-solving learners and workers for a globally competitive economy” (Tett and Hamilton 2019). However, opponents argue that neoliberalism does not promote education development as much as it results in the demise of public education, increases education inequality, and creates new spaces for private profitable investment as social polarisation and budget cuts swell (Baltodano 2012; Brathwaite 2017; Kumar and Hill 2009; Hastings 2019; Hirtt 2009). From a political economic perspective, neoliberalism appears to exacerbate class inequality in education, as traditional Marxists argue, in three manners. First, neoliberalism frames the educational philosophy and associated curriculum in ways favourable to interests of richer classes who are in pursuit of optimal educational settings. Wealthier students are more likely to get the best education which will then enable them to have an edge in labour market competition. Poorer students will tend to enrol in an inferior standard of education that limits their job opportunities. With neoliberalism understood in this way, some claim that it fails to reduce disparity, but “exacerbate and reproduce existing class and race inequalities in schooling” (Brathwaite 2017; Hastings 2019; Klees 2020). Second, neoliberal education system legitimates class inequality through quality assurance and high-stakes standardised exam systems that are based on the “myth of meritocracy” – that is, the notion that everyone has an equal chance to succeed, and that personal success or failure depends on their effort and ability. However, students born into poverty often face greater difficulty achieving school success than their wealthier peers (Barnhart 2018; Hill 2004). Neoliberalism increases the commodification of education systems in which knowledge, teaching, and learning are perceived as commodities and schools are perceived as competitive marketplaces where parents and students, as consumers, can choose the best schooling options that help them become qualified workers and move up the socio-economic ladder. In this school-of-choice system, teachers act as entrepreneurs reconfiguring their teaching practices to meet the demands of students whose academic achievements and graduate employability, in turn, determine school accountability ratings and how much schools can get in their financial budget (Brathwaite 2017; Connell 2013; Wong 2016).

42  NM Quang Neoliberal reforms tend to focus on a ‘job-hunting first approach’ that stresses knowledge and skills that capitalist employers need and ensure individual prospects for future earnings (Quang 2020; see also Rikowski 2017b). This approach promotes “individualisation of achievement and competition rather than collaboration among practitioners and among students” and leads to the neglect of their social and developmental responsibilities (Tett and Hamilton 2019). It further leads to an aggressive school-of-choice system in which rich parents and students stand to benefit most (Brathwaite 2017; Blakely 2017). But how applicable are these claims to Vietnam’s decades-long education reform? This chapter aims to understand the country’s current engagement with global neoliberalism, its impacts on education and implications for the country’s socialist-oriented market economic transition. In particular, the chapter seeks to address the following questions: what are the political and economic dynamics driving the formation of neoliberal education in Vietnam? How have major stakeholders in different positions within the neoliberal education system taken advantage of reforms to meet their vested interests and what are their consequences? And, what does a neoliberal education have implications for Vietnam? In the next section, this chapter attempts to identify the concrete signs of neoliberalism in Vietnamese education by tracing the rise of marketisation and commodification of education over time as the country continues to transition to a market economy. This section is a preamble providing background for the next section that describes the influences of neoliberal reforms on the education system and their consequences. Two distinct yet interconnected narratives in charter schools and private higher education are included to underscore the neoliberal takeover of education. The fourth section discusses the implications of neoliberalism for the country’s socialist-oriented market economy. The chapter concludes with a discussion as to why neoliberalism is a useful lens for understanding the political economy and nature of power in Vietnamese educational development.

Dawn of Neoliberalism in Vietnamese Education For almost three decades after its normalisation with China and the U.S. by the mid-1990s, Vietnam has experienced a sustained rapid growth rate, driven largely by export manufacturing. One of the keys to the country’s “economic miracle” is its enduring efforts to educate and prepare its workforce for a globalised world, characterised by a series of education reform policies, including the socialisation of education (Phung 2020; Quang 2020; Zhou et al. 2019). The socialisation policy was implemented by the early 1990s and was aimed at the massification of comprehensive education and efficiency. By 2000, only five universities and less than twenty lower and upper secondary schools had been established by non-state actors as a result of the policy (Quang 2020). In 2001, the CPV adopted Resolution 07-NQ/TW on global economic integration and Documents of the 9th National Congress that reinforced the socialisation of education (CPV 2001). These policies have fuelled the proliferation of private and foreign investment projects in public schooling. As of 2020, the number of

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 43 private and foreign-funded universities and pre-tertiary schools has reached 65 and 518 respectively. Those private for-profit education institutions enrol over 296,000 secondary and high school students (3.6% of total students), 313,500 undergraduates (18.7%) and 12,447 graduate students (11.8%) (MOET 2021). In addition to its socialisation policy, the Government of Vietnam issued Resolution 14/2005/NQ-CP in November 2005, followed by Decree 43/2006/ NĐ-CP in April 2006, to give greater autonomy and responsibility to public education institutions. This autonomy policy empowers public schools and universities to cooperate with private partners to operate and expand their education and training services. In the name of socialisation, the engagement and intervention of private actors in public education institutions have increased through critical contributions of local VIPs and parents to schools’ budgets, facilities, and teaching activities, among others. To increase the autonomy and accountability of public schools, in October 2014 the Government adopted Resolution 77/NQ-CP on management reform in public universities by establishing university councils that consists of people from outside the universities, including representatives of companies, investors, and donors. In 2020, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued Circular 32/2020/TT-BGDĐT to replicate the Resolution 77 into general education. The Resolution 77 and Circular 32, thus, appear to reduce the State’s monopoly in governance systems of schools and universities while legitimating the power of non-state stakeholders who are members of school councils. Seen in this light, the policies reveal the government’s commitment to “surrender its monopoly on shaping the minds of young Vietnamese and appeal to both domestic and foreign private investors to help improve its education system” (Quang 2020: 138). The autonomy policy also encourages traditional public schools in many big cities to operate as “charter schools.” In this chapter, this term refers to a Vietnamese public school that is state-funded but increasingly autonomous. Charter schools follow the same regulations of MOET and province’s localised curriculum, but are empowered to choose textbooks, set school hours and rules, self-govern financial affairs, and have more authority to hire and fire teachers than traditional public schools. In exchange for increased autonomy, charter schools have to meet accountability standards. Although private education remains peripheral in the country’s education system, the increasing socialisation of education and associated competition between private and public education providers has considerably contributed to improving and diversifying the national education system over the last 10 years. As the government’s targets set to increase the number of students enrolling private schools to over 45% by 2030 (about 5.5 million students) while reducing the number of state-owned education institutions over time, Vietnamese education has become an extremely lucrative potential market for private interests and foreign investors angling for a piece of this fast-growing sector. As of December 2019, 525 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in education with a total capital of US$4.4 billion have been approved by the government (Thanh Nien 2020). More corporate conglomerates – internal and transnational – are increasingly competing each

44  NM Quang other to establish new multi-billion-dollar school complexes across the country, such as Nguyen Hoang Group, FLC, FPT, Vingroup, Thanh Thanh Cong, KKR Global Impact Fund, VinaCapital, etc. Their school complexes offer diverse education programmes from kindergarten, high school, to higher education. Many of them recruit foreign teachers and adopt Western curriculum to stand out from the crowd and compete for enrolment. Some invest vast sums in ostentatious buildings and campuses, and immerse students in Western culture, including different festivals and interpersonal interaction styles that overwhelm Vietnamese traditions, that they hope to produce Western-like citizens. Although private education institutions mostly serve high fee-paying middle-class students and parents, the education market for the poor is seen as a huge business opportunity that worth billions of dollars. This “bottom billions” market is likely to grow stronger in the near future because reducing state-owned school enrolments, and more students choose to study abroad, supported by the booming student loans industry (Dung Doan et al. 2020). This fierce competition together with the demise of state control in public education institutions has led to the marketisation and commodification of Vietnamese education. These recent reforms are intended to raise educational standards and quality which is accessible to everyone. Under these reforms, high school graduation rates and university graduate employability are now widely used in accountability systems to measure the quality and desirability of schools or universities. This review provides an understanding of how recent performative reforms have shaped the formation of a neoliberal education in Vietnam. What is less well understood are how neoliberal forces may impact its educational development. The following section elaborates this issue.

Impact of Neoliberalism on Education: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Neoliberalism has brought about gradual yet profound changes in Vietnamese education. These changes have been increasingly evident over the last decade since the early 2010s, including Resolution 77, Circular 32, Law on Higher Education, and the national exam reforms. The histories of charter schools and higher education are particularly noteworthy for understanding how neoliberalism is reconfiguring the education system and influencing local stakeholders. While the market-driven transition of universities best represents the neoliberal pervasion in higher education, this section outlines the case of charter schools to explore how neoliberalism has influenced public schooling which remains relatively subsidised and tightly controlled by the government. Results from in-depth interviews with teachers and experts (n=6) are included.

Charter schools Under neoliberal reforms, Vietnamese charter schools offer more flexibility to try out innovative teaching and learning methods, new ideas and, thus, demonstrate

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 45 the potential to offer a high-quality education. The accountability of schools is ostensively guaranteed by the increased role of school councils, consisting of members from outside school managing boards, which oversee school and teaching activities, and student progress to hold schools accountable for funding, student achievement, and other targets defined in their stated missions and objectives (Dao 2016; MOET 2020). Under increased surveillance of the stakeholders involved in schooling and external accreditation, school managers are invested in improving school governance by empowering a participatory culture in processes that affect students and parents. The school-of-choice system also incentivises teachers to standardise and enrich their knowledge and teaching methods to increase teaching quality and become student-friendly since achievement and feedback of students are now critical criteria for evaluating their teaching performance and effectiveness in the classroom. The socialisation policy empowers public schools to receive physical and monetary support from donors, mostly parents, to alleviate their sharply constrained financial circumstances. The rise of the charter school movement and foreign-owned school systems has led to inter-school competition for financial resources that follow students. The higher performance the students have, the more well-off a school is financially. In this highly competitive marketplace, students are seen as a valuable commodity, and schools have increased their student population by offering tempting learning conditions and incentives to attract parents and students, including Western-style learning environments and culture, imported curriculum and textbooks, and opportunities for studying abroad, among other strategies. Students, thus, have more school choices than those did fifteen years ago. Students are no longer strictly penalised and can also choose to learn from teachers whom they think will better prepare them for the national standardised tests. This encourages teachers to commodify their teaching and knowledge by offering private tutoring outside formal schooling. As teacher wages remain quite low (approx. US$300 to 700 a month), companies and teacher entrepreneurs see shadowy education high profit margins that increase their monthly incomes up to thousands of US dollars (Giao duc Viet Nam 2021). In contrast to traditional public schooling, where education is perceived as a public good outside of the market, present-day neoliberal education has reconfigured teaching and learning purposes to meet the demands of externally generated rules based on target achievements, and there has been a rapid shift to market-oriented education in which parents and students act as consumers in pursuit of competitive services. However, Vietnamese public schooling is not immune to neoliberalism. Public sector funding cutbacks and rising school operational costs have led to increasing reliance on higher tuition fees and additional charges. Schools are compelled to increase their incomes in the name of socialisation, including mobilising parents to pay for expenses such as extra English and maths classes, class operational funds, classroom decoration, staff allowances, school maintenance costs, drinking water, exam expenses, cleaning and security services, etc. To legitimate these charges, schools often tend to nominate affluent parents as leaders of school parent-teacher associations to ensure that all parents comply

46  NM Quang irrespective of household incomes. Tran Phuong Binh, deputy principal of a high school in Ho Chi Minh City, argues, The socialisation of education is needed and some school expenses should be financed more directly by parents as public schools are increasingly autonomous. Yet, in many schools, decisions are made in favour of richer parents without appropriate consultation with poorer parents. Accordingly, the more the parents donate to school, the more favourable evaluation their children receive, as rich parents in parent-teacher associations are keen to approve all the expenses and fund-raising quota that may exceed poor parents’ financial capacity. Some argue that neoliberalisation of public schooling has worsened social inequality by creating an unfair system where the quality of a child’s education is determined by how much their family can afford to pay (Global Campaign for Education 2016). There is a fierce competition for high-performance students among top tier schools, while low-achieving students are enrolled in lesser quality, or “normal”, schools, some of which are private for-profit. In these “normal” schools, students who are well-connected and rich are assigned to the best classes where they have better education conditions and learn with experienced teachers. Interviews with three teachers in the rural province of An Giang, Hanoi City, and Can Tho City reveal that some rich parents offer bribes to school principals to ensure that their son or daughter will gain entry to selective classes. As students in these classes perform better and come from more affluent families, teachers may receive potential informal benefits, such as regular stipends and gifts, and may lobby school leaders to be assigned to them (Giao duc Viet Nam 2019). Low-achieving students, many of whom are either born into poverty or have disadvantaged family backgrounds, tend to give up their pursuit of education. To keep school accountability ratings high, principals and local authorities place pressure on teachers to inflate course grades at all costs. “The current policy requires teachers to diversify assessment methods to evaluate student progress, including out-of-class activities. But, it is difficult to mobilise students to engage in innovative teaching methods because students tend to be more focused on exam-mandated subjects and prefer learning what they think would be included in the tests”, said T.T.H., a young high school teacher in An Giang Province, who graduated in geography teacher education programme for two years. “My friends and I have been intensively immersed with innovative and state-of-theart teaching methods in university and I was keenly applying them into my classes. But I surprisingly recognised that innovations mean almost nothing in the school”, which has eventually resulted in critiques from her colleagues. T.T.H. and other interviewees explained that teachers are no longer treated with as much respect as they used to be in the not so distant past. Local VIPs and rich parents, especially those who are prime donors of the school, have greater voice and influence on school leaders’ decisions and do teachers. “Sadly, times have changed. Students and their parents know that teachers and schools must

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 47 manage to hold accountable and to meet the quota of good students ordered by local authorities. Thus, students are not willing to listen to them in class and parents fail to reinforce the messages that are coming from school as they more focus on money making. They know that teachers will let them pass the tests somehow”, explained a 41-year-old high school teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, who requested anonymity. She added that teachers now have no other choice but to keep to the teacher-centred “chalk and talk” method and lower grading standards to satisfy school leaders, parents, and students.

Higher education At the tertiary level, the autonomy policy has resulted in the emergence of “entrepreneurial universities” who emphasise the optimisation and marketing, which aim to reduce operational costs, improve competitiveness, increase profits, and enrolments. The new higher education laws empower universities to offer degree programmes and adopt curriculum and admission systems that suit their development targets. To improve international recognition and facilitate transferability of Vietnamese higher education qualifications for student mobility, MOET established a National Accreditation Council and adopted an eight-level National Qualifications Framework in 2016. Quality assurance is no longer the responsibility of MOET, who has issued several policies to benchmark, maintain standards, and create parity across the higher education sector. In recent years, MOET has issued legal frameworks and well-defined criteria for internal institutional self-assessment and external audits. A few foreign accreditation organisations, such as FIBAA, AQAS, and ASIIN, were approved to work in Vietnam. Universities are preparing for quality assessment run by independent agencies such as ABET and AUN-QA (Quang 2020). To meet accountability standards, universities have modernised undergraduate curricula to match lectures with market’s demands and have timely offered new lucrative degree programmes that prepare students for emerging jobs. Quantitative quality measurements and Western-standard degree programmes are widely used in expensive marketing strategies at many universities, especially newer private institutions, to increase student enrolments and funding. This commodification of educational quality has become increasingly critical in the Vietnamese demand driven school-ofchoice system. The recent law on higher education also demands universities to act as businesses, that over high-standard degree programmes and competitive advantages, otherwise they will lose their social contract, customers, profits, and therefore, eventually lead to being susceptible to closure (Dao 2016; Phung 2020). A few poor-quality universities and colleges, mostly private-owned and at the provincial level, have been closed or annexed with bigger universities for failing to meet these expectations. To increase the autonomy and authority of higher education institutions, MOET issued Circular 05/2017/TT-BGDĐT in January 2017 to remove the student number cap, allowing universities to accept as many students as they can attract, providing they have sufficient teaching capacity and facilities

48  NM Quang (MOET 2017). On the one hand, this neoliberal reform is aimed at social justice, granting equal and easy access to higher education for all. On the other hand, it mobilises universities to expand the market to have a greater number of consumers in a highly competitive environment, where universities, including top-tier ones, need to find their niche and seek out students in the face of reduced government funding, demographic decline, and attraction of studying abroad. Against this backdrop, some universities have proactively targeted at labour markets by collaborating with capitalist employers, including those in Vietnam’s top labour export destinations such as South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Germany, in undergraduate programmes as a strategy to guarantee employment opportunities for students after graduation. In public universities, funds allocated for student mobility and research grants have increased in recent years to meet requirements for external accreditation. The Quang Trung Software City based in District 12 of Ho Chi Minh City is an exemplary. This 43-hectare software complex, also known as Vietnam’s “Silicon Valley”, hosts 146 software companies, about 50 are from overseas and engage in research and development, producing smart and high-tech solutions for business demands and exports. As of 2020, the complex is home to 21,300 engineers and students, and provides regular practical opportunities for thousands, who are pursuing foreign programmes. In addition, undergraduate and graduate degree programmes that promise to open doors for high-salaried occupations, such as health and pharmacy, engineering, business, finance and banking, marketing, IT, etc., are highly encouraged by universities as those programmes attract more students, and thus revenues, although their expansion has not been accompanied by a commensurate, increase in graduate employability (Hiep Pham 2013; Quang 2020; VietNamNet 2019). Strapped for funds, many universities are now increasingly interconnected with corporations, forming an emerging corporate culture that blurs distinction between student and consumer. In private for-profit and low-tier public higher education institutions, the language of education has recently been increasingly replaced by the language of the market, whereby admission standards have become malleable to increase student population, “skill development” courses and training programmes are commercialised (Lao Dong 2020; Thanh Nien 2017a; Tuoi Tre 2019a), and whereby students’ satisfaction, which is primarily tied to how good their grades are, largely determines university accountability rankings (Giang 2015; Pho and Yen 2017). A vast array of services, including public places in university campuses, is now being contracted out to private companies. In some universities, corporate conglomerates and commercial companies occupy prominent locations on the student commons to recruit new graduates as well as hawk whatever students may need such as credit cards, soft drinks, athletic goods, and other commodities. The latest reforms and Law on Higher Education devote a great deal of financial and natural resources to supporting modernising public and private universities, whereby preferential taxes and land lease prices and other incentives are

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 49 facilitating foreign and private investors in higher education (National Assembly 2013, 2014, 2018). This movement has resulted in the emergence of several transnational and national conglomerates gaining considerable control over higher education institutions, influencing policy reforms and future workforce (Giao duc Viet Nam 2014; see also Quang Chau et al. 2020; Zhou et al. 2019). In addition to commercial deals, education reform programmes are another critical way for universities to make money as they are the key policy implementers translating the reform objectives into action at the local level. Top-tier universities also sign exclusive agreements with provincial authorities to implement MOET’s reform programmes and to provide for-profit custom training programmes for thousands of teachers every year.

Drivers of Neoliberal Education and Implications for Vietnam’s Socialist-Oriented Market Economic Transition Vietnam’s remarkable results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) since 2012 demonstrate to some extent that its education reforms have made some progress in providing students with strong basic cognitive skills. PISA and other internationally comparative country assessment measures are forces that compel the Vietnamese government to move forward with expensive and ambitious reform schemes to sustain economic growth and human development. These reforms are aimed at producing responsible citizens, shaping students’ identities, values, and sense of what it means to become “21st century citizens” (Quang 2019; MOET 2018b), and producing a skilful workforce for economic transition (National Assembly 2013, 2018), among others. UNESCO-endorsed education reform objectives of efficiency and equity are also highlighted in the country’s reform policies. But the growth of Westerncentric development measures, such as PISA, and the periodic strategy reports of supranational institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNESCO, and UNDP, inform educational policy making in the broader sense and subsequently win “buy in” and commitment (Anh 2009: 21). The role of international donors and supranational financial institutions are critical and increasingly influential in education policies in Vietnam and other developing countries (Adhikary 2012; Eurodad 2006). They use their expert authority to define and classify problems and use their education development perspectives to recommend policy direction for identified problems (Anh 2009; Adhikary 2012). In doing so, they influence national education reform policies, which are eventually funded by their conditional grants and loan money (Eurodad 2006; Klees 2020). Further, their strategic country reports that emphasise the triple challenge of poverty elimination, job creation, and inequality reduction (ADB 2014; OECD 2014, 2017; Oxfam 2017; UNDP, n.d.; World Bank 2008, 2012) underscore three important intertwined discourses tailoring

50  NM Quang MOET’s reforms over the last decades: the mismatch discourse blaming education for failing to meet what business wants (ADB 2020; JICA 2014; World Bank 2010, 2020); the human capital discourse focusing education more on individual skills that make students more productive and employable (Klees 2020; UNDP 2012; World Bank 2014); and the neoliberal discourse promoting demise of state in public sectors, and privatisation and marketisation of public services (Harvey 2005; Klees 2020; R ikowski 2017b; World Bank 2008, 2016). With increased globalisation, Vietnam is not immune to the single tune that the world increasingly sings, neoliberalism. It is not easy to point out the most powerful actors influencing educational policy making processes as “policy windows” arise opening opportunities for many “policy entrepreneurs”, including national elites, think tanks, donors, universities, NGOs, the private sector, and even parents, to translate those discourses into education policies (Kingdon 1995; Sætren 2016). However, in developing countries in need of modernisation of education system such as Vietnam, education inequality and public resource scarcity are always big hurdles yet are seen as the right reason for neoliberal remedies backed by World Bank and other think tank institutions (Adhikary 2012; Hill et al. 2009; Klees 2020). Although this does not imply that these globally influential institutions are responsible for the rapid shift to neoliberal education in Vietnam, many argued that their longstanding pro-neoliberal ideology has made them become its “chief purveyor”, accelerating market-infused approaches to education policies (Adhikary 2012; Eurodad 2006; Klees 2020). To warrant that the country will follow neoliberal directions, and policy suggestions are seen to be made objectively and inclusively, many Vietnamese influential think tanks and CPV-member figures and researchers are invited to engage in their policy research and initiatives (Anh 2009). This strategy is aimed at reinforcing the political commitment of Vietnam, a borrowing country, to macroeconomic police reforms and profound changes in institutional structures. As a result, Vietnam’s current neoliberal reforms reveal that MOET policymakers and national elites’ faith in markets and competition dominates teachers and students (Dan Tri 2020; MOET 2018a). As the goal of socialism is firmly retained in education reform schemes, as entailed by the CPV’s and government’s legal documents, what is happening in the national education system reflects a site of contradiction, between the demands of socialism and the trend towards neoliberal capitalism. Although whether the private sector will outstrip public growth to meet the growing education gap remains to be seen, the current neoliberalisation of education, and its impacts described in the previous section, appears to have serious implications that Vietnam needs to be very cognisant of as it is transitioning to socialistoriented market economy. Firstly, the neoliberal reforms mould students into consumers seeking entrepreneurial values and pragmatic interests. Apparently, Vietnam is in dire need of social resources mobilisation to advance its cause of modernisation of education. This approach has moved the country away from universal low-fee state provision

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 51 of education to the user-pays regimes favoured by neoliberalism. The school-ofchoice system, or perhaps neoliberalism in any form, introduces the new educational discourse of freedom, choice, standards, excellence, and parents’ rights, and enables students to increasingly perceive themselves as pragmatic consumers carefully considering financial implications when they come to choose their courses of study. As a result, such neoliberal policies effectively force students to adopt an entrepreneurial approach to their studies, comparing their investment in human capital with other lucrative short-term ventures, or focusing on subject areas deemed possible for their future earning potential (Saunders 2007). This neoliberal ideology is further encouraged by a wider push to promote science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at high schools, where creative arts and other subjects critical for human dignity development are almost neglected. In this educational environment, commodification appears to erase traditional student-teacher interactions in classroom and replace an attempt to develop student-centred learning narrowly focussed on profit-making (see also Jones 2020; Klees 2020). Secondly, neoliberal reforms have increasingly led to the educationalisation of structural societal problems while undermining the status of teachers. Vietnamese policymakers see two underlying refrains in neoliberal education: classroom-societal connection can be ensured by increasing teachers’ role of embracing a social in addition to their educational mission, and education quality can be improved by teacher professional enhancement. While the former raises questions about the feasibility of educationalising social problems (see also Hooge et al. 2011; Labaree 2008), the latter has led MOET to institute numerous costly teacher quality enhancement programmes over the last decade. Regrettably, teachers report limited application into their classrooms (see also Dan Tri 2016; VietNamNet 2021). In many private schools and universities, especially low tier institutions, teachers are less qualified, but compelled to deliver a quality education despite constrained monetary resources (Phong and Ngan 2018; see also Brathwaite 2017; Global Campaign for Education 2016). While school principals hold greater authority to hire and fire teachers, competition for employment in schools is extremely fierce regardless of low earnings and stressful teaching conditions are waiting if they are employed (Thanh Nien 2017b). Instead of learning to renovate their teaching methods, teachers now try their best to please school leaders to secure their contracts and other interests, including grade inflation to keep school accountability ratings high. Less talented graduates are willing to choose teaching as a profession (Tien Phong 2017). When teachers no longer retain status and are poorly paid, they might be more inclined to commodify their profession at the expense of teaching innovation and quality enhancement. This vicious circle threatens to weaken the quality of teaching and learning, and to undermine learning opportunities for younger generations. Finally, are neoliberal reforms exacerbating education inequality, which in fact are experienced globally? Neoliberal discourses have diverted attention from deep-rooted issues in Vietnamese education. Education is blamed for

52  NM Quang insufficiency, classroom-business mismatch, lack of “investment” in human capital, and autonomy. To that end, neoliberal advocates call for greater marketisation of education that they believe could deliver better quality education, and tackle education inequality. Reformers have argued that marketisation, and where possible, privatisation of education, provides more school placements, and consequently, more skilled citizens, more employment and economic growth, which is the way out of inequality. This is neoliberal logic. But, such economic determinism is questionable and less likely to erase inequality (Blakely 2017; Brathwaite 2017; Klees 2016, 2020). The history of neoliberal impact on Vietnamese education, as described above, reveals at least two fundamental flaws that render neoliberal education problematic. For example, first, neoliberal reforms encourage private sector investment in education by offering a wide range of favourable incentives, including tax breaks, lower or exempted corporate income tax, and reduced land-related fees (National Assembly 2014, 2018). These reforms result in greater inequality since they inadvertently increase benefits for the rich (i.e., investors and shareholders of education institutions), who, in turn, are keen to increase tuition fees and other charges to boost profits at the expense of students and poor families. Second, market-oriented education itself is inequitable. Neoliberals address this by promoting inclusiveness, adequacy, standardised testing, freedom, and choice as preferable values to equality. These values eventually constitute a school-of-choice system, whereby rich students stand to benefit most as they are able to afford high-quality education which is often at very high fees, while poor students are less likely to have access to high-performing education institutions because their families cannot afford the fees, and, those that do, make invidious choices about choosing between feeding their family and schooling (Klees 2020; Tuoi Tre 2019b).

Conclusion For a country with limited government resources, Vietnam is in pursuit of education reforms through strategies along the lines of marketisation, and to some extent, privatisation. These policies explicitly make a pretence to solving the triple challenge of poverty, inequality, and unemployment. Neoliberal discourses have transformed socialist education into market-oriented school-ofchoice and commodified system. These reforms reflect the country’s lucrative career-focused approach to education that, as emphasised in the recent laws on education, is first and foremost aimed at serving the need of economic competition as it enters the knowledge economy. This approach eventually has led the country to regard its education institutions as foci at which to address social issues. In neoliberal education, market forces and actors have emerged in decisionmaking arenas at national and local levels. These include capitalist employers, parents and students as consumers, private and foreign investors, local VIPs, and supranational institutions, to name but a few. They have different and, sometimes, conflicting positions and interests because institutional changes and

Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 53 reform actions may benefit some vested over others. Charter schools and higher education provide evidence of these power struggles among policy actors and reveal major challenges of neoliberalism in education. That being said, the chapter is not merely a counsel of despair. Reviewing policies and findings on the achievements, including increased autonomy in governance and academic terms, massification of higher education, stunning performance of general education in international competition, and increasing internationalisation of education, show that there are areas in the education system where neoliberal reforms make education productive. The most recent reform policies reaffirm Vietnam’s long-term strategic goal for a flourishing education system characterised by a commitment to boosting private education sectors and institutional reforms supported by supranational institutions. Nonetheless, huge pressure to address decades-long shortages of skilled workers for economic growth has favoured the neoliberal discourses in education reforms, and can be a significant part of the explanation why there are limited forces in government critical of Vietnam’s de facto neoliberal drift (Bui 2015). However, what is happening in the education system makes clear that engaging in the global market economy makes the education appear to be vulnerable to the inherent crises built into the capitalist system of value production. Many argue that whether education sector is state-run or more commonly a mixed system of state and private domination, the diffusion and promotion of neoliberal thought and policies motivated by private gain, and though capitalisation of educational services and labour-power, have fuelled divisiveness and crises in education (Baltodano 2012; Brathwaite 2017; Hill and Kumar 2009; Malott 2009; Rikowski 2017a; 2017b). Whether this approach strategy will realise the country’s education development goals remains to be seen. What is precisely clearer is that the well-documented risks of neoliberalism that have occurred in Western European and U.S. education systems raise questions about the viability of neoliberal discourses and provide implications for prudent decision making toward desirable futures in education.

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Neoliberalism and Education in Vietnam 57 Saunders, Daniel. 2007. “The Impact of Neoliberalism on College Students.” Journal of College and Character, 8(5). https://doi.org/10.2202/1940-1639.1620 Sætren, H. 2016. “From Controversial Policy Idea to Successful Program Implementation: The Role of the Policy Entrepreneur, Manipulation Strategy, Program Design, Institutions and Open Policy Windows in Relocating Norwegian Central Agencies.” Policy Science 49, 71–88. Tett, Lyn, and Mary Hamilton. 2019. “Introduction: Resisting Neoliberalism in Education.” In Resisting Neoliberalism in Education: Local, National and Transnational Perspectives, edited by Lyn Tett and Mary Hamilton, 1st ed., 1–10. Bristol University Press. Thanh Nien. 2017a. “Nhiều sai phạm trong đào tạo sau ĐH tại Học viện Khoa học xã hội.” August 26, 2017. https://thanhnien.vn/nhieu-sai-pham-trong-dao-tao-saudh-tai-hoc-vien-khoa-hoc-xa-hoi-post690492.html Thanh Nien. 2017b. “Ám ảnh biên chế.” August 25, 2017. https://thanhnien.vn/ am-anh-bien-che-post690205.html Thanh Nien. 2020. “4,4 tỉ USD đầu tư nước ngoài vào giáo dục Việt Nam.” October 17, 2020. https://thanhnien.vn/4-4-ti-usd-dau-tu-nuoc-ngoai-vao-giao-duc-viet-nampost1003589.html Tien Phong. 2017. “Điểm chuẩn sư phạm thấp k2 lục: Dừng tuyển sinh một năm?” August 10, 2017. https://tienphong.vn/diem-chuan-su-pham-thap-ky-luc-dung-tuyen-sinhmot-nam-post969147.tpo Tuoi Tre. 2019a. “Ôn, thi chứng chỉ B1 như ‘làm xiếc’” November 07, 2019. https:// tuoitre.vn/on-thi-chung-chi-b1-nhu-lam-xiec-201911070829573.htm Tuoi Tre. 2019b. “Ba thập niên phát triển trường dân lập: Được gì và ‘mất’ gì?” August 24, 2019. https://tuoitre.vn/ba-thap-nien-phat-trien-truong-dan-lap-duoc-gi-vamat-gi-20190815183726425.htm UNDP. n.d. “Ethnic minority poverty reduction and social protection in Viet Nam.” https://www.vn.undp.org/content/vietnam/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/ successstories/poverty_reduction_story.html UNDP. 2012. “Strengthening capacity for human development policy making in Viet Nam.” https://www.vn.undp.org/content/vietnam/en/home/operations/projects/ poverty_reduction/Strengthening-capacity-for-human-development.html VietNamNet. 2019. “High number of university graduates remain unemployed.” December 30, 2019. https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/high-number-of-universitygraduates-remain-unemployed-603467.html VietNamNet. 2021. “Cử tri phàn nàn tập huấn giáo viên kém hiệu quả, Bộ Giáo dục nói gì?” September 28, 2021. https://vietnamnet.vn/vn/giao-duc/nguoi-thay/ bo-giao-duc-tra-loi-ve-ke-hoach-tap-huan-chuong-trinh-giao-duc-pho-thong-moi778610.html Wong, Alia. 2016. “The commodification of higher education.” The Atlantic. March 30, 2016. www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-commodification-ofhigher-education/475947/ World Bank. 2008. Vietnam: Higher Education and Skills for Growth. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank. 2010. Vietnam: Higher Education and Skills for Growth, Human Development Department of the East Asia and Pacific Region. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank. 2012. Well Begun, Not Yet Done: Vietnam’s Remarkable Progress on Poverty Reduction and the Emerging Challenges. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

58  NM Quang World Bank. 2014. Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the Workforce for a Modern Market Economy. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank. 2016. Vietnam 2035: Toward Prosperity, Creativity, Equity, and Democracy. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank. 2020. Improving the Performance of Higher Education in Vietnam: Strategic Priorities and Policy Options. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Zhou, Lu Lin, Anh Bach, and Van Bach. 2019. “Private Universities in Vietnam: Reflection and Proposition.” International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(12): 280–301.

4

Impact of Education Reforms A Focus on National High School Graduation Exam Nguyen Minh Quang

Introduction An emerging theme in recent educational development literature is the need to enhance students’ global competence and “twenty-first century skills” as they are entering the new world of work and need the capacity to cope with global and intercultural issues (Muldoon 2012; OECD 2018; Rajaram 2021). This leads many countries to en masse change their approach to education reforms that stress the importance of education in preparing younger generations for a rapidly changing world. However, there is general agreement that in developing countries, where education is even more important than physical capital in raising and sustaining economic growth (Dowling and Valenzuela 2010), the transition to competency-based education occurs slowly and the serious review of exam system policy is even more overdue (Hallinger and Lee 2011; Ibrahim et al., 2015; Kamibeppu 2009; Muldoon 2012). Change, thus, is now imperative. As education is increasingly neo-liberalised (Baltodano 2012; Barnhart 2018; Hastings 2019; Hirtt 2009; see also Chapter 3) and students are drawn from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds, without thorough changes to traditional assessment policies are likely to hamper students’ full development (Muldoon 2012). Among these, university entrance exams are of particular concern for exam-oriented educations in Asia (Hallinger and Lee 2011; Li 2013; Reza Ghorbani 2012). Across several East Asian societies, from China to South Korea, to Japan and Vietnam, there are similar admission systems that rely exclusively on a national selection exam (Davey et al., 2007; Jarvis et al., 2020; Sharma 2012; Zhang 2016). These are standardised tests that are usually taken by students in their last year of high school to compete for a seat in public and some private universities. In Vietnam, this type of state-run exam traditionally takes place for a few days during the summer break (June or July) and is also the lone criterion for admission into universities. For almost a million of [mostly] young people across the country, August is a make-or-break month when results of the national university entrance exam are released and the scramble for the best university places begin after exhausting months of preparation – and in many cases, for any place at all (Ba 2015; Dat 2018; Sharma 2012). DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-4

60  NM Quang For decades, university entrance exam results have determined higher education opportunities or alternatives such as employment, and thus determine the future of generations. To increase chances of being accepted by an esteemed university, high school students spend their adolescence preparing highly competitive entrance exams while their parents decisively investing a huge amount in private tutoring. Such an exam-driven education in Vietnam is a huge investment gamble because this high-stakes test requires considerable memorisation and test-taking skills that do not always demonstrate the capability of exam-takers (Dat 2018; Duggan 2001; see also Cahill et al., 2010; Zhang 2016). Exams are an integral part of quality the control system to assess students’ capability and measure education quality (Cahill et al., 2010; Zhifu 1997). Despite their critical importance, exams are widely studied and also debated (Cahill et al., 2010; Gammie et al., 2003; Jürges et al., 2012; Reardon et al., 2010; Rowntree, 1977). Less attention has been given to the impact of exams on educational quality; and the way in which high-stakes exams, such as high school graduation and university entrance exams, influence teaching and learning methods are under-researched (Merki and Holmeier 2015). This chapter seeks to address these two issues by investigating the case of the national High School Graduation Exam (HSGE) in Vietnam. The current nationally standardised HSGE, as described in detail below, is among a series of reforms to standardise and modernise Vietnamese high school graduation and university admission, which dates back to reunification in 1975. In 2015, the HSGE was introduced to reinforce the long-standing meritocratic ideal of equal access to higher education opportunities and drive public schooling towards more explicit standards of instruction and accountability. Currently, the outcomes of competitive examinations are also acknowledged as the prime tool for measuring educational development, the quality in teaching and learning, and the overall effectiveness of educational reform policy (Nhan Dan 2013). Official perspectives regarding the HSGE reflect the nature and approach of reform policies over the last 45 years. Given the importance of examination, MOET’s current reform policy, the Decision No. 3538/QĐ-BGDĐT dated on September 09, 2014 on approval and implementation of the HSGE beginning in 2015 and associated Circular 02/2015/TT-BGDĐT dated on February 26, 2015, provides a blueprint that emphasises innovation and adjustment in the HSGE, and follows on changes in teaching and learning. For the then Minister Pham Vu Luan and other MOET policymakers in Hanoi, the revised national exam system served as an effective tool to examine the skills and knowledge of students for both high school graduation and university admission, and thereby guide innovation in teaching and learning. They argued that “the exam system is the most problematic aspect of education, triggering public concerns, and thus is in urgent need of reform,” and that “reform in exam system is the cheapest solution but is certain of victory as it has immediate concrete impacts on other spheres of education, and implications for the whole society” (Nhan Dan 2013). Key to the renewed national exam is what MOET called “hoc gi thi nay” (literally meaning the tests cover what students

Impact of Education Reforms 61 are taught in the final year of high school), encouraging teachers and students to focus on textbook knowledge as they prepare for the exam. Decision 3538 merged the high school graduation and university entrance into a “two-in-one” exam to reduce exam-taker stress and parental financial burden, but it inadvertently reemphasised exam-oriented education. Since the Decision 3538 took effect in 2015, year after year heated debates replay in the national news media over the problematic outcomes of the new HSGE. As a result, the exam system challenges the legitimacy of the stated goals and promises of the new education reforms. In response, MOET initiated ambitious holistic high school curriculum reform in 2020 that deemphasised high-stakes testing. Whether these new reforms will translate into effective solutions to the existing exam-oriented pedagogy remains to be seen. As a step in understanding these policy developments, it’s worth tracing back the past national exam reforms to understand how the national exam system has evolved and why the current reform has made little progress. A close look at the renewed HSGE on the quality in teaching and learning from a political economic perspective may help illustrate its drawbacks and shed some light on the policy dilemma facing exam reform in Vietnam. I conclude this chapter with a discussion of MOET’s current approach to amending the exam system, which reveals a hybrid institutional model of education governance. I argue Vietnam’s exam-oriented education remains ineliminable, at least for today, despite its less desirable consequences.

Exam Reforms: Change or Continuity? For a society strongly influenced by traditional Confucian values, Vietnam’s educational philosophy sees competitive examinations as the sole road for learners to make their way in the civil service and society (Cooke 1994; Walker and Truong 2017). Public high demand for education has long been based on the traditional notion that the higher the exit exam scores, the more talented the graduates. Thus, having higher levels of education is more likely to boost one’s career, higher wages, and promotion opportunities (Ba 2015; Chi 2020; Dat 2018). In addition to job and well-being opportunities, the court examination system provided successful candidates and their families great honour and reputation, often followed by greater influence, in their community. Such a well-established meritocracy-driven culture has a long history dating back to the fifteenth century as the Stele of Doctors at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi states: Virtuous and talented men are key factors for sustaining Nation’s development. The long-standing competitive-oriented traditions based on exams continue to profoundly influence the country’s education today. Recent statistics show that Vietnamese families, although many have lower or middle incomes per capita, spend formidable money on their children’s education, up to one-third of

62  NM Quang household incomes, trying to help their children pass the exam with high scores so that they will be admitted to top universities (Hai-Anh and Rogers 2016; General Statistics Office 2020; VNExpress 2018). As population and unemployment rates have grown, investments in higher education, in a country where university qualifications outweigh intrinsic capabilities as a means to higher salaries, have increased. By 2017, more than 90% of high school graduates (around 700,000 students) choose to sit for the national university entrance exam, although less than one-third of them are expected to eventually enrol in public universities due to limited places (General Statistics Office 2020; Quang 2019). The bar chart in Figure 4.1 reveals that by 2015 the number of candidates in the national university entrance exam was always much higher than the number of high school graduation exam takers. Many students often had no other choice but to register to take as many tests as they can each year to increase chances of university admission. Also, a large portion of the university entrance exam candidates comprised of those who have failed in previous years or employed workers who wished to pursue higher education to boost their career prospects. This means competition was extremely fierce and stressful. MOET has, therefore, tried to modify the state-mandated exam system to meet this increased demand and address problems such as exam offences, achievement obsession, and corruption. The first exam reform began after 1975 reunification. High school graduation exam and the national university entrance exam were hosted by provincial departments of education. Yet the exams were centrally administered and

Figure 4.1  Number of high school graduates and university exam takers over the years, from 2010 to 2020 Source:  Adapted from Ministry of Education and Training’s annual exam press releases in state media.

Impact of Education Reforms 63 coordinated by the then Ministry of Education while universities designated lecturers and senior students to work as examiners, invigilators, supervisors, and supporters. From 1990 to 2001, high school graduation exams were still hosted by provinces, but high school graduates were able to attend many university entrance exams independently run by universities. This policy allowed candidates to apply for different degree programs in order to increase university admission chances. In 2002, MOET implemented a new policy reform that enabled it to exclusively administer and operate the high school graduation and university entrance exams. High school teachers were employed as examiners in their home provinces. The exam annually took place in early June. One month later, roughly a million of youngsters, most of them high school graduates, travelled at their own cost to the six biggest cities across the country to sit for university entrance exams, which took place at MOET designated university campuses and schools. This one-size-fits-all exam reform was aimed to combat examination administration and to standardise grading practices for all candidates across the country. The policy met its objective of standardisation, raising the bar for university admission and created incentives for students to work harder in school. However, it failed to solve deep-rooted problems, including corruption and cheating, while inadvertently fuelled other incipient troubles. Firstly, the “mass migration” of students and their accompanying parents, from rural provinces to big cities, caused numerous social and security issues, including financial worries, social instability, and the potential for the spread of disease (Thai Binh 2009; Vietnam News Agency 2013). Secondly, these centralised high-stakes university entrance exams made the experience even more stressful. For the majority of Vietnamese people, a university degree in state-run esteemed university is the holy grail for a successful life and most important for family pride (see also Dat 2018). Candidates, therefore, had no other choice but to study day and night under enormous pressure from their parents and teachers in their senior year (K-12), especially during the make-or-break month that came after the high school exit exams (VietNamNet 2012; Nhan Dan 2013). This fierce pressure opened the high school graduation exam to corruption. Many high-profile breaches have been publicly reported in state media in the last two decades. Some were well organised by local teachers and administrators who profited from low-achieving students and their desperate parents (Zing News 2014; VietNamNet 2018; see also Chapter 4). Thirdly, the national exams affected the whole of Vietnamese society. Most parents almost put aside other matters to assist their children in preparing for and taking the exams. Municipal governments and volunteers in the cities where the exams were taking place provided special arrangements for the candidates, especially those from rural provinces. Commuters and businesses in exam zones were requested to help out by keeping silent or temporarily closing. An “exam economy” emerged whereby enterprising businesses offer student housing and exam coaching. Finally, the national university entrance exams have widened the quality gap between state-run and private universities as candidates with high scores prefer studying at public institutions (Dan Tri 2012).

64  NM Quang These problems were acknowledged in the Communist Party of Vietnam’s Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW in 2013 which proclaimed that a “radical and comprehensive renovation of education and training to meet requirements of modernization and industrialization in the socialist-oriented market economy and international integration” was needed. Pursuant to the Resolution 29, MOET released the Decision No. 3538/QĐ-BGDĐT, dated on September 09, 2014, to terminate the problematic one-size-fits-all exam policy and launch the new annual National High School Graduation Exam, which returned its administration to provincial departments of education and training (DOET). A significant element of Decision 3538 was the institution of a “two-in-one” exam policy: exam results would now be used for high school exit and university admission purposes. This breakthrough reform policy was aimed to simplify the country’s tough, stressful exam system, increase exam quality, and empower universities to broaden their admission options in accordance with their needs and social demands. Unfortunately, since its inception in 2015, MOET has had to repeatedly revise its examination policy year after year to address its shortcomings, and to dampen persistent public concern and critique (Voice of Vietnam News 2017; 2018). For example, the 2017 multiple-choice tests were determined to be too easy with many errors; so many candidates earned high scores such that universities were unable to identify true “quality candidates.” To address this problem, the tests in 2018 were designed more carefully yet were so difficult that many candidates failed to complete the tests on time. To make matters worse, the HSGE inadvertently provides plenty room for cheating and corruption as exams are now graded by local teachers and administrators. Some low-achieving but well-connected students and their parents under intense pressure to earn a university qualification have been known to pay bribes. Further, teachers, administrators, and local officials are incentivised to promote or disregard cheating to raise their measuring success and earn promotions. A much-publicised case of fraud in the 2018 examination round is exemplary, giving weight to the argument that the 2015 HSGE reforms failed to minimise academic duplicity (Quang 2018; VietNamNet 2018; Voice of Vietnam News 2018; see also Chapter 4). Many Vietnamese educationalists argue that current exam reform policy is ill-conceived, posing adverse impacts on the education system and challenging the goals of Resolution 29 since it reinforces a deep-rooted exam-oriented education and produces exam-takers, who are well practiced in test-taking skills through numerous mock tests and practices, which does not necessarily engender skilful and competent citizens (Voice of Vietnam News 2018; Thanh Nien 2021a). Further, Vietnam’s focus on credentialism has broad implications for the whole of society (Quang 2018, 2019). While MOET officials are keen to introduce new reform solutions to address these problems, their previous successive efforts have cost the country billions of US dollars in the last decade and have not yet eliminated the serious mismatch between students and labour force needs. While the Vietnamese government has made some progress

Impact of Education Reforms 65 in innovating its education and exam system, more is needed to ensure that future policy is well-informed and stable for a long-term to minimise adverse unintended consequences.

Impact of the HSGE on the Quality in Teaching and Learning Recent HSGE reform policy is one critical aspect of current root-and-branch reform that aims to transition Vietnamese public schooling towards competencyoriented education. Less attention has, however, given to how this reform is affecting the quality of high school teaching and learning. Our understanding of teachers and students’ attitudes towards the HSGE influence on education reform is also limited. This section presents findings from in-depth interviews with senior teachers and their students aimed at shedding some light on these issues. The informants included five teachers, three current, and three past year graduates from six high schools in Hai Phong City, Can Tho City, and rural provinces of Soc Trang and Hoa Binh (n = 11). Due to severe COVID-19 restrictions, they were invited to participate in virtual semi-structured interviews during March and November 2021. Their names and backgrounds have anonymised. The interview results revealed some meaningful perceived incentives in taking the HSGE. First, teachers and students agreed that the recent changes to the HSGE have reduced stress as the tests are becoming easier and more “predictable,” as they are primarily derived from the K-12 textbooks. As a result, the official high school graduation and university admission rates have skyrocketed since 2015, sharply reducing the number of candidates in university entrance exams (see Figure 4.1). Second, they felt that reducing the bar for graduation creates incentives for students to work harder in school. And non-compulsory subjects are no longer disregarded, as their last year’s grade point average (GPA) is now constituted by 30% of the exam in their overall band score. This GPA and their high school transcripts will be carefully examined by selective universities for admission. The 2019 revised Law on Higher Education confirmed these changes. The law provided greater autonomy and power to universities, creating incentives for them to independently choose enrolment methods that suit best their needs. As the HSGE results have less weight, more public universities prefer giving greater consideration to high school transcripts to determine academic prowess and promise. Another positive impact is that the new HSGE test design has been remarkably altered, having less focus on concept-intensive or theoretical questions. Rather, recent tests require candidates to demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities that simulate real-world applications. This new focus encourages teachers and students to link textbook knowledge with current issues and their everyday lives, creating a greater interest in enriched learning opportunities. However, the new HSGE is not without some problems. All the informants argued that the recent exams have failed to classify student qualifications in large

66  NM Quang part the uniform tests that exclude student’s life experiences and local contexts, and problematic exam procedures that makes it more vulnerable to cheating and corruption. The increased mismatch between GPAs and the HSGE scores and other measures of academic performance is another cause for concern. Four out of five teachers interviewed admitted that changes in HSGE overall band score calculations and university admissions encourage teachers to exaggerate course grades to assist their students to have an edge on the competition or to keep some low-achieving non-mandatory subjects from sabotaging months of hard work. This is more pervasive in schools where a cocktail of fierce pressure to attain perfection and university acceptances compels teachers, especially those teaching non-mandatory or optional subjects, to provide students with favourable marks despite struggling to master academic content and skills. “Teachers are likely to inflate grades to please parents as well as their principals who also place pressure on teachers to keep school accountability ratings high,” explained N.V.T., 34, a senior geography teacher at an elite school and currently a visiting teacher at a private for-profit school in Can Tho City. The informants also said that the last year of high school focuses on mock tests and instruction designed to prepare for the exam. The burden of lofty expectations that drive these “intensive exam coaching activities” are meant to ensure that all students can do well on tests, especially in maths and mandatory subjects for university admission. “Although the pressure to pass the HSGE is no longer fierce thanks to the new policy, we may be rejected by good universities if student transcripts and HSGE overall band scores are not atop,” says L.T., a former student and currently freshman in a technology university in Hanoi. “We were freer in the first two years of high school when outdoor and innovative teaching activities are encouraged. But we all knew somewhere the HSGE is waiting,” she remembered, and added that “students now see the last year of high school merely a gruelling race to struggle for a university placement. But that eventually makes for shallow learning and understanding.” These comments suggest that the HSGE improves textbook-based knowledge, potentially leading to better exam performances, but fails to intrinsically motivate students in school. G.L., 40, a maths teacher based in Hoa Binh Province, where instance of serious cheating and corruption in the 2018 HSGE shocked the country, attributes the current exam crisis to an ill-conceived policy reform, which does not prevent foreseeable problems. “These problems are not new. They are deep-rooted and remain unsettled despite numerous reforms. Now that the HSGE is getting less challenging; such a less-demanding graduation exam without higher grading standards might lead the education in a wrong direction since students now only try to learn to be familiar with tests instead of mastery of applicable knowledge and skills. Students may become complacent and unable to meet the intense competition for a university placement. They may be tempted to engage in exam offences and today’s technological advance makes cheating too tempting and easy to pull off,” he argued. G.L.’s claim further reflects a manifestation of a highly centralised education system, albeit the decentralisation process in slowly progressing. Importantly,

Impact of Education Reforms 67 teachers and students are for the most part excluded in decision-making processes that directly affect their interests, such as exam reforms, as well as in top-down policy evaluation reports which are based on outcomes and do not reflect the negative influences that the exam system imposes on teachers and students. The interviewed teachers admitted that they heavily rely on the MOET’s annual HSGE changes and associated directives to modify their exam coaching strategies and ensure that students are familiar with HSGE sample tests. “My colleagues and I are sometimes asked to complete consultation surveys about ‘exam innovations.’ But I am not clear if our concerns and policy advice are either heard by MOET or recognised in their decisions,” H.Y., currently a researcher specialising in education assessment at School of Education, Can Tho University, and who has taught Vietnamese literature in high school for the last 16 years. She added, Frankly, we are not informed about what happens next in the reform action. MOET decision makers have focused on standardising the exam, but unconcerned about its positive and negative impacts on teachers and students, and what happens should their new solutions intersect with unsettled risks such as cheating, grade inflation, and achievement obsession, to name but a few. Her argument sheds some light on a reform strategy that emphases top-down implementation and a predisposition to treat exam reform as a separate event rather than as an inclusive process that is closely linked with other spheres of education. Some well-quoted education experts like Professor Dao Trong Thi, former Director of Hanoi National University, and Dr. Giap Van Duong, Asia Society’s 21 Young Leaders, cited in state media, confirm this assessment, stating that MOET policy makers have focused on new reforms, but failed to solve the underlying problematic issues that threaten to undermine their achievements, such as the improved quality of teachers, better high school management, and professionalism (see also Voice of Vietnam News 2018; Lao Dong 2021). They also advised that more exam reforms are urgently needed, but if policy decisions are not well-informed by credible research evidence, the HSGE will remain problematic, distorting the goals of Resolution 29 and not providing teachers and students with clear and principled direction.

MOET’s “Hybrid” Approach to Exam Reform In recent years, MOET has consistently adjusted the HSGE through a decentralisation process that disperses greater authority and responsibility to universities and DOET. This is explicitly reflected in the new 12-million-dollar high school curriculum and the latest Law on Higher Education. The new curriculum envisions educational provision that is no longer constrained by exam pressures and achievement obsession, but can produce a skilful, informed, engaged, and competitive workforce. MOET’s decentralisation policy empowers schools and teachers to choose textbooks, additional materials, and teaching methods

68  NM Quang that suit best their needs and local contexts. Teachers are also encouraged to employ innovative methods, such as project-based learning, and mainstream the twenty-first century skills in teaching plans with a focus on critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Core and optional subject syllabuses, as defined in the curriculum, are now correlated and designed from interdisciplinary perspective. When the curriculum is fully implemented in 2025, it is expected to drive changes in the HSGE through a rapid shift away from concept-focused towards competency-based tests. The 2019 Law on Higher Education increases university autonomy in many critical aspects, especially admission, training, research, and financial affairs (Quang 2019). This increased autonomy empowers universities to reduce exclusive reliance on the HSGE results and employ diverse criteria to enrol students. Some top universities are now adopting and adjusting Western admission systems to develop their own entrance requirements, while a few others are using a mix of criteria such as academic transcripts, recommendation letters, student performance on extracurricular activities, and their own encyclopaedia-style test and interviews to compete for the best students. In spite of these promising early outcomes, MOET policy makers acknowledge the tough hurdles hampering this transition. At the pre-tertiary level, these challenges include a long-standing competitive institutional culture and traditional obsession on credentials that nurture a range of illegitimate practices. At tertiary level, these changes are mostly found at the leading universities where competition for admission is still extremely fierce. Meanwhile, private universities still prefer using the HSGE results and transcripts to enrol lower achieving students, most of whom were rejected by more prestigious public universities. Also, increased autonomy and the marketisation of higher education (see also London 2010:370; Quang 2019; Chapter 3) have induced many universities to compete for enrolments to increase profits and sustain growth, leading to lower admission requirements. State media have widely reported that some predatory for-profit universities recruit potential wealthy low-achieving students who do not meet any credible admission standards (Giao duc Viet Nam 2012; Nguoi Lao Dong 2021). MOET’s current solution to these challenges is more exams. The latest draft of examination reform, according to Minister Nguyen Kim Son, proposes to establish university entrance exam hubs that would be independently run by national and regional universities in biggest cities (Thanh Nien 2021b). These exam hubs would work to ensure the integrity and reliability of assessments and provide standardised results as a quality measurement for student enrolment. This solution is hoped to bring greater legitimacy to the higher education admission process. These recent initiatives are a hybrid institutional governance model where the central government (MOET) is closely working with local authorities (DOET) and regional state-mandated universities, to empower and encourage accountability and innovation at the local level to advance the standardisation and modernisation of the exam system, and ultimately to impact broader decentralisation

Impact of Education Reforms 69 across the whole education system. In this emerging model, there are non-state sector influences, which are increasingly active in steering reform, facilitated by the policies endorsed by the Communist Party of Vietnam (Resolution 29), the 2019 Law on Higher Education, Resolution 88/2014/QH13, and Resolution 51/2017/QH14 issued by the National Assembly. Although this should not be considered a form of public-private partnerships, the engagement of the nonstate sector highlights a quickening in the pace of the decentralisation process as a part of the neo-liberalisation of Vietnamese education (see also Chapter 3).

Conclusion Education is acknowledged as the most component of Vietnam’s human capital, underpinning economic growth, employment, and earnings. The long-standing “exam-driven culture” and achievement obsession make education gruelling competition, given its Confucian credentialist ethos. Exams were the indispensable bastion of meritocracy dating back to the fifteenth century, and any modern reforms of the national exam system will face profoundly embedded cultural norms with far-reaching implications for the whole society. The current reforms of the Vietnamese HSGE have drawn serious attention from both educators and the society at large. This chapter analysed this exam reform to explore how the reform policy has influenced the quality in teaching and learning to shed light on the evolution of policy makers’ approaches over the last decades. The 2015 “two-in-one” reform policy allowed the use of HSGE results for high school exit and university enrolment purposes. This innovation is a critical part of the government’s ongoing efforts to standardise its exam system to stimulate the modernisation of learning and teaching in high schools. The HSGE has significantly reduced exam stresses and financial burden, and incentivise students to work harder in school to raise their transcript and HSGE scores in the competition for good university placements. As marketisation of higher education increases, these reforms have also increased students’ enrolment opportunities in those private universities with lower admission criteria that exclusively rely on the HSGE results. However, my discussion highlights that the HSGE has inadvertently exacerbated deep-rooted problems such as fraud and grade inflation. As a result, many outrageous cases of academic dishonesty and corruption have been found, sabotaging the 2017 and 2018 examinations. These persistent failings have reduced public faith in its integrity and credibility. While some question their necessity, MOET appears committed to reform the examination system as an important institutional driver of change. Its policies reveal a promising transition to a hybrid institutional governance model. This move provides enabling frameworks with limited discretion given to universities and local authorities and further down to schools and classrooms, empowering them to make informed decisions and choose solutions that suit best their needs. This discussion has included university enrolment methods. The latest draft of exam reforms emphasises the continued necessity of the HSGE, to be administered via new university entrance exam hubs, run independently by the

70  NM Quang country’s tier-one universities. This implies that although some Western admission systems are currently embedded in admission methods of some Vietnamese universities, the influence of exam-oriented culture remains strong in Vietnam. If the traditional emphasis on degrees remains dominant, the graduation exam system will remain as a last bastion of Confucian meritocracy, providing rich rewards in the labour market for successful exam-takers.

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5

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education Saturation or Maturation? Quang Chau

Introduction The emergence of non-public higher education (later known as private higher education – PHE) sector in the early 1990s marked a major turning point in Vietnam’s higher education (HE) policy directions. Different social stakeholders held different expectations for the sector: to reduce the state’s fiscal burden, to generate additional income for staff and faculty members at public universities, to expand access for students, to provide skilled labour for the emergent market economy, etc. During roughly 30 years of development, although faced with some admission scandals (with Đông Đô University being a telling case), criticisms of low quality, and charges of commercialising HE, the PHE sector has fundamentally delivered what it is expected. In the 2019–2020 academic year, the sector consisted of 65 universities, employed more than 16,000 full-time faculty members, and enrolled over 300,000 students (as seen in Chapter 1). What does the sector’s prospect look like in the coming years? This question has lately been discussed by multiple parties and circulated in the media. After a period of stable development, in the early 2010s, the PHE sector began to show signs of enrolment stagnation. In addition, the recent acquisition of many private universities (Pham 2020) raises questions among many about a coming crisis of this sector. The Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges (AVUC) – formerly the Vietnam’s Private Universities Association – has been the strongest voice that defends the PHE sector. According to AVUC, policies of unreasonably determining admission’s threshold scores and massively expanding provincial universities are attributed to the PHE sector’s under-enrolment. However, for other people, this sector’s crisis results primarily from its lack of serious intentions of improving quality and building societal trust. This chapter focuses on discussing the current situation and future developments of Vietnam’s PHE sector. My chief approach is from public policy and international comparative perspectives. After this introduction, the chapter will briefly lay out the dual realities of expansion and emergent decline in global PHE, before proceeding to my analysis of key factors of public policy for PHE. DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-5

74  Q Chau I will then sketch an introduction of Vietnam’s PHE, with a focus on recent signs of stagnation, and elaborate changes in Vietnam’s HE governance model, as well as how such changes mean for the PHE’s prospects.

Global Private Higher Education Public and private are concepts whose connotations vary among different historical, economic, and political contexts. In this chapter, we use the law-based approach to define PHE: private universities are those legally designated as such by the national agencies. In the case of Vietnam, as explained below, “private” was considered a politically sensitive term during the years following the Đổi Mới (1986), and thus it was replaced by synonyms that sound more politically correct – “non-public” and “people-founded”. Only in 2005 was private university officially accepted as a legitimate model. According to the typology developed by Professor Daniel Levy (Levy 1986b) from his studies on Latin American PHE, and later widely adopted in research on global PHE (Kinser et al. 2010), private universities can belong to three main groups. First, identity privates are those that explicitly confirm their services to a particular community – e.g., women’s colleges, religiously affiliated universities. Elite privates are either world class (in the US) or more commonly share similar, or only marginally lower, rankings with the country’s top public universities. These institutions’ main constituencies are students and families from the middle- or upper-middle classes. The third group is non-elite privates – which range from low-quality, open access institutions, even diploma mills, to institutions that offer several good job-oriented programmes. Another classification, which offers more policy implications, is the non-profit vs. for-profit one (Kinser and Levy 2006). These two forms are often legally defined: non-profits are not allowed to distribute their excess revenues to stakeholders while this is not prohibited for for-profits. It seems that globally, more and more countries have developed laws that allow private universities to choose to operate under either the non-profit or for-profit status, each abides by different legal regulations and enjoy different tax incentives. PHE has become an integral part of the global HE system – on average, one in three students enrols in a private institution (PROPHE 2018). Globally, there remain only about 10 countries that have no PHE (Levy 2018). Consequently, quite understandably, for a long time, PHE studies have focused predominantly on the topic of growth (Maldonado et al. 2004). PHE legalisation and expansion seem reasonable policies for post-colonial states, who on the one hand look forward to rapidly recruiting a group of well-educated indigenous civil servants, and more generally widening HE access to consolidate the state’s legitimacy, but on the other hand are constrained by fiscal deficits and colonial legacies of elite HE. Furthermore, since the advent of Human Capital theory (Schultz 1961), HE has increasingly been considered a lever for economic prosperity. Based on calculations of return on investment (Psacharopoulos and Hinchliffe 1973),

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education 75 International organisations, notably the World Bank, have recommended their lending countries – most of which are poor and developing ones – to invest in only a small select number of public universities and simultaneously stimulate the expansion of PHE. In a study that samples OECD countries, Reisz and Stock (2012) found out that – with the two exceptions of South Korea and Japan aside – low gross domestic product per capita countries generally have higher percentage of students in PHE, and vice versa. PHE expansion often brings with it institutional diversification, even stratification. This is partially demonstrated by the existence of more than one group of private universities (identity, elite, non-elite) in massified systems of HE (Kinser et al. 2010). According to Geiger (1985), another well-noted scholar of comparative PHE, private universities can choose three main operational strategies: to provide different, better, or more opportunities for higher learning, compared to the public sector. These three strategies lead respectively to the three groups of privates in Levy’s typology – identity, elite, and non-elite. However, the decline, or stagnation, of the PHE sector has recently surfaced in many countries (Levy 2013). This can be seen in the levelling off or slight decrease – after a period of explosive growth – in the percentage of student in the PHE sector, although the absolute number of private students continues to increase steadily. The decline in the number of enrolments is found in several cases. There are also some qualitative indicators of the decline – e.g., many private universities in China are on the verge of bankruptcy, and forced to merge (Zhou and Xie 2007), while in the US, most publicly traded for-profit universities have faced severe criticisms and been regulated more tightly (United States Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 2012). This decline may be understood for a variety of reasons. Levy (2006) observes that public policies for the PHE are often loose during the sector’s foundational years, which accounts for the exponential expansion. However, when this sector has become an “elephant in the room”, the state often introduces tighter regulations that urge private universities to concentrate more on qualitative – rather than quantitative – development. In addition, factors such as aging demographics and changes in policy orientations toward public sector expansion also pose significant challenges for PHE. Levy (2013) posits that different groups of private universities (identity, elite, non-elite) face distinctive challenges in different ways. In general, non-elite institutions are the most affected, due to their questionable legitimacy, low quality, and occasional fraudulent practices. Whether the PHE sector will continue to grow, and if so, in which direction? This is a complicated question that has not been thoroughly answered. Toru Umakoshi (2004) claims that Asian PHE will more or less follow the Japanese model (J-model), in which the state invests into a small elite public sector while encouraging the PHE sector to expand. More specifically, Umakoshi (2004) believes that the percentage of students in Asian PHE sectors will continue to grow. Daniel C. Levy (2020) argues that in developing countries – which collectively account for 70% of global PHE enrolments – PHE will maintain its momentum of expansion – if not in percentage, then in absolute number

76  Q Chau of students. First, in these countries, especially post-colonial ones, the sectoral gaps in the institutional history, and in legitimacy-building, are not substantial enough for the public sector to establish its unchallenged and predominant role in HE. Second, the percentage of young in populations is high, and keeps growing stably, in most developing countries. This indicates tremendous demand for HE that cannot be met by the public sector alone. Unlike Umakoshi (2004) and Levy (2020), statistical calculations by Reisz and Stock (2012) shows that there is no consistent correlation between a country’s economic development and its PHE sector.

Public Policy for Private Higher Education Existing studies point out that public policies for PHE vary among countries depending on several factors. First is the relative size and importance of each sector (Geiger 1988; 1986b). In countries where the PHE sector is substantially larger than the public one, such as the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea, the key task of private universities is to provide additional HE access. Parallel public and private sectors often exist in countries with ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, and no community is clearly superior to others in economic, cultural nor political power. Finally, in countries where the public sector is predominant, private universities, often small and few, meet particular demands that are overlooked by majority-serving public universities. In a similar vein, Levy (1986a) argues that policies of HE subsidies change depending on the relative size of the public and private sectors. With a case study on PHE in the US, Zumeta (1992) uses statistical calculations to demonstrate that states with large PHE sectors often adopt policies favourable for this sector. Second, public policy for PHE is also influenced by models of HE governance, and more broadly, a country’s political economy. From the three idealised models of HE governance (Clark 1983), Levy (forthcoming) has developed four governance models that have significant implications PHE (Figure 5.1). In the laissez-faire model, the state only plays a minimal role in HE, merely to introduce basic principles and regulations for both the public (which has by then become semi-private) and private sectors to operate in equal terms. In the pluralistmarket model, the state’s presence is more explicit: the state not only develops regulatory frameworks for HE, but it also gets directly involved in HE through the public sector. There is almost no sector-biased policy and regulation. The state-steering model is rather hierarchical: the state makes HE plans and directs both sectors to accomplish their tasks – as laid out in the master plan; sectoral competition is neither allowed nor encouraged. Finally, the state-control model often negates PHE – or if allowed, PHE is rather small, plays unimportant roles, but is subject to the state’s tight control. In the US, depending on the HE governance model and the inter-sectoral dynamics, state governments often use different combinations of policy tools to coordinate PHE (Zumeta 2011; 1992): financial aid, direct appropriation, public sector tuition policy, participation in state planning and programme review,

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Figure 5.1  Four higher education governance models Source: Author’s illustrations based on Levy (forthcoming)

other direct (hard) regulations for PHE. More broadly, we can hypothesise that in countries where the public and private sectors are competitive, private institutions are more likely to be included in financial aid schemes, and subject to the same regulations like public schools. In contrast, where PHE is complementary to the public sector (often under the state steering model), there are likely different regulations for each sector. Furthermore, where the PHE sector significantly outweighs the public sector, the state is normally pressed to provide reasonable financial aids for the PHE sector – either through institutional appropriation or student loans – to ensure equity goals (for the case of South Korea, see Chae and Hong 2009). In general, financial aids have become an increasingly effective policy tool, compared to authoritative regulations, to govern HE. They are designed to direct the PHE sector to certain policy directions, e.g., to meet certain quality assurance standards, increase sectoral diversification, or develop select programmes of national importance (Sanusi and Oyama 2008; Yoshida 2013).

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Vietnam’s Private Higher Education The emergence of the PHE sector in Vietnam was facilitated by state-led market reforms in HE during the late 1980s (Chau, Nguyen, and Nguyen 2020). For instance, around 1985, tuition charge was piloted before it was legitimised by a Communist Party of Vietnam’s (CPV) resolution, and then legalised by the Government. At the same time, the diversification of admission schemes – including the experimental, yet short-lived, open admission policy (Tran 1998) – and job placements stimulated a sharp departure from a centrally planned HE system. In that context, the PHE sector was legalised. The emergence of PHE sector was not a linear process. In 1988, Thang Long People-founded Center of Higher Learning was established as a pilot for the PHE. The term “private” was still considered politically sensitive at that time, and thus replaced by “non-public” and “people-founded”. During the years 1993–1994, regulatory documents that govern PHE were issued. Accordingly, the sector consisted of three types: people-founded institutions are established by social and professional associations and operate on the not-for-profit basis; (fully) private ones are founded by individuals and businesses; semi-publics are originally public institutions but switch to the model that relies almost entirely on private incomes, primarily tuition fees. However, until 2005, no (fully) private university existed. The turning point occurred in 2006, when the state mandated that all (19) people-founded universities convert to private status within one year. To date, despite repeated guidelines, instructions, and urges from the Ministry of Education & Training (MOET), there remain some universities that are unable to complete this transfer process, chiefly due to ambiguity in ownership and asset evaluation (Chau, Dang, and Nguyen 2020). The development of PHE sector has been facilitated by many favourable policies, but sometimes impeded by the inconsistency of policies. In 1997, the social mobilisation (xã hội hóa) or socialisation policy was first introduced to encourage social stakeholders to contribute financially, as well as to actively participate in the management of social fields, including education. Accordingly, staff and faculty members who worked in the PHE sector enjoyed various tax incentives, and private institutions were also given priority in land allocation. However, senior policymakers disagreed with each other about the concepts of HE commercialisation and marketisation (St. George 2005). Some proposed that market should determine the demand and quality of HE. Others counter-argued that “education institutions are not (flea) markets”, education must not be viewed as commodities, and urged the state increase investment in education. These heated debates hampered (private) higher education policies from being developed in a clear and uniform direction. Since its inception, the PHE sector has undergone different developmental stages. The 1990s witnessed the rapid and stable growth of this sector: after only 5 years of legalisation (1994–1999), private universities already enrolled more than 95,000 students – over 15% of the entire system. On average, enrolments in the PHE sector double every 10 years. The number of private universities

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education 79 increased most rapidly in the 2005–2010 period: a leap from 25 to 50. In general, PHE currently accounts for nearly 40% of the total number of institutions, almost 30% of the number of full-time faculty, and registers over 23% of the total enrolments. In the 2006 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS), Goyette (2012) shows that students in private universities tend to come from wealthy families, in which the head of household is also well-educated. The growth potentials of Vietnam’s PHE are thought to be very significant. International organisations are generally optimistic about Vietnam’s economic growth and predict that the demand for HE will continue to increase. One of the common policy recommendations is that Vietnam should appropriately expand and diversify its HE system chiefly through the PHE sector (World Bank 2008, xii). This recommendation seems logical, because given its limited budget, the Vietnamese state should prioritise the universalisation of lower levels of education. The Strategy for Education development 2011–2020, issued by the Government in 2012, seemed to confirm this policy direction. Optimistic viewpoints about the growth of PHE in Vietnam are shared among researchers. In the first doctoral dissertation on contemporary Vietnam’s PHE (in 2006), Le Dong Phuong developed several scenarios to forecast the future development of the private sector, and concluded that: … the Vietnamese government should, in the coming years, put in place the necessary conditions for these [private higher education] institutions to expand in size and improve in quality. The society will increase its investment for private higher education by using and paying for the service of these institutions and supporting their efforts for qualitative and quantitative development. (Le 2006, 241) In a similar vein, Tran Ngoc Diep argued that growth potentials of Vietnam’s PHE remained enormous; it is likely that the sector, then peripheral, would soon grow into one that is parallel in size to the public sector (Tran 2014). This argument was drawn largely from her master thesis which adopted the analytical framework developed by Professor Roger Geiger, and compared Vietnam’s PHE with neighbouring countries. However, contrary to what international organisations, policymakers, and researchers predicted, the stagnation of PHE seems to have surfaced.

The Saturation of Vietnam’s Private Higher Education Although the number of enrolments in the private sector keeps increasing overall, this upward trend is not linear. Cyclically, each three or four years of continuous growth is followed by one or two years of decline – the most severe of which occurred in the 2007–2008 and 2012–2013 academic years, drops of 13,738 and 11,777 enrolments respectively compared to the previous year. In 2012, only a small number of privates met their admission quota. According to

80  Q Chau the Master plan for universities and colleges 2001–2010, the PHE sector would account for 30% of total enrolment by 2010. This target was later (in 2007) adjusted to a flexible rate of between 30% and 40% by 2020, and eventually (in 2013) removed in the Amended Master Plan for Universities and Colleges 2006 – 2020. Regardless, those targets were far from being achieved. In the early 2010s, the stagnation, recession, and systemic crisis of the PHE sector were heatedly debated for the first time. In 2011, leaders of many private universities collectively petitioned the MOET to relax current admission policies. Shortly afterwards, MOET dispatched four inspection teams to 20 universities and colleges, and then placed admission ban on seven private institutions (six universities and one college) – while tolerant of public universities that violated similar standards of quality assurance. In 2013, in response to the escalating displeasure within the PHE sector, MOET’s Minister met with Vietnam’s Private Universities Association to discuss two key solutions – i.e., to relax admission policies, and increase tax incentives. At the 20-year Anniversary conference of Vietnam’s PHE (in September 2013), private universities and colleges repeatedly complained about admission policies unfavourable towards the sector. One of the most heartfelt metaphors oft cited by the media during this time was “PHE as an abandoned and illegitimate child” (con rơi, con vô thừa nhận). In the late 2010s, petitions by private institutions changed sharply from admission-focused policies to public-private equity. Sectoral equity is a central idea at the Conference of Private Universities held in mid-April 2017 in Ho Chi Minh City. This is one of the most official (chaired by the then MOET Minister) and most comprehensive (attended by representatives of all institutions) conferences of the PHE sector. During the same period, the Higher Education Law – first introduced in 2012, with many hostile regulations against the PHE sector – was being amended. In early 2018, the National Assembly Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children organised a consultation seminar to gather ideas to improve PHE policies. Therefore, when passed in late 2018, the Amended Higher Education Law includes regulations that endorse more explicitly public-private equity. There are several main reasons that are believed to hamper the growing momentum of PHE. First are unfavourable admission policies, which indirectly limit the pool of qualified applicants. All high school students must take the nationally administered completion exam. Those who pass this exam and wish to continue into HE need to take another more competitive (entrance) exam, also administered nationally by the MOET. (Since 2015, these two exams have been merged into one; see also Chapter 4.) Only candidates who obtain at least an average of five over ten points in each subject are eligible for university admission. This threshold score, which the MOET claims to be the minimum requirement for quality assurance purposes, is considered by some experts to be arbitrary and not scientifically proven. On top of that, in 2012, the MOET allowed universities to determine their own admission quotas – based on quality-assurance indicators such as several faculty members with certain academic degrees, the number

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education 81 of qualified classrooms, and other facilities. This policy has caused an abrupt increase in supply, for instance, in 2012, the total admission quota exceeded the number of qualified candidates, and this occurs more notably at the public sector – given its advantages in terms of quality-assurance indicators. Simultaneously, given the massive and rapid expansion of the public sector, the number of public universities doubled within only 10 years (2005–2015), coupled with the advantage of subsidised tuition fees, seriously undermine the PHE sector’s recruitment capacity. Furthermore, public universities, which have traditionally been mono-disciplinary, have opened many majors – especially those common in the PHE sector, notably business-related ones – and became multidisciplinary institutions. Finally, it is worth mentioning the deep-rooted social prejudices against private institutions in social fields like education. Not long ago, a state agency announced that only graduates from public universities could apply for its job vacancies. Although this requirement met with strong reactions, and was consequently urged to be dismissed, it still reflects a common perception that private universities are second-tier institutions.

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education: Potentials for Further Growth? Policy approach for Vietnam’s private higher education: from state-steering … Vietnam’s higher education governance shared many key features of the state-steering model – for example, the state sets out detailed master plans for HE, in which public-private competition is not encouraged. Actors from the public (higher education) sector and state agencies played significant roles in the establishment of private universities. The Charter for People-founded Universities – enacted in 2000 – mandated the establishment of people-founded institutions be endorsed legally by a state-authorised social or professional association. The board of directors in these universities, although elected by stakeholders, needs to be approved by the MOET Minister. The same approval requirement applied for the appointment of the university president. Furthermore, there was age limit for key positions at people-founded universities. Because of such a tight management mechanism, these universities normally proactively kept the MOET fully informed; some even asked for MOET’s directives. In general, during these foundational years, non-public universities were treated not much differently from their public counterparts. In addition, the state also sets out specific targets for the PHE sector. For example, the Strategy for Education Development 2001–2010 document reaffirmed the social mobilisation policy and explicitly urged that the PHE sector would account for 30% of total enrolment by the end of that period. Later, in the Government’s Resolution on the Fundamental and Comprehensive Reform of Vietnam’s Higher Education 2006–2020, this target was raised to 40%, then discussed during the drafting of the Strategy for Education development

82  Q Chau to 2020, but eventually it was removed in the final version of this Strategy. The Resolution No.29 of the CPV’s Central Committee, announced in 2013, reaffirmed the goal of increasing the percentage of non-public institutions in the vocational and higher education sectors. This goal was later slightly modified in the Political Report of the CPV’s 12th National Congress as to develop (instead of increase) non-public institutions reasonably and effectively in these sectors.

… towards pluralist-market Vietnam’s higher education has recently shown many signs of departure from the state-steering towards the pluralist-market model. In this model, although the state remains the rule-setter, and at the same time directly get involved in HE through the public sector, public universities have no special treatments over privates, but instead must comply equally with the same regulations. In the case of Vietnam, these arrangements are rather evident through the recent reforms in quality assurance – including programme opening, and admission quota-setting. Simultaneously, private universities are also granted more autonomy: the requirement that the institution’s board and president be approved by state agencies has been abolished; public-private equity is being promoted more meaningfully. Whereas the corporate-like term board of directors (hội đồng quản trị) was used to indicate representatives of shareholders at private universities, the 2018 Amended Higher Education Law calls the same entity board of governance (hội đồng trường), which is not terminologically different from the public sector. Furthermore, in the 2016–2021 term, the Prime Minister’s consultative body – the National Council for Education and Human Resource Development – for the first time, included (three) representatives from the PHE sector. In general, policy discourse has gradually shifted from “the development of the PHE sector” to “the harmonious development of both public and private sectors” – as illustrated by the modification made in the CPV’s aforementioned Political Report. In parallel with the shift of governance model are changes in the choice of policy tools. While authoritative regulations were the state’s chief tool to govern PHE, the power and effectiveness of these regulations has decreased markedly. One reason is that the power to govern HE is dispersed among various central ministries and between central and local governments. Furthermore, the state has considerably loosened its direct intervention in key aspects of HE, notably admission and quality assurance. In 2012, the MOET announced indicators for universities to determine their admission quota by themselves. The quality-assurance admission grade, which had been set by the MOET and applied nationally, was eliminated in 2018, and thus universities can now decide their own admission scores. Finance seems to have become more effective than authoritative regulations as a policy tool. Two financial policies commonly adopted in many other countries – i.e., student loans and institutional appropriations – are not really effective

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education 83 in Vietnam. Compared with other state-administered student loan schemes, the one in Vietnam is relatively small in size, high in interest rates, and creates more repayment pressures on students (Dung, Kang, and Zhu 2020). The current loan limit can meet only 84% of the total costs if students study at a public university, and as low as 52% at privates. In 2018, only approximately 51,000 post-secondary students (including vocational colleges) borrowed from this loan scheme – less than 2.5% of the total number of students. Likewise, socialization and institutional appropriation policies encountered various challenges during implementation. Although well-intended, these policies’ budget came largely from local governments, not all of whom showed equal eagerness and goodwill. Therefore, private universities in some localities were given priority to receive not only loans with preferential interest rates but also large plots of land, while in many other provinces, private universities received nearly none. In brief, as analysed below, tuition fees have currently become one of the most effective and feasible policy tools to govern HE, including the PHE sector.

Public-private competition With the HE governance transferring from the state-steering to pluralist-market model, and with sector-blind policy tools, sectoral competition has increased. Many examples support this statement. Majors that require special expertise – for example, health-related fields, notably General Practitioners – were licensed exclusively at public universities but have lately been allowed to open at several private ones. The same occurred to doctoral training programmes. In the 2016– 2017 Vietnam’s University Rankings, conducted by a group of independent researchers, two private universities made it into the national top 49 – notably, Duy Tân University was ranked 9th, ahead of other national and regional (public) universities (Hung et al. 2017). Furthermore, the “education empire” model – to develop K-12 feeder schools to ensure a stable pool of prospective students – is a relatively common strategy within the PHE sector. Nguyen Hoang is an exemplary case, perhaps the largest education empire: it has built a system of over 60 institutions across 24 provinces and cities that range from preschool to doctorate training, with different operational models that target a variety of customers (fully international, bilingual, fully Vietnamese), and enrols 75,000 students and recruits over 4,500 employees. There is no comparable education ecosystem in the public sector. In addition, the policy of HE autonomy has also indirectly promoted public-private competition. Although a major and chronic theme in HE governance (Hayden and Le-Nguyen 2020), university autonomy policy was only piloted for the first time in 2014, at 24 public universities (Võ and Laking 2020). However, the focus is predominantly on finances. Universities that can generate sufficient revenues to cover their recurrent expenditures fully or partly will be granted proportionate autonomy, including freedom to determine tuition fees. This indirectly makes public universities become less attractive financially to students, which adds more competitiveness to the PHE sector.

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Sectoral diversification In addition to competing more equally with their public counterparts, private universities have also competed more severely, which leads to sectoral diversification. Based on public data retrieved from various sources, Hoang (2019) points out that although the majority of Vietnam’s private universities are non-elite, several privates have successfully developed programmes that can directly compete with those delivered by good public universities. Likewise, Chau (2020) collected data on tuition fees, admission scores, and enrolments and showed that there is a group of private universities that have invested strategically to improve quality and professionalise their management, and can compete directly with top public universities. This group has many characteristics in common with semi-elite privates in Levy’s typology and seems to primarily serve middle-class students.

Discussions & Conclusions This chapter reviews the development of Vietnam’s PHE sector. Since its emergence in the early 1990s, PHE has become an indispensable part of the country’s HE system. After nearly 30 years of development, and currently accounting for nearly a quarter of the total enrolment by number of students, the sector has shown some signs of stagnation, even crisis – the growth is slow, many institutions are acquired, there are scandals about degree-mills. This stagnation stems from both external (e.g., changes in demographics, unfavourable policies) and internal factors (e.g., mismanagement, insufficient investments in quality improvement). However, analysis points to a scenario in which the PHE sector will continue to grow, at least in terms of enrolments, although its growth rate will likely be modest. This conclusion is drawn largely from the observation that Vietnam’s HE governance has gradually shifted from the state-steering to plural-market model, which facilitates sectoral competition. The policies that eliminate a rigidly set threshold of admission scores allow universities to use certain indicators to determine admission quotas, and empower semi-autonomous accrediting agencies to actively become involved in quality assurance. All of these factors have opened both demand and supply of the HE market. As argued above, the regulations that treated PHE unfavourably have gradually been removed, and private universities have been licensed to offer programmes only previously allowed to operate at public institutions. In addition, intra-sectoral competition has become more intense, which stratifies private universities into groups that follow different strategies and meet diverse HE demands. In addition, the policy of university autonomy, which indirectly leads to increases in tuition fees at the public sector, gives the PHE sectors more opportunities to grow. The Vietnam’s trend of development, as well as changes in policies related to the PHE sector, shares many commonalities with other countries. After a period of explosive expansion, PHE often grows more slowly, although a decrease in the number of students is rare. In Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Poland, demographic changes have led to significant fluctuations in the demand for HE.

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education 85 Two major policies commonly adopted in these countries are to reduce public-private distinctiveness, and to encourage universities to diversify so that they can better meet HE demands. To these ends, financial policies appear more effective than authoritative regulation. In general, PHE policies that the Vietnamese state now chooses to implement are quite similar to policy recommendations by the Asian Development Bank (ADB 2012).

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86  Q Chau Kinser, Kevin, and Daniel C. Levy. 2006. “For-Profit Higher Education: U.S. Tendencies, International Echoes.” In The International Handbook of Higher Education, edited by J Forest and Phillip. G. Altbach. Dordrecht, the Netherlands and London, UK: Springer Publishers. Kinser, Kevin, Daniel C. Levy, Juan Carlos Silas Casillas, Andrés Bernasconi, Snejana Slantcheva-Durst, Wycliffe Otieno, Jason E. Lane, Prachayani Praphamontripong, William Zumeta, and Robin LaSota. 2010. “The Global Growth of Private Higher Education.” San Francisco, CA: Association for the Study of Higher Education. Le, Dong Phuong. 2006. “The Role of Non-Public Institutions in Higher Education Development of Vietnam.” PhD Thesis, Hiroshima, Japan: Hiroshima University. Levy, Daniel C. 1986a. Alternative Private-Public Blends in Higher Education Finance: International Patterns. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ———. 1986b. Higher Education and the State in Latin America: Private Challenges to Public Dominance. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ———. 2006. “The Unanticipated Explosion: Private Higher Education’s Global Surge.” Comparative Education Review 50: 217–40. ———. 2013. “The Decline of Private Higher Education.” Higher Education Policy 26 (1): 25–42. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2012.26. ———. 2018. “The Vanishing Public Monopoly.” International Higher Education 94 (June): 24. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2018.0.10550. ———. 2020. “Private Higher Education in Developing Countries.” In The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions, edited by Pedro Teixeira and Jung Cheol Shin, 2322–29. Springer Reference. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. ———. forthcoming. A World of Private Higher Education: Global Patterns and Variations. Maldonado, Alma Maldonado, Yingxia Cao, Philip G. Altbach, Daniel C. Levy, and Hong Zhu. 2004. Private Higher Education: An International Bibliography. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Pub. Pham, Ly Thi. 2020. “The Emergence of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Private Higher Education Sector in Vietnam.” In Higher Education in Market-Oriented Socialist Vietnam, edited by Phan Le Ha and Doan Ba Ngoc, 169–85. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46912-2_9. PROPHE. 2018. “Global Private and Total Higher Education Enrollment by Region and Country, 2010.” Global Private and Total Higher Education Enrollment by Region and Country, 2010 (blog). 2018. https://prophe.org/en/global-data/global-data-files/ global-enrollment-by-region-and-country/. Psacharopoulos, George, and Keith Hinchliffe. 1973. Returns to Education: An International Comparison. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Reisz, Robert D., and Manfred Stock. 2012. “Private Higher Education and Economic Development.” European Journal of Education 47 (2): 198–212. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2012.01518.x. Sanusi, Anwar, and Tatsuo Oyama. 2008. “Statistical Data Analysis for Investigating Japanese Government Subsidy Policy for Private Universities.” Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning 55: 407. Schultz, Theodore W. 1961. “Investment in Human Capital.” The American Economic Review 51 (1): 1–17. St. George, Elizabeth. 2005. “Socialist Ideology and Practical Realism: The Process of Compromise in Vietnam’s Law on Education.” In Asian Socialism & Legal Change: The Dynamics of Vietnamese and Chinese Reform, edited by John Gillespie and Pip Nicholson, 1st ed, 115–34. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

Vietnam’s Private Higher Education 87 Tran, Diep. 2014. “Mass, Parallel, Peripheral: Exploring Policy Choices for Private Higher Education Sector in Vietnam.” Master’s Thesis, Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington. Tran, Xuan-Thao. 1998. “Impact of Open Admissions Policies in Vietnam.” Doctoral Dissertation, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania. Umakoshi, Toru. 2004. “Private Higher Education in Asia: Transitions and Development.” In Asian Universities: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges, 33–49. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. United States Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. 2012. “For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success.” https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-112SPRT74931/ pdf/CPRT-112SPRT74931.pdf Võ, Minh Thị Hải, and Rob Laking. 2020. “An Institutional Study of Autonomisation of Public Universities in Vietnam.” Higher Education 79 (6): 1079–97. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10734-019-00457-6. World Bank. 2008. “Vietnam: Higher Education and Skills for Growth.” Washington, DC: World Bank Human Development Department. Yoshida, Aya. 2013. “The State and Private Higher Education in Japan: The End of Egalitarian Policy?” In Higher Education and the State. Changing Relationships in Europe and East Asia, edited by Roger Goodman, Takehiko Kariya, and John Taylor. Oxford Studies in Comparative Education. Oxford, UK: Symposium Books. Zhou, Guoping, and Zuoxu Xie. 2007. “On the Bankruptcy of Private Higher Education Institutions in China.” Frontiers of Education in China 2 (1): 103–18. Zumeta, William. 1992. “State Policies and Private Higher Education: Policies, Correlates, and Linkages.” The Journal of Higher Education 63 (4): 363–417. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00221546.1992.11778376. ———. 2011. “State Policies and Private Higher Education in the USA: Understanding the Variation in Comparative Perspective.” Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 13 (4): 425–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2011. 583110.

6

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese Higher Education Causes, Impacts and Government Responses Joop de Wit

Introduction This chapter considers the governance and administration of higher education (HE) in Vietnam, many aspects of which are dealt with in the various chapters of this volume. There are rules and regulations to be enforced, national ministries and provincial governments implementing and supervising policies and indeed adjusting education policy through what look like ambitious reforms. At face value Vietnam seems to be on the right track, especially when considering the huge numbers of students the education system is now able to educate. Yet, perhaps as a by-product of such very fast growth, several constraints and problems are emerging. For example, there is considerable exam stress in Vietnam’s long-standing exam-oriented education, related to pervasive achievement obsession, while reforms over time were always top-down, missing the voices and participation of both teachers and students (Quang 2019). But perhaps most worrisome, the very system of education appears to be affected through corruption where too many cases, scams or scandals have been reported in state media. This chapter considers this apparent contradiction: at the same time that Vietnam accommodates more students than ever before, is its quality slipping down – and have informal or corruption related dynamics infected admissions, exams and grading? So can we speak of education development, or do we witness mostly growth without quality – let alone excellence? One such scandal which received nationwide attention concerned everyday realities of cheating: Khoa became nationally famous in 2006 for attempting to stop his pupils from cheating in their school exams. When his colleagues and head teacher refused to help him (because they had been bribed by the children’s parents) he videoed the pupils’ cheating and sent the tape to national television. The Broadcast caused a national scandal, and ultimately led to the replacement of the Education minister. Khoa was a candidate in the 2006 national elections, but by Mid-April he had been removed as candidate, which was widely seen as an indicator for a lack of support for efforts to clean up the education sector. (Tuoi Tre News 2007) DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-6

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 89 This case brings out several actors in and around the primary education system of Vietnam and their respective roles and actions where they collude around educational corruption. What we see is a well-willing teacher keen to expose such malfeasance while his school rector and his colleagues opposing such transparency rather than backing him. They ultimately accused him of undermining existing money making arrangements. Parents are shown to be active agents by bribing teachers, whether or not with the knowledge of their children. It appears as if Khoa was supported by his neighbourhood voters – which can be seen as a hopeful sign – but neither the dominant party nor one of his colleagues stood by him. These events took place 15 years ago, and one wonders as to whether things have improved, so that such informal and illegal practices today have reduced – not least as a result of both many educational reforms as well as anti-corruption activities implemented by the Government of Vietnam (GOV) since. Another question it suggests is as to whether things are similarly problematic in institutes of higher education – which is the actual focus of this chapter. The key actors may be the same, but from here onwards this chapter will probe dynamics of informality – as in corruption and malfeasance – only in HE institutions in Vietnam. A quick review of media reports shows that cases of educational malfeasance both in public and private universities are relatively frequent – which raises the question as to the impacts on quality of education and career prospects, but also on the ambitious socio-economic development prospects and plans for Vietnam. The extent to which such informal practices are prevalent there will be studied along with the background in terms of (neo-liberal) governance shifts, historical and cultural legacies and dynamics of power. The aim of this chapter is then to explore, in an initial way, the repertoire of informal/illegal/fraudulent actions not only on the part of a university, but all actors (or “stakeholders”) who are part of the education system: students, parents, teachers, university managers, officials at the national Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and provincial level departments of education and training (DOET) as well as politicians and members of People’s Committees at different levels. But rather than simply listing such negative facts and trends, this chapter aims to be constructive: what can we learn from past positive and negative dynamics? If we probe details and mechanisms of informality, it may suggest ways and means to design suitable steps to reduce such informality – and not only in view of the country’s status and high ambitions for future development. As will be explained, the good news is that the government is quite aware of these issues, taking steps to interfere in the most harmful processes. Details on such education policies are provided and assessed against their objectives. Yet, this investigation cannot stop just by selecting one Vietnamese sector as if that were to exist in isolation. We need to consider such incidents in the fields of education against the wider context of the country’s governance and administration. Informal practices are generally best located against a larger, perhaps national landscape of informality with all its sad, ugly but always damaging

90  J de Wit dynamics: corruption, bribery, nepotism, favouritism and patronage relationships. Now that Vietnam’s education has booked such impressive progress, there is a need to assess or evaluate to what extent such practices arise from a generalised “way of doing things”, and perhaps alternative and informal “rules of the game”, even if secretive but apparently so effective that people keep resorting to them? Do such issues of informality lead from the massification of HE in the past 20 years, and the administrative reforms of Doi Moi in Vietnam since 1986, which opened doors for the emergence of a socialist-oriented market economy? It appears as if, as in most countries, elements of neo-liberalism have become institutionalised: the profit motive, opening up for (foreign) investment, and, what we now label “multi-actor governance”. Today, the Vietnamese government at all levels cooperates with non-state stakeholders: private sector firms, NGOs, multinational firms. Hitherto public (non-profit) sector tasks can be delegated to private (for profit) firms. It is argued by some that such reforms opened the doors to the emergence and increased voices and powers of the more powerful actors (including state owned enterprises) to help shape policy and to informally steer and undermine others. McCornac and Cullen (2015: 33) refer to “the capitalist notions attached to Doi Moi”, and “the pro-entrepreneurship characteristics of Doi Moi” (ibid.: 26). This aligns with Chapter 3 in this volume, which refers to the increasingly neo-liberalised conditions of education. Just like in many other countries, it is no surprise that also in Vietnam corruption, but also inequality increased. In today’s complex multi-actor policy processes, informal connections have steadily gained prominence everywhere (de Wit 2019). As Tromme (2016a: 290) argues: “in effect, the opening of the economy created significant opportunities for diversification and personal enrichment for greater number of people by taking down barriers for corruption”. Yet the broad catch-all terms of corruption or rent seeking cannot do justice to the impressive range of actors, their (non-)actions, relations, as well as the (different) rules and organisations guiding/stopping/enabling malfeasance. It is suggested here to frame our investigation in terms of “informality” as contrasted to “formality”, and apply related key concepts of “institutions”, “organisations” and “incentives”. Institutions are understood as “the rules of the game in society which direct and constrain human (inter-) action” (see also Hoa 2020: 72 who applies a similar framing). This is about norms, values, customs and traditions in society, as in fashion or allowed dress codes, how society considers poor people, gender relations or culturally determined traditions that persist over time. On the other hand, such rules need to be enforced: the definition of institutions then also refers to specific organisations to enforce such rules: a central bank as an institution regulating money matters, informal organisations or powerful bigwigs setting informal/illegal rules and enforcing these through specific punishments. A final critical component of institutions, as noted by Truong Thi Hoa (2020: 74), is that “corruption acts as an informal institution that shapes the incentives of stakeholders”. This is about “the carrots and the sticks” in society – including those applied by government, to reward behaviour seen as positive, and discourage/punish that seen as negative/undermining/informal. The most

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 91 toxic possibility is when incentives become perverse, i.e. sustaining or deepening corrupt practice. If these were to dominate, it is hard if not impossible to remove them – being caught in a negative cycle. Finally, power is central to discussions of corruption, which links to distinctions between bribe-takers and bribe-givers, to matters of trust and reciprocity, and (hence) the paramount importance of (informal/patronage) relations, networks and deals (de Wit 2019). One dynamic to check is the role of culture here, where the specific status of education dates back to Confucius and Vietnam’s scholarly traditions. At the same time it also links to hierarchy and privilege, around which serious competition and power plays may evolve. Hence, the chapter will explore the whole range of informality: bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, clientelism, fraud, extortion, and administrative, political, economic and financial corruption (Tromme 2016a: 294). It is concluded, unfortunately, that such malpractices have become relatively widespread (Tromme 2016b: 449). Against this backdrop the next section dwells on the research methods underpinning this chapter’s evidence. What is known of informality and corruption in Vietnam generally is presented subsequently. This is to bring out the mechanisms and (non-) actions in this opaque world where powerful bribe takers interact with dependent, (more) powerless, eager and/or greedy bribe-giving clients. Causes and factors to explain this are briefly considered. This sets the stage against which to list and assess the range of malpractices specific to HE, in an effort to provide a comprehensive picture of this informal repertoire. The shortterm and long-term impacts and implications of listed dynamics on all actors involved are assessed. This applies for example to students and parents caught in informal webs – or for Vietnam as a middle income country with clear ambitions for all over (economic) development. But whereas the tone of this text is relatively gloomy, it is above all meant to be constructive in bringing out the actual “everyday realities” of HE with a view to learning lessons and solving problems where realistically possible. Again, the GOV is in fact well aware of issues listed – both as regards overall corruption, as well as specific challenges in this realm of HE. Over time a range of policies and laws were and are being enacted to address them. Such interventions are discussed and evaluated against the findings of this chapter in terms of informality. A concluding section addresses the questions and issues raised here, offering a broad review of findings.

Methods This text is based on a long-term engagement with Vietnam in terms of teaching, training and research as regards governance and public policy (de Wit 2007; 2012; 2013). It is a limitation of this text that it is based predominantly on secondary source materials, notably a wealth of cases and insights as covered in the Vietnamese media and in international journals over time. Given the fact that the media are reputed to be less than open, this text did still benefit from quite a few reported cases of educational malfeasance. In addition, over time, teaching and communicating with students and educators across the country

92  J de Wit has given scope to refine and deepen the understanding of informality in HE, and of related attitudes and responses of students, their parents and government education agencies. Informal in-depth interviews were conducted with a few teachers and former high school students in the Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Hoa Binh province. This was mostly to confirm facts and trends already visible in secondary sources, but new insights, cases and stories were gratefully accepted. Particularly, the Covid-19 pandemic made it difficult to engage in primary data collection, reason why this text has the limitation of a small basis of primary data, while some respondents cooperated only on condition of anonymity. Of course, even apart from such constraints, it may be obvious that investigating “informality” is always difficult in any country or sector, or (made) even nearly impossible. Practices here are always informal but often illegal, with all actors secretive and having something to hide. Other general factors that hinder corruption studies applied here equally. These are helpfully listed by Tromme (2016b: 450–452). It starts quite basically with practical issues, including a general lack of information in terms of quantitative data, where existing statistical data are often unreliable, not up-to-date, or not freely available for unclear reasons. This makes it hard for any researcher to build a strong, evidence-based case. Things are not much better for qualitative research, as in the solid and deeply probing of cases or events, which assume randomly talking to informants who then speak their mind freely and spontaneously. This is not quite easy in Vietnam where researchers may not get permissions, where informants are often pre-selected by the relevant authority and where people are often reluctant to discuss administration, let alone sensitive matters such as corruption. In turn, researchers “have no real willingness and incentives to take risks in tackling sensitive subjects” (ibid: 450) and there are pressures to practise self-censorship. If such constraints have been overcome, one may find that research findings and recommendations do not link well to the policy process. So while the primary field work data should have been more robust, it was a bit of surprise – also in view of the above constraints – to come across a wealth of articles, academic papers and books, newspaper stories and web-based information. This made possible – with all limitations listed – to write up this chapter, in an effort to still provide as comprehensive an account as possible of “everyday realities” and informal mechanisms in HE, and to triangulate and double check the findings to some extent. It is hoped that this exploratory investigation may help support open and frank discussion to address the challenges listed – and to constructively lead to an all-over awareness of issues – as well as further adequate policy responses.

Informality and Its Manifestations in Vietnam Starting from the view that “informality” is a fact of life for poor but also (very) rich people in counties across the globe a picture of informality is offered in all its forms and practices in Vietnam. Even while the topic is marked by opacity, secrecy and (often) illegality, there are, as noted, quite a few relevant studies.

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 93 One relatively impartial source is the Transparency International (TI) ranking list of the (perceived) incidence of corruption in countries. In the 2015 index Vietnam ranked 119 out of 1275 countries with a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score of 31/100 (Yen Duong 2015: 21), in 2016 it ranked 113; for 2020 it was 104 out of 180 countries, with CPI also somewhat higher at 36/100 (see also Gregory 2016: 229). For 2020, the TI Vietnam website notes: In recent years, Vietnam has witnessed a positive trend in CPI scores. According to Towards Transparency, this progress reflects the strengthened anti-corruption efforts of the Vietnamese Communist Party and the State, especially in enhancing the investigation, prosecution, and trial of several grand corruption cases. However, the CPI 2020 score shows that Vietnam needs to step up its anti-corruption efforts more drastically to ensure substantial changes, and achieve breakthroughs in the next period. But indicators of corruption are certainly not satisfactory, where Truong Thi Hoa (2020: 73) states that “corruption has grown alongside the rapid growth since the economic reform in 1986 because the process of economic transition creates more opportunities for corrupt behaviour”. She recognises the importance of institutions: “corrupt behaviour is pervasive in Vietnamese society and most firms (are) involved in these activities follow “the rules of the game” (ibid.). The good news – as noted by TI – is that GOV and the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) agree that corruption is a problem; a distinct repertoire of plans, strategies and reforms is in place, not least the 2005 Anti-corruption Law (amended in 2007 and 2012). A later National Strategy on Anti-Corruption to 2020 was adopted, with the following serious message, which comprehensively lists the major concerns well: Corruption is still taking place in a rampant, serious and complicated fashion in multiple areas, especially in such areas as administration and use of land, construction investments, equitization (i.e. privatisation) of State Owned Enterprises (SOE), management and use of funds, natural resources and State assets. This leads to adverse effects in many ways, eroding the confidence of the people in the Communist Party’s leadership and the State’s management, giving rise to potential conflicts of interests, social resistance, and protest, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. (quoted in Tromme 2016a: 288) Even so, according to Gregory (2016: 230) it is one defect of Vietnam’s laws that corruption is somewhat loosely defined as “a position crime involving loss of to the state”. He argues that this misses out on the actions of organisations such as state owned enterprises (SOEs), where oversight has been missing, leading to massive scams, for example in public procurement (Vinalines, the PMU-18 scandal). Yen Duong (2015: 24) lists the several anti-corruption institutions, but provides a sombre evaluation, where competition exists between the several

94  J de Wit agencies active here – plus a lack of coordination: all this “indicates a lack of determination to operate anti-corruption measures effectively”. Another issue is noted by Gregory (2016: 232), who argues: “In Vietnam, ‘rules of the state’ rather than the “rule of law” is the norm” – which opens many doors to informality as there is no independent referee.

Causes of informality Yen Duong (2015: 25) helpfully lists the following factors which help explain the incidence of informality – including corruption, bribery, nepotism, favouritism and patronage relationships. She starts by mentioning low public sector salaries – even for higher level civil servants – which raise a sense of envy as salaries are higher in the private sector. This implies that honest persons may have to take another/additional job (as is the case for many university teachers anyway) or some evening work to compile enough income to survive. As mentioned already there is a lack of citizen involvement, and there do not seem to be independent organisations to unite complainers who are brave enough to openly stand up against malfeasance. In fact they – as “whistle blower” - run the risk to be perceived as trouble makers. “Journalists and editors are generally wary of publishing allegations of corruption by public officials lest they themselves be strongly sanctioned, possibly by imprisonment” (Gregory 2016: 233). The media are by and large under active state control, there is a tendency to centralise power – in a ministry, in a province, in a university. Gregory (2016: 233) argues that corruption in Vietnam is more prevalent in some provinces and cities than in others. “Powerful governmental officials, accountable largely to themselves, are relatively unconstrained in their use of office to misappropriate state resources for themselves, and their families and friends.” Truong Thi Hoa (2020: 78) adds: “corruption is highly centralised within a province/city, and provincial leaders have the power to control corrupt activities in their regions by various means.” Hoa (2020) assumes a close relationship between corruption in the business sector and corruption in the educational sector because both sectors depend on the incentives and activities of provincial leaders. According to Tromme (2016a: 292), there are no real accountability mechanisms.

Patronage and Bribes: Informality in Higher Education This section targets the everyday realities, constraints and challenges of HE and its management, i.e. the many public but also private universities which have been established over the last three decades. Yet the challenges in the realm of corruption faced by and in universities start already earlier – at the stage of university entry, as reported far too often in Vietnam’s media. Some high-profile examples are presented here where students are admitted on the basis of forged documents or through other informal strategies. At this point it needs reiterating that these do not necessarily represent a common model or dominant,

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 95 nation-wide informal mechanisms in HE institutions. Rather, this listing is seen as clear and urgent warnings that things are not all well. Hence, this chapter is motivated by a wish both to cover the main problems and challenges faced – but only with a view to address these so as to enable appropriate policy. After all, if unaddressed, they form a huge threat challenging Vietnam’s enduring efforts of standardisation and modernisation of education, thereby threatening to undermine its recent progress in education development. Keeping this in mind and before probing informality in universities itself, some examples of such “entry” practices are listed – which may in fact result in admitting poor quality students who should not be there. At the same time such dynamics undermine much needed institutional trust, systems of accountability and transparency, and ultimately quality education itself as needed for all – rich or poor, very or less talented students – at all levels.

GPA scores and mediating access to universities A massive education scandal raising much commotion and indignation became public in 2018. It is about the deputy head of Ha Giang provincial DOET’s Testing and Quality Assurance who managed to adjust 318 exam scripts under the National Higher School Graduation Exam (see Chapter 4). He managed to move sealed boxes with exam scripts out of a secure area, next overwriting the original answers which were heavily altered – and significantly improved. Investigators from MOET and the Public Security Ministry are still working on the case – where it seems certain that the official could not have pulled off such a feat in such a small time frame alone. Exam results from 2015 to 2017 are part of the investigation (see Quang 2018). The above case of fraudulent university admissions is certainly not the only case to appear in the Vietnamese media: a quick scan of media reports reveals a list of this widely used informal practice. For example, VNExpress, the mostread Vietnamese newspaper, reported that officials in So La Province were on trial to take money to raise grades for 44 students in the 2017 National High School Exam, in which nearly 926,000 VN students attended. “27 parents have admitted that they had requested knowing their children’s grades ahead of time, but denied exchanging or promising any material to the people being charged” (VNExpress 2019a). The article explains that “numerous officials have been arrested or disciplined for their involvement in the exam fraud (…) where high school exams are considered by many families as the most stressful event of the year, as their results usually decided their children’s career and future paths”. VNExpress (2019b) further reports that “108 students from two provinces, 64 from Hoa Binh and 44 from Son La, had their exam result altered (…). Some of them were currently enrolled in some of Vietnam’s most prestigious universities, including National Economics University, Foreign Trade University and Hanoi Medical University.” Fifty-three out of them had to leave universities after their actual exam scores were found failing the (formal) admission requirements. “A string of students told VNExpress that the altering of scores might have deprived

96  J de Wit them of the opportunity to enter the more prestigious universities” (VNExpress 2019b). McCornac (2012: 268) says, “a very common mentioned form – which involves “gatekeepers” is that money is paid at the stage of enrolment and registration and an individual is admitted without clear qualification”. There is also an element of inter-provincial competition here, which is related to London’s observation about the impacts of the marketisation of education, which includes “the commercialisation of education (such as the permission of advertising in schools), the sale and purchase of degrees, and various forms of gift giving” (London 2010: 370). He also refers to the fact that education officials continue to “reporting statistics that are obviously exaggerated but which allow local authorities to report ‘success’. Such artificial tinkering with data and scores is locally known as “achievement obsession” (see also Chapter 4). We need to keep in mind here that admission is allowed by counting 30% of GPA grades at high school, but the overall band score in the National High School Graduation Exam counts for as much as 70% of marks to be submitted for university admission (MOET 2019). This explains a lot of informality already at this admissions stage: students attend extra classes by teachers at night; envelops with cash are sent to examiners and exam managers to adjust low marks. As always, there is a premium on having “connections” with students and parents making use of newly established personal connections or through (patronage) relations they already have. Weak yet rich students who have good patronage and powerful parents (local bigwigs) always want to have seats in national esteemed universities (VNExpress 2019b, see also Chapter 4). Such unhelpful dynamics are confirmed by London (2019: 3): “In the contemporary labour market what matters most is not what you know, or how well you learn, but rather who you know, or how much you are willing to pay for grades, a diploma, extra-tutoring, opportunities to re-sit exams (…) and other institutionalised and pervasive informal costs.” One informant indicated that it appears as if some rich students and local bigwigs are so influential that teachers have to inflate their grades although they fail the tests. To make things worse, some lazy students refuse to sit for the texts as they know teachers somehow will let them pass in order for the school to keep its high ranking and hence reputation high (see Chapter 4). It is framed locally as “power corruption”: where local bigwigs who are major donors of the school often have a greater voice and more power to put pressure on school leaders and teachers to inflate their child’s grades (Tien Phong 2019; VietNamNet 2019a).

Mapping Informal Practices in Higher Education: the Repertoire Manipulating university exams There is ample evidence that corruption – or more broadly informality as explained – is rather high in universities and its graduate programmes. The last decade has witnessed the proliferation of graduate programmes in public and private universities across the country. To compete for students, and thus for

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 97 profits, many universities have lowered enrolment requirements. As holding a university degree is likely to boost job promotion, wages, status and fame, more and more already employed people, many of whom are government officials, register to enrol in Master’s and PhD degree programmes in less well-recognised universities. This includes what may be called “predatory universities” where teaching quality is quite low but fees are extremely high. Such “employed graduate students” are obviously less motivated and have less time to spare to seriously and intensively master academic knowledge and capabilities. A case in point is the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences in Hanoi. A 2017 report by MOET reveals that it enrolled 1,100 PhD students and 4,800 Master’s degree students in 2015–2017 while the number of employed professors is quite limited: seven associate professors and 17 PhD holders. As a result, many “part-time” professors were recruited to coach the graduate students and some professors have had to supervise up to 12 PhD candidates at the same time, while some other professors supervise PhD dissertations that are not relevant to their field of study (Dan Tri 2017). One student had this to say: “Their sole purpose is the degree for promotion and salary prospects. Thus, they are inclined to give envelops to professors during or in advance of the course exam for grade inflation or less-demanding tests. In some courses that recruit visiting professors from other universities, students are mobilised to give envelops to “support teachers’ travel and accommodation costs” and to host weekend fully-paid tours to please them,” said Quach Thuy Duong, 30, a former graduate student in a private university in the Mekong Delta. Circulating envelopes and “gift giving” appears to be common at occasions such as the Lunar New Year holidays, birthdays, family parties and weddings, not to forget the Vietnamese Teachers’ Day. Another example which was shared by a former graduate student in Hanoi in a private conversation: “Envelops are an informal norm in graduate classes. You must be familiar yourself and comply with the norm unless you want troubles in exams. Even in my research design and full manuscript seminars, envelops were enclosed in the documents sent to supervisors and reviewers to ensure the seminars go smoothly with less critics or questions,” says N.T.N.P., who has finished her Master’s and PhD degree in a tier-one university of education in Hanoi in 2020. “I think gift giving is not corruption. It was originated from a long-standing culture of respect for teachers,” she added. As already indicated, one upsetting dynamic appears to operate at universities, where teachers and lecturers who are (remain) keen to fight corrupt practice may be considered by their colleagues as “trouble-makers”. Ironically, in what is a good example of a “perverse incentive”, it is not those erring and going corrupt who are punished, but those who could be termed “whistle blowers”.

98  J de Wit It is reported that it is the latter who may expect to be marginalised in political spheres, and from profitable activities such as visiting teaching positions, extra classes or projects that are good money-making opportunities. Given those political and economic risks, many have no other choice but learning to compromise or adjusting to corruption practices. It appears as if they keep silent by ignoring their colleagues’ and leaders’ wicked actions and integrity violations.

Ghost research As already noted before, there is a serious problem where, in Vietnam, university staff – all levels from junior lecturers and researchers, all the way up to (senior) professors, hardly engage in research. And if they do, research quality, in terms of rigorous application of (combined) research methods and checks as in triangulation, is often low or even sub-standard if many reports and studies are to be believed. More generally, the very idea of “evidence-based research” is only taking hold in Vietnam slowly, as it may contradict with “ideology based research”, where it might be the personal views of a limited group of policy makers, politicians and party members which shape policies – often in top-down style. Finally, writing up research findings in either Vietnamese, but certainly where English language publications go, is a challenge only few academics can meet. Indeed, many university lecturers and PhD holders are unable or only have a limited idea as to how to carry out proper research (Thanh Nien 2020; Vuong et al. 2018). Yet, as all public universities and existing rules require lecturers to do research and publish articles, the latter feel compelled to go informal. Large amounts may be paid to have (buy) a co-authorship in articles or articles are published in poor quality or even “predatory” journals which deviate from best editorial and publication practices, lack transparency and may be aggressive to push or invite articles (Thanh Nien 2020). A recent research by Vietnam Citation Gateway reveals that more than 80% of the English language journals in Vietnam do not meet international standards while the others have low impact factors (Tien Phong 2021). Vietnamese language journals are even more problematic: some almost accept every article for publication without a serious peer-reviewing process or by performing promised quality checks for matters such as plagiarism or academic ethics. The image which emerges here seems to point to a process of personal money making versus collective academic sincerity and performance. Benefiting from article processing charges – ranging between 500,000VND to 2,000,000 VND (US$100) – means that the more articles someone publishes, the higher the profits. Paradoxically then, Vietnam produced a large number of PhD degree holders and professors over the past decades, yet few of them are able to do credible research or publish in solid journals (Dan Tri 2019; Nguyen Khoi 2018). It sadly shows where the number of scientific publications in international and/ or rigorously peer-reviewed journals from all over Vietnam is markedly lower than in its otherwise equally undistinguished neighbours in ASEAN such as Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia (Dan Tri 2019; Quang 2019).

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 99 All of this paints a sad picture, where substandard or fake academic records are used to seek promotion, and this even includes candidates seeking the big award of a professor appointment. What makes this depressingly sad is that such acts set in motion a cycle where a professor who “invested” to illegally obtain his position, will naturally be looking for ways and means to recoup this investment as soon as possible, counting on a surplus. Hence he or she needs to set up a more or less predictable stream of informal earnings. This is another classic case of “perverse incentives”. As noted these are notoriously hard to stop or to reverse, “forcing” some professors to receive envelopes and students to buy into such informality as opportunities exist and “all students do it”, otherwise their parents.

Selling degrees Even while it is impossible to assess the size, scope and precise nature of all higher education informality, it almost appears as if too many things are for sale. So if all of the above certainly already sounds rather bad or even unbelievable, Nguyen et al. (2017: 138) mention other grave aberrations: Corruption in education occurs at different scales (…). Examples include bribes paid to teachers by parents for lowering passing criteria, selling exam information or selling degrees, and so on. A hotly discussed and much publicised example of selling degrees was discovered in Dong Do University, a private, low rated university in Hanoi with a poor reputation. Many PhD candidates, government officials, researchers and lecturers were found to have purchased fake diplomas from Dong Do University. State media reported: According to the police, the buyers of Dong Do University degrees took 25 exams and took finals within 1–2 days. They were given exam questions and answers to copy onto the exam papers, and then got bachelor’s degrees just 3–6 months after submitting documents. The fee via ‘brokers’ was VND 50–150 million (approx. US$2,500–7,500). The requirements on civil servants and principles on job promotions have created a new kind of criminal – producing and trading counterfeit degrees. With the technology of making counterfeit degrees, tens of thousands of individuals can obtain an intermediate school degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate without having to study and take exams, and are appointed to important positions without real knowledge. (VietNamNet 2019b) Dong Do University is among a few universities in Vietnam where corruption, under-quality teaching, and fake diplomas have been and continue to be reported. Private universities which are unable to enrol quality students – who

100  J de Wit much prefer to study in well-reputed public universities or to study aboard – choose to offer diploma programmes and target potential students from state agencies and those who are low-achieving yet wealthy. To boost profits, these universities reduce coursework and class hours. In many cases, such as in Dong Do University and Dien Luc University, students attend only few classes where they are coached to complete the tests and pay a large amount to pass the final exams (Tuoi Tre News 2019; VietNamNet 2019b; VNExpress 2021).

The issue of culture and “gift giving” The informal and corrupt practices and mechanisms listed generally for Vietnam – and the paramount importance of relations which allow for all such deals appear to apply to all levels of education. Interestingly, there is a debate about informality in education in relation to culture, notably in terms of strong traditions and legacies of Confucianism. The above-mentioned factor of reciprocity and gift-giving can be considered part of a “culture”, where Gregory (2016: 232) feels that the traditional practice of gift-giving “can readily become a form of bribery (…) it is today more of a means used by teachers for self-enrichment”. The matter of “culture” is addressed by Quang Truong (2015: 4–5): The most illustrating example related to the development of network-based system is that while guanxi (in Chinese) or quan he (in Vietnamese) could work out positively, especially in harnessing long-term mutual benefits, cultivate trusts and personal relationships (…), it can evolve and develop into widespread corruption as a result of nepotism, favouritism and cronyism in the absence of an effective legal system, good governance and social control norms as in Vietnam today. In other words, sharing the background (Confucianism and socialism) with its neighbour, the practice of quan he in Vietnam has developed in support of an incompetent and corrupt bureaucracy in the form of a widespread ‘ban phat an hue’ or, ‘co che xin/cho’ (distributing favours) (…), and ‘culture of envelops’ (van hoa phong bi), which has put heavy strain on the development endeavour of the country. McCornac (2012) also links educational corruption to the matter of culture. He argues that student-teacher relations are vertical in nature, i.e. that teachers have superior powers over students. He feels that the religious legacy of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism impacts through “filial piety”: “the student-teacher retains much of the quality of a son’s respect for his fathers’ wisdom and father’s concern for his son’s welfare” (ibid.: 266). Others emphasise that the current market economy has changed the positive nature of this “culture”. The inspiring teachings and traditional practices of Vietnam’s scholarship are seen to be undermined by money matters, and the remaining hierarchies of life allow for the more powerful university staff and officials to enforce their demands (McCornac and Cullen 2015: 36). So if Confucian ethics and

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 101 institutions/rules no longer seem relevant, this also applies to its former emphasis on patriarchy or perhaps a masculinity bias: There is one noteworthy fact: in 2018, for the first time in the history of social sciences and humanities, the number of new female authors surpassed their male counterparts, 148 (F) versus 132 (M), (…) this reality has caused many to raise their eyebrows because Vietnam has long been a typical Confucius society where academic achievements were considered men’s role, leaving women’s key role to be in charge of housework. Female academics appear to have been more receptive to changes and moved more swiftly under the new pressure. This raises the question, which is clearly beyond the scope of this chapter – but an interesting future research topic – whether women and men are equally inclined to “go informal” if they cannot get the academic exam results, promotions or even entire degrees. But, whatever the possible relation between “culture” and the troubles of Vietnam’s HE system, it is certain that it adds a lot of extra worries and works for many actors in the system, not least for the bribe givers, i.e. students and their parents: My father used to say that the only good thing a student can do is study” Nguyen Thi Hao said. This view is pushing many students to study day and night to meet their parents’ expectations. For students, particularly in big cities, life revolves around studying, as their parents are willing to pay for extra classes and tutors on top of tuition fees to improve their children’s academic performance to give them more chance of being selected for a good university. (Dat Nguyen 2018)

Short- and long-term impacts of education informality In an article on the Vietnamese special economic zones, Quang (2018) considers the implications of education corruption. He argues that tens of thousands of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) degree holders graduate every year only to face very limited job opportunities. Blue-collar jobs dominate in most of the country’s economic zones, where foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into Vietnam have mainly been spurred by low-cost labour and large incentives. Such macro-economic FDI strategies give way to the worrying realisation that the best education can lead to worse job prospects as unemployment among university graduates appears to be among the highest in the country. Many educational scandals listed here and in the media are directly related to such dynamics. It appears that too many cheaters were and are greedy to raise their scores as high as possible in order to win a seat at one of the few universities with the best employment rates, notably the People’s Security Academy and People’s Police Academy. So if one considers the far too many cases of educational malfeasance listed in this chapter, there is no escape to conclude that there is a mismatch between a type of education ending up producing a higher skilled labour

102  J de Wit force – with few job chances – and the current economic growth pattern, which is creating a wealth of low-end jobs. Other negative outcomes are that independent and “evidence-based” research is and may remain relatively underdeveloped in Vietnam, including research in the actual, “everyday” realities of (poor) citizens who may be bribing on a daily basis, and who may be dependent on brokers and powerful persons to get access to services and offices. Tromme (2016a: 299) argues that “universities lack younger research personnel, a strong research culture or management knowledge”. In addition, “corruption in Vietnam is more damaging in the long run because it may harm the mentality of future generations, causing them to be more willing to engage in corrupt behaviours and work as corrupt bureaucrats” (Hoa 2020: 83). Last but not least, corruption undermines capacity all over the administration, including universities: this “leads to a brain drain that is currently capturing the public sector in Vietnam, when there is most certainly no investment whatsoever on the good and truly competent” (Yen Duong 2015: 26). More generally, the incidence of informal practices and corruption in education is a threat to, or already undermining, the quality of teaching and learning, and thus the productivity and competency of graduates.

The Vietnamese Whole-of-government Approach to Dealing with Corruption As noted already, it is not that the Vietnamese government is unaware of the everyday realities of informality and corruption in the country, making it quite clear its intolerance of such malfeasance – and noting its adverse consequences. In fact it is a reason for some optimism that the Government does recognise the negative impacts in relation to people’s confidence in the State’s management (Tromme 2016a: 288). So in response to the worrying situation of corruption and academic dishonesty, CPV and Vietnamese government have launched a number of anti-corruption policies, creating a whole-of-state and whole-of-society approach to combating corruption. In 2013, the CPV established the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption to designate mechanisms, policies, laws and solutions on anti-corruption. The Central Steering Committee also directs and monitors the progress of relevant agencies in dealing with serious corruption cases, including the aforementioned crisis at Dong Do University. In 2018, the National Assembly adopted a revised Law on Anti-corruption to reinforce its comprehensive anti-corruption legal framework. Some new and noticeable points of the law include the requirement of detailed property and income declarations for all officials and public employees in the entire public sector and state-owned enterprises, “written property and income declarations must be publicised”, and “heads of agencies must bear responsibility for the occurrence of corrupt acts in their respective agencies” (International University 2018). As regards the education sector, MOET has recently identified the areas and procedures where corruption has proven to be most likely. These include exams and admissions, teacher recruitment, school establishment and degree

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 103 programme registration, shadow education and the diversion of funds, to mention the main ones (Ben Tre DOET 2010; Tuoi Tre News 2010). To increase academic honesty and integrity, MOET has designed and now implements new policies and decreed actions at different levels. An example could be the HE Autonomy Policy and the 2019 Law on Higher Education. These empower HE institutions to select admission methods best suited to their needs. This already appears to reduce corruption risks in high school graduation exams as well as in the field of university admission. As universities are now increasingly autonomous, it is anticipated that mechanisms relating to the political manipulation by powerful persons or school donors of school/university affairs will be reduced. Today, more stakeholders, including non-state actors such as students, development partners, and donors, have additional options for participation and hence more voices in university councils, with assumed pressure that accountability standards are met. This raises the hope for a change in organisational cultures in HE institutions, where attention for quality and transparency increases – along with a decline in the current possibilities to get in and through universities simply by invoking one’s informal connections and paying up. It appears that there is a trend where public tier-one universities have adopted Western admission systems to enrol students with lesser emphasis on exam scores (see also Chapter 4). This helps to enhance fair and transparent competition among candidates as they apply for good universities. The admission scandal in the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences in Hanoi and the low quality of the post-graduate education sector has forced MOET to renovate its regulation for PhD enrolment and training. In particular, the latest regulations, Circulars No. 23/2021/TT-BGDĐT and No. 18/2021/ TT-BGDĐT that took effect in August 2021 were designed in accordance with the aforementioned 2019 Law on Higher Education. Both aim at increasing academic integrity and clarity in relation to the responsibilities of HE institutions leading from their core tasks to enrol and train graduate students. One of the key features of these two legal documents that stands out if compared to earlier ones is the standardisation of measuring master and doctoral level student academic performance. In addition, the new Circulars aim to guarantee the quality and integrity of admissions and teaching through strict requirements of English proficiency, the open publication of teaching curricula as well as of completed dissertations with a view to enhancing academic transparency. It stipulates conditions as regards academic publications in internationally recognised publishers, such as ISI/Scopus-indexed journals. For anyone seeking the highest position of professor, higher English proficiency and international academic publications are now made compulsory (as prescribed by Decision No. 37/2018/QĐ-TTg signed by the Prime Minister). The positive impacts of these new policies, and whether they will reduce or, even better, eliminate the corruption in education systems, remain to be seen. What is clear for now is that they appear to reaffirm the enduring efforts and strong commitment of the CPV and government with respect to combating corruption and other urgent problems in education.

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Concluding Remarks This chapter considered the governance and policy side of Vietnam’s education system and evolving dynamics. It brought out considerable problems where the HE sector is concerned, notably informality as highlighted by too many problems and even scandals. Given the inherent complexity and secrecy surrounding the matter, and a general paucity of qualitative data – partially a result of Covid-19-related constraints – this chapter has mostly offered a preliminary, exploratory assessment. Key manifestations and mechanisms were investigated and placed into context. Most evidence was collected by tapping both resources and data available in academic journals and Vietnamese newspapers to which cases and insights from a limited number of respondents were added. If one considers the expected secrecy around corruption, it is important to note that the extent of information and listed cases on such sensitive matters did still allow an investigation as to its size, nature, and impacts in some detail. One key argument of this text is that educational corruption cannot be separated from the overall state of administration and the nature of governance and its multiple actors in the Vietnamese State. Another is that it suggests to look beyond the “catch all” concept of corruption, reason why matters were analysed through the lens of “informality”. Beyond incidental corrupt actions, this refers to all administrative practices which contrast with, go beyond, undermine, and manipulate the formal written up, legal, procedural rules. Hence, diverse dynamics of bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, patronage relations/clientelism, fraud, extortion, and administrative, political, economic and financial corruption were all considered where possible. By way of providing a preliminary overview, this text tried to compile a repertoire of the several irregularities in and around institutes for HE. In fact, malfeasance already starts where students and parents connive with university authorities to manipulate exam/GPA grades so that non-eligible students are allowed to enter. It was also found that conditions inside tertiary institutions are tainted. Two key mechanisms were shown to allow that academic performance and quality could be undermined: paying bribes in what is seen as an “envelopes” culture, and/or invoking “connections”. Academic promotions, carrying out research and writing publications in journals, all the way up to even the selling of degrees – all this seems possible in a parallel informal system. This exists side by side to a functioning formal system, where rules are applied more, which are enforced regardless of money or outside influence or pressure. Even while this chapter targeted the more murky “twilight” features of academia, it needs emphasising that this is only part of realities of Vietnam. Plenty well-functioning universities across the country are operating satisfactorily, accountability and transparency mechanisms here were and are able to arrest a sliding down to unwanted depths of collusion and corruption. But where informality in Vietnam goes, most authors agree that its manifestations in terms of petty corruption and in entertaining useful patronage relations might have cultural origins, and pre-dated the state reorganisation,

Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 105 known as the 1985 Doi Moi. Such reforms have been labelled as “neo-liberal” reforms – including the acceptance of “capitalist” profit making, the opening of the state to foreign investment, the promotion of industry and a free hand for state-owned enterprises, and what can be termed “multi-actor governance” (McCornac and Cullen 2015: 33; Tromme 2016a:290; London 2019). For example, what used to be purely state operated services in the field of health, education, but also infrastructure, can now be delegated or outsourced to private, for-profit firms. It is generally held that these very fundamental and far-reaching changes led to processes of marketisation, commercialisation and, not least, rapidly increasing evidence of informality both in general and in tertiary education. It is argued then that such policy changes opened up, on the one hand, the scope for Vietnam to grow very fast economically, but, at the same time, the opportunities for informal earnings through corrupt practice. And, unfortunately but also unsurprisingly, the education sector was and is no exception here. By now informality in HE has been become “institutionalised” in a number of universities. In other words, there is one formal realm, where the government, MOET and provincial education authorities all have (written down) rules, implementation staff and procedures, even oversight bodies. Yet, this chapter shows that, separately but closely interwoven, there is another informal administrative reality where it appears as if actors in HE chose the latter informal strategies to achieve or facilitate marks, admissions, degrees, research articles, and academic and career promotions. Little by little such arrangements have crept into the system, governed or stimulated by “perverse incentives”, e.g. where informal payments to obtain promotion have to be recovered, with the expectation of a little more for the effort and risk (McCornac and Cullen 2015: 34). Vietnam must certainly be complimented to have opened up HE for thousands of students from all over the country over the past 20-odd years – a great achievement indeed. Yet, such growth in numbers has not yet been accompanied with better quality education. There is reason to end this chapter on a positive note, even apart from the conclusion that not the entire HE sector is tainted. Even while this chapter’s research methods did not adequately allow for making distinctions between different types of universities, different regions or differences across urban and rural areas, it appears as if (relatively) solid and clean universities are still operating well. Fortunately, they point the way in which change will be possible. Lessons can be learnt about the fundamental basics of such good practices, especially how effective practical arrangements of accountability, transparency and personal and ethical responsibility can be strengthened or introduced. Ultimately it is about creating university level conditions where formal mechanisms push away the harmful informal ones. In addition, it is not that the Vietnamese government is not aware of all this: indeed, it has adopted reforms, sharpened the rules, and may be stricter in implementing and enforcing rules. Whether or not these will bear fruit in the long term – or again give rise to new informal dynamics in reaction – is too early to say.

106  J de Wit

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Exploring Informality in Vietnamese HE 107 Nguyen, T.V., Bach, T.N., Le, T.Q. and Le, C.Q. 2017. “Local Governance, Corruption, and Public Service Quality: Evidence from a National Survey in Vietnam.” International Journal of Public Sector Management, 30(2): 137–153. Quang, N.M. 2018. “SEZs in Vietnam: What’s in a name?” The Diplomat, September 14, 2018. Quang, N.M. 2019. “Geographies of Education for Sustainability (EfS): Shaping the EfS in Vietnam’s Approach to Education.” In Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability, edited by Chew-Hung Chang, Gillian Kidman, Andy Wi, 129–142. Singapore: Routledge. Quang Truong. 2015. “The network based economy in Vietnam.” Maastricht: Maastricht School of Management, Working Paper 2015/2. Thanh Nien. 2020. “Thành tích ảo trong nghiên cứu khoa học: Chất lượng bài báo quốc tế đến đâu?” August 26, 2020. https://thanhnien.vn/thanh-tich-ao-trong-nghiencuu-khoa-hoc-chat-luong-bai-bao-quoc-te-den-dau-post988084.html Tien Phong. 2019. “Gian lận thi ở Hà Giang, Hòa Bình, Sơn La: Sao không cán bộ nào từ chức?” October 07, 2019. https://tienphong.vn/gian-lan-thi-o-ha-giang-hoa-binhson-la-sao-khong-can-bo-nao-tu-chuc-post1141763.tpo Tien Phong. 2021. “Trên 80% tạp chí khoa học của Việt Nam chưa phù hợp thông lệ quốc tế.” May 22, 2021. https://tienphong.vn/tren-80-tap-chi-khoa-hoc-cua-vietnam-chua-phu-hop-thong-le-quoc-te-post1338911.tpo Tromme, M. 2016a. “Corruption and Corruption Research in Vietnam – an Overview.” Crime Law and Social Change, 65: 287–306. Tromme, M. 2016b. “What Next for Anti-Corruption Research in Vietnam?” Crime Law and Social Change, 65: 445–458. Tuoi Tre News. 2007. “Thầy Khoa “chống tiêu cực” đạt 0% tín nhiệm nơi công tác.” https://tuoitre.vn/thay-khoa-chong-tieu-cuc-dat-0-tin-nhiem-noi-cong-tac-195975. htm Tuoi Tre News. 2010. “Tham nhũng trong giáo dục khá phức tạp.” May 29, 2010. https:// tuoitre.vn/nhan-dien-tham-nhung-trong-giao-duc-381121.htm Tuoi Tre News. 2019. “Ôn, thi chứng chỉ B1 như ‘làm xiếc’” November 07, 2019. https:// tuoitre.vn/on-thi-chung-chi-b1-nhu-lam-xiec-201911070829573.htm VNExpress. 2019a. “Senior education officials jailed for power abuse in high school exam fraud.” October 25, 2019. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/senior-educationofficials-jailed-for-power-abuse-in-high-school-exam-fraud-4002222.html VNExpress. 2019b. “Dozens of students expelled, drop out as 2018 exam scandal fallout.” April 20, 2019. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/dozens-of-students-expelleddrop-out-as-2018-exam-scandal-fallout-3912072.html VNExpress. 2021. “Hàng loạt sai phạm ở Đại học Điện lực.” April 13, 2021. https:// vnexpress.net/hang-loat-sai-pham-o-dai-hoc-dien-luc-4262064.html VietNamNet. 2019a. “Nâng điểm như con bí thư Triệu Tài Vinh: 3 câu hỏi cần trả lời.” April 13, 2019. https://vietnamnet.vn/vn/giao-duc/tuyen-sinh/gian-lan-thi-thptquoc-gia-truong-hop-nhu-con-bi-thu-trieu-tai-vinh-can-3-cau-tra-loi-521790.html VietNamNet. 2019b. “How did Dong Do University sell bachelor’s degrees?” August 21, 2019. https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/how-did-dong-do-university-sell-bachelors-degrees-558677.html Vuong, Q.H., La, V.P., Vuong, T.T. et al. 2018. “An Open Database of Productivity in Vietnam’s Social Sciences and Humanities for Public Use.” Scientific Data, 5, 180188. Yen Duong. 2015. “Corruption in Vietnam: Causes and Culprits.” Cultural Relations Quarterly Review, 2(2): 20–29.

7

Human Rights Approach to Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam A Policy Review Ngo Thi Hang Nga, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai, Tran Thi Ly

Introduction Education is a key dimension of human rights and an underlying tool to foster other rights. Today, the international community and nation states recognise that everyone is entitled to the right to education, irrespective of their race, gender, nationality, ethnic or social origin, religion or political preference, age, disability, and social status. Although much effort has been made by the international community and nation states via international instruments and political commitments, there are still many challenges to realising the right to education for all, in particular for vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities. Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country with 53 recognised ethnic minority groups (EMG). These groups comprise an estimated around 15% of the country’s population in ethnically mixed communities in 51 provinces and cities (CEMA and GSO 2020). Since Đổi Mới (1986), the Government of Vietnam has regarded education as a national priority and has taken major measures to promote, protect, and fulfil the right to education for ethnic minorities. Despite government commitment, significant progress has not been uniformly made. There remain many challenges that prevent ethnic minority students in Vietnam to fully enjoy their right to education. Enrolment, literacy, and school dropout rates, in addition to issues related to the quality of education, violations, and abuses of children’s rights, in and outside school, remain important concerns. There are significant gaps and disparities in their access to education, compared to that of the leading ethnic Vietnamese group. For example, the rate of school enrolment, at high school level in particular, at the required age, remains very low among ethnic minority groups with only 47% of children going to high schools (compared to 72.3% nationally). Among some small ethnic groups, such as Muong, Tho, Tay, San, Diu, Ngai, O Du, Hoa, and San Chay, the literacy rate is around 90% (GSO 2020). For some ethnic groups including Tho, Muong, Tay, San Diu, Ngai, Hoa, O Du, less than 55% of the population are unable to read and write in Vietnamese (CEMA 2019). Relative poverty prevents ethnic minority children from attending school; the poverty rate of the ethnic minorities is DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-7

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 109 35.5%, 3.5 times higher than the Vietnamese (GSO 2020). Language and cultural differences and typically the lack of a rights-based approach in the adoption and implementation of laws and policies on education for ethnic minorities are additional barriers to schooling. This chapter argues that although Vietnam has adopted many laws and policies on education for ethnic minority groups, there are some concerns and problems that need to be addressed to guarantee ethnic minority students’ access to quality and equal education. There remain disparities between existing policies on education for ethnic minorities and international standards on the right to education. The chapter is organised into four main sections. The first section, Vietnam’s Commitment to Ethnic Right to Education, presents the legal commitments and obligations of Vietnam as a ratifying state of many human rights treaties that recognise the right to education. The next section introduces an analytical framework on the right to education and addresses some key issues that are relevant to ethnic minority groups. The third section analyses the current law and policies on the right to education for ethnic minorities. The analysis addresses whether Vietnamese laws and policies on education ensure that education is available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable for EMG. The final section proposes some recommendations for future policy reforms.

Vietnam’s Commitment to Ethnic Right to Education Universally, the right to education has been recorded as basic under many treaties and is legally binding for all ratifying states. The international human rights framework has provided essential standards on the right to education as part of the general protection of the rights of ethnic minority groups. States’ obligations to implement this fundamental right are stated as a key provision in Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Under the Article 13, the right to education is considered as a tool for “the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms” (ICESCR 1966). The right to education aims “to enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance, and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups” (ibid). Vietnam has both legal obligations and political commitments to ensure the right to education. In terms of a legal obligation, Vietnam has ratified or acceded to seven out of nine core United Nations (UN) Human Rights instruments. In accordance to these UN instruments, Vietnam is obligated to progressively realise the right to education and the rights of ethnic minorities as specifically secured under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (1965), and United Nations Human Rights Council, Office of the High Commissioner.

110  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly Secondly, Vietnam has made political commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for global sustainable development in the 2030 Agenda by adopting the national action plan that consists of 17 Goals and 115 specific targets (Government of Vietnam 2017). SDG Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, eliminate gender disparities in education, and enhance equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including indigenous people (Target 4.5). The Vietnamese government is accountable under these international human rights instruments, inclusive of the right to education for ethnic minorities. Under the current United Nations human rights mechanisms, Vietnam has been provided with several recommendations to take legislative and policy measures to improve the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability (4A framework) of the right to education for EMG. Specifically, under the third circle of the universal periodic review, Vietnam has received three recommendations on the improvement of the rights to education for EMG. The first recommendation focuses on the reduction of illiteracy and dropout rates among ethnic minority girls. The second recommendation targets increasing EMG’s access to secondary and tertiary education. Finally, Vietnam has been encouraged to implement measures to protect the rights of ethnic minorities to use their spoken and written languages (Human Rights Council 2019). The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the monitoring body of ICESCR, has applied the 4A framework to measure how nation states have fulfilled their obligation to the right to education (CESCR 2014). In its concluding observations on the second to fourth periodic reports of Vietnam, CESCR expressed its concern about limited access to and quality of education in remote and mountainous areas and islands where ethnic minorities live, despite Vietnam’s recent notable achievements in education (CESCR 2014). The Committee recommended that Vietnam develop a comprehensive framework and allocate sufficient resources for the provision of quality education for ethnic minority children and children living in remote areas. In brief, implementing the normative framework to the right to education for EMG is a legal obligation of Vietnam.

“4A” Framework as a Conceptual Tool in Analysing the Right to Education for Ethnic Minorities The right to education is legally guaranteed without discrimination under both international and national laws. While states have an obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil rights to education, they do not have similar capacities and resources to realise their obligations and commitments due to different political, economic, and social priorities. To assess how states have realised the right to education, Katarina Tomaševski, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education and founder of the Right to Education Initiative, suggests a 4A framework for analysing the right to education (Tomaševski 2001). This

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 111 framework was later introduced by CESCR, in General Comment 13, on the right to education. It consists of four dimensions: availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability (UNESCO 2019).

Acceptability Acceptability means the state should provide a  quality education  for all. Education should be culturally appropriate and of good quality (UNESCO 2019). Specifically, this study examined how and to what extent policies on quality education such as curriculum and teaching are relevant to the culture and practice of ethnic minorities. Also, the language of instruction, teachers, and learning process were examined in reviewing laws and policies on education.

Accessibility Making education accessible refers to the states’ responsibilities to make education accessible to all groups of students. In other words, states should provide policies and other measures to ensure that everyone regardless of their race, gender, nationality, ethnic or social origin, religion or political preference, age, disability, and other social status is provided with opportunities to go to school. More specifically, state policies should address equality and ensure elimination of direct and indirect discrimination at all levels of and types of education for EMG. Secondly, policies should address economic barriers to make education accessible for EMG. This study explores whether the current law and policies are able to provide a free education for all ethnic students. Other support resources and measurements such as scholarships, food, accommodation, and travel stipends are examined. In addition, physical and administrative conditions are analysed to understand how local conditions impact ethnic education accessibility.

Availability Making education available means states should develop and adopt policies to make sure schools have sufficient facilities and are available in all locations, including rural and remote areas. Education policies should also create an enabling environment for all types and forms of education (UNESCO 2019). Private and public school systems are offered to EMG. In addition, school facilities including a safe classroom, a library, a playground, and other teaching and learning equipment, and enough qualified teachers are provided to ensure the availability of education for EMG.

Adaptability Making education adaptable means “education has to be flexible so it can adapt to the needs of changing societies and communities and respond to the needs of students within their diverse social and cultural settings” (CESCR 1999).

112  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly Policies should address the adaptability of education for ethnic minorities in emergency situations and respond to local culture and practice as well as to future challenges.

Methods In this study, document analysis was adopted to interpret and analyse 64 legal documents including laws, degrees, decisions, circulars, and other documents on education for EMG in Vietnam from 1999–2021. Data collection and document analysis process was undertaken by following methodology suggested by Glenn Bowen (2009). Policies were primarily collected from openaccess sources, education agencies, and the list of education policies that the Government of Vietnam has submitted to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2021. The selected policy documents were categorised and coded for the content analysis procedure following methods developed by Elo and Kyngäs (2008). Content analysis was used to analyse the selected documents through the lenses of 4A Framework. In particular, we employed the 4A Framework as an analytical tool to explore the right to education in terms of accessibility, acceptability, adaptability, and availability.

Results: The Vietnamese Policies for Ethnic Minority Education from a “4A” Perspective Findings from our document analysis reveal that the right to education for ethnic minority groups is well defined and mainstreamed in the current policies. Article 3 in the 2013 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam indicates that developing education in mountainous and insular areas which are predominantly inhabited by ethnic minority peoples is given priority. This is further stated in the Communist Party Resolution (No.29-NQ/TW dated on November 2, 2013) which clearly shows the important role of prioritising educational development for ethnic minority groups. Vietnam Education Law also asserts that education for these groups is placed in priority. Further, the Vietnamese Higher Education Law adopted in 2012 requires all higher education institutions to strictly follow and implement priority policies for ethnic minority students. The regulations in these legal documents show that the right to education for ethnic minority groups have been recognised and validated by law. In addition, there are many other decrees, decisions, and circulars that stipulate policies for EMG education in Vietnam. The analysis of 64 documents on laws and policies indicates that the right to EMG education has been generally recognised regarding availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability (4A). However, some significant aspects in these 4A such as geographical isolation, language and culture differences are inadequately considered in designing and implementing policies. Unequal allocation of resources cannot be assessed through document analysis.

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 113

Accessibility in ethnic education Twenty out of sixty-four analysed policy documents emphasise financial support as to key to increase and facilitate ethnic minority student’s access to education. Financial support schemes include the provision of free education, tuition fee exemption, scholarship, and education loans. Under the 1991 Education Law, primary education is compulsory and free to all Vietnamese students. However, free education at all levels from primary to higher education is only provided to ethnic minority students in the following groups: those from poor households, those enrolled in boarding schools and foundation programmes, the nomination programmes, or cử tuyển (a programme which supports students of EMG to access tertiary education without taking the university entrance exam), and those from less populous ethnic groups (under 10,000 people) in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. In Vietnam, the university entrance exam was terminated and many universities are now using high school graduation exam results (Tốt nghiệp Trung học phổ thông) to recruit students. Some top-tier universities organise specialised tests and exams to select candidates (see chapter 4). Under the current law, all ethnic minority candidates are given priority in university admission through “extra grades” (điểm ưu tiên) up to 20% depending on how economically and geographically difficult they are. In addition, fee exemption is another way to help ethnic minority students to overcome financial constraints in their student life. All ethnic students receive monthly allowance until their graduation (Decree No.86/2015/NĐ-CP dated on October 2, 2015). Scholarships and student loans are available and the amount of the scholarship is adjusted under changes in the basic average wage stipulated by Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). According to Decision No. 82/2006/QĐ-TTg adopted in April 2006 and Decree No. 57/2017/NĐ-CP issued in 2017, monthly allowances for EMG students vary, depending on their level of education. For students enrolled in boarding schools or foundation programmes, monthly allowance is 280,000 VND (approx. US$13). Monthly financial aid for primary and secondary ethnic students who are from ethnic groups with a population less than 10,000 people in socio-economically disadvantaged areas at public schools is 40% of the national monthly minimum wage (around 400,000 VND, or approx. US$16) as suggested by MOLISA. Ethnic students at higher education levels, such as those studying at boarding high schools or pursuing pre-university programmes, are received a monthly fellowship amount of 1,150,000 VND (approx. US$50). Another policy, Decree No. 116/2016/NĐ-CP in 2016, legitimates non-monetary support to ethnic students in less-developed regions by providing monthly food supply of 15 kilos to each student. Travel stipend, learning materials, electricity and water bills, and healthcare insurance are also offered to ethnic students enrolling in boarding schools and pre-university programmes (Circular No. 109/2009/TTLT/BTC-BGDĐT in 2009). These policies show that the socio-economic status, ethnic membership, and geographic circumstances are important factors determining whether an

114  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly ethnic student is eligible for financial support. Moreover, as these policies are primarily applicable to public schools, the number of EMG students attending private schools is very limited. For instance, in school year 2019–2020 there were only 5,009 students in private primary schools who were from ethnic minority groups (MOET 2020). Thanks to these supportive policies from the Vietnamese government, many ethnic students are now able to pursue their education and the dropout rate has gradually decreased. In 2017, 95% of ethnic minority students graduated their primary school, and 98.4% of the ethnic minority boarding high school students completed high school programmes (Le 2018). However, other aspects of accessibility such as physical accessibility, gender equality, and elimination of discrimination are under-presented in these policies. As most of ethnic minorities inhabit mountainous and remote regions, the average distance that an ethnic minority student travels to school is 17.6 kilometres (Phuc Nguyen 2021). In some villages, ethnic communities are displaced and move to areas farther away from schools due to the booming of mining projects (Truong 2011: 19). While transportation systems in mountainous areas are completely underdeveloped, these relocation programmes add another challenge to ethnic students’ road to schools (ibid: 20). Distance and online learning for EMG are not stipulated in the policy documents either, while these types of learning are crucial in contemporary society and in the current COVID-19 health crisis. The Vietnamese Law on Education in 2019 regulates that education is equal among males and females. However, gender equity in education has been recognised in government decisions since the early 2010s, including Decision No. 692/QĐ-TTg and Decision No. 89/QĐ-TTg in 2013, and Decision No 4996/ QĐ-BGDĐT in 2016. These provide guidelines on education for girls. While general guidelines on education for girls are provided in the first two documents, the latter specifically highlights the critical need to focus on “education for girls of EMG and vulnerable, particularly to those who are in the transition from primary to secondary education and from secondary to vocational or tertiary education”. These documents point out the aims of reducing the gender gap in education to bring it to all regardless of gender. However, in practice, ethnic girls’ education is still limited in terms of access, particularly at high school and tertiary levels. It is estimated that 42% to 75% of ethnic girls did not complete primary schools and only 32% attended high school (Vietnam’s Farmer Union 2019). Importantly, EMG cultural barriers to gender equity are not acknowledged in the analysed legal documents. Only the issue of school-age is regulated in the latest education law. This regulation allows EMG students to attend school at a younger or older age than the required school age. This regulation creates opportunities and encourages many ethnic minority students at all age to go back to school or enrol in any education programme to eliminate illiteracy. However, critical issues such as child marriage and child labour among EMG are not addressed in education policies (Truong 2011; UNICEF 2015). For example, Truong (2011) reported that due to the shortage of labour, some ethnic

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 115 minority students had to drop out of schools to support their parents with housework or farming. While there is a potential of being disproportionately excluded from education for those marginalised groups, there are no regulations to support them to access education. In conclusion, legal documents have recognised and provided guidelines on the right to EMG education, mainly in relation to economic accessibility, while equality, elimination of discrimination, and physical accessibility have not been adequately addressed. Our analysis suggests that policies designed for EMG need a greater focus on EMG cultures and geographical conditions as these issues, along with economic constraints, are drivers of EMG low schooling rate.

Acceptability in ethnic education Quality education for EMG is stipulated in multiple policies with a specific focus on the language of instruction, pedagogy, and teachers. The use of Vietnamese and EMG languages is specified in a wide range of analysed documents. The Article 5 in the 2013 Constitution of Vietnam states that: “the national language is Vietnamese. Every ethnic group has the right to use its own language and system of writing, to preserve its national identity, to promote its fine customs, habits, traditions and culture”. The 2019 Vietnamese Education Law also stipulates that Vietnamese is the only mandatory language of instruction at all education levels, while it is important to “encourage and enable ethnic minority people to learn their spoken and written languages as prescribed in Governmental regulations”. The Universal Primary Education Law dated on June 30, 1991, regulated that: “Primary education is implemented in Vietnamese. Ethnic minorities have the right to use their own spoken and written languages together with the Vietnamese language of their nation to implement primary education.” In the same vein, under the Vietnamese Higher Education Law, Vietnamese is used as the medium of instruction in tertiary education. Under these regulations, although the use of EMG languages is encouraged and promoted, Vietnamese language is given precedence. In response to the promotion of EMG languages and the requirement to use Vietnamese as the only language of instruction at schools, many policies provide guidelines for interpretation in practice. Firstly, the 2019 Vietnamese Law on Education stipulates that EMG students should be equipped to use Vietnamese prior to starting primary school, which is reiterated in the regulations set by Prime Minister (Article 28). Decision No. 1008/QĐ-TTg, dated on June 2, 2016, set a clear goal of teaching and supporting EMG kindergarten and primary students to be fluent in Vietnamese. This document clearly defines stakeholders’ roles, including parents, teachers, and community in creating a Vietnamese language environment for these students. Regarding the promotion of the use of ethnic minority languages at school, Decree 05/2011/NĐ-CP, dated on January 14, 2011, asserts that languages of all ethnic groups are included in the teaching curriculum at all education levels within the consideration of local contexts. Particularly, Decree No. 82/2010/NĐ-CP in 2010 on the teaching and

116  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly learning of both spoken and written ethnic minority languages in formal and non-formal education provides guidelines on designing programmes and compiling learning resources, including textbooks. In addition, policies for teacher training in ethnic minority languages provide advantages. According to Article 13, Decree No 61/2006/NĐ-CP, dated on June 20, 2006, teachers of spoken and written ethnic minority languages will receive an additional 50% increase in their current salary. Decree No. 19/2013/TT-BGDĐT, dated on June 3, 2013, MOET, provides guidelines on training on the languages of Jrai, Khmer, and Mong. As a result, since 2011, six ethnic minority languages including Mông, Ê đê, Jrai, Bahnar, Chăm, Khmer, have been taught to 174,562 students at 756 schools in 22 provinces/cities, which significantly contributed to lowering drop-out rates and enhancing academic achievement (MOET 2020). One of the main constraints of implementing these policies is the lack of teachers of ethnic minority languages (Bui 2016). Most of teachers specialising in ethnic minority languages are not qualified as they are trained after employed to teach ethnic students (Bui 2016). This is understandable as there is only one university in Vietnam, Tra Vinh University, that provides a bachelor’s degree in ethnic Khmer language teacher education (Cat Tuong 2021). Ethnic minority languages are mainly taught at schools as an add-on subject although they are encouraged in the education system. On the one hand, providing EMG students with the opportunities to use both Vietnamese and their mother language enables them to “enjoy the benefits of mainstream education, and access to work, as well as maintain their linguistic heritage” (UNESCO 2019: 18). On the other hand, when their mother language is not a medium of instruction, students may face more difficulties in learning and communicating with teachers, most of whom are Vietnamese, and as a result their performance may be negatively influenced (UNESCO 2019). Seen in this light, the use of Vietnamese as a medium of instruction in ethnic schools creates a barrier for EMG to pursue education. Some regions where ethnic minorities are scattered, such as the Mekong Delta, have witnessed a rising number of young people unable to write their mother language due to the dominant use of Vietnamese. Unfortunately, their Vietnamese proficiency is at intermediate level while writing and reading skills are quite modest. We suggest that a combination of Vietnamese and ethnic minority languages in ethnic boarding schools should be considered to facilitate student’s mastering academic knowledge and skills, and effectively mainstreaming their language and culture. In terms of teaching methodology, although employing culturally relevant pedagogy to teach EMG students is critical to their learning experiences and outcomes, this is addressed in only two of the 64 analysed documents. Circular 01/2016/TT-BGDĐT dated on January 15, 2016 encourages teachers to actively immerse into ethnic cultures and languages, and study local customs, social and economic conditions, and learning needs of students so that they can choose appropriate teaching and assessment methods (Article 15). In addition, Circular No. 24/2010/TT-BGDĐT in 2010 requires teachers to adopt assessment methods that are appropriate to students’ circumstances. While the

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 117 regulations embedded in these documents indicate that using culturally relevant pedagogy to teach students of EMG is necessary,  there are few guidelines on teachers’ training and professional learning opportunities to enhance teacher capacity to develop and employ culturally relevant pedagogy. Moreover, these policies are mainly designed for ethnic minority semi-boarding and boarding schools. In general schools, especially in cities or regions where the number of ethnic students is not dominant, these policies do not apply. Ethnic children may face cultural shocks in school environment where they are struggling with new language and culture while studying. This is an underlying cause of their low academic performance. To increase quality in teaching, many aid programmes were adopted to support teachers working in ethnic minority schools (e.g. boarding schools). Financial support and favourable allowance are highlighted in recent legal policies such as Decree No. 05/2011/NĐ-CP in 2011, Decree No. 19/2013/NĐ-CP in 2013 and the 2019 Vietnamese Education Law which aim to double monthly wage and improve teacher living standards. In addition, teachers in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas are encouraged to pursue higher professional development through numerous fellowship programmes. These are reflected in the 2019 law on education, Circular No. 06/2007/TTLT-BGDĐT-BNV-BTC and Circular No. 01/2016/TT-BGDĐT in 2016. The current policies reaffirm the government’s focus on improving teacher capacity and incentives to attract teachers to work in ethnic minority regions. According to the current law, ethnic students who enrol in teacher education programmes are highly appreciated and encouraged to go back to teach in their home community after graduation. The government and local authorities provide various support – financially and politically – in order to mainstream ethnic teachers in the education system, address the teacher shortages in mountainous provinces, and promote the voice of EMG in local political arenas as ethnic teachers are often nominated as representatives of their home community. In general, these policies aim to enhance the working conditions and income for teachers as steps towards improving the quality of EMG education. However, these incentives are insufficient sustain teacher commitment to their jobs in ethnic minority areas (Dao 2021). One of the reasons prompting teachers to consider leaving their job is the poor infrastructure conditions that undermine their living standards and experience in workplace. These include energy and food shortages, disaster-prone network of mountainous roads, limited access to Internet and healthcare services, and a lack of basic facilities needed for teaching and learning such as library, office supplies, sanitation and hygiene, and classroom furniture. Given that, working in remote, ethnically different schools is not a preferred choice of any teachers. This further explains the prevailing lack of teachers in ethnic districts across the country irrespective of how incentives are in place. What’s more, the implementation of these policies has been problematic in some provinces. The instructions defined in policies are arguably unclear, leading to different interpretations of policy in different schools. Local governments and schools often face budget constraints and lack of resources

118  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly and capabilities to seriously take action to realise the policy objectives. In some provinces, corruption and lack of transparency add another threat to the implementation of these policies (Nguoi Dua Tin 2021; Tien Phong 2021).

Increasing availability in ethnic education The recent law on education and associated policy documents, such as Decision No. 1640/QĐ-TTg, dated on January 29, 2011, Circular No. 01/2016/ TT-BGDĐT in 2016, and Decision No. 775/QĐ-TTg in 2018, have emphasised the government’s endeavour to increase access to education for ethnic peoples. Followed by these directives, a number of state-funded programmes have been implemented to build new furnished schools in ethnic regions. According to the current law, boarding schools designed for ethnic children are fully equipped with facilities necessary for their study and living purposes, including furnished dormitories, well-equipped canteens, teacher private rooms, and standardised classrooms. As of 2020, Vietnam has built 325 boarding schools and 1,124 semi-boarding schools catering 105,818 and 237,608 students respectively at different levels (MOET 2021). At the tertiary level, a number of four preuniversity schools have been established in many public universities catering more than 4,000 students each year (MOET 2020). However, there still exist over 50% of ethnic schools that are in very poor conditions and need to be rebuilt (Dao 2021). Another challenge to the access to education of ethnic children is a lack of qualified teachers. An essential requirement for opening a boarding school, as regulated in Circular No. 24/2010/TT-BGDĐT in 2010, is to have sufficient number of qualified teachers. Due to language constraints, each ethnic class needs at least two teachers. The poor working and living conditions prevent teachers applying for job in ethnic schools. To that end, low performing teachers are recruited in many boarding schools. Recent statistics found that there are 700 teachers who have not completed secondary education while the number of teachers graduated from a university is limited (Phuc Nguyen 2021).

Making education adaptable Decision No. 404/QĐ-TTg, dated on March 27, 2015, provides a guideline on curriculum reform to address the mismatch between education and demands of ethnic communities. In many provinces, ethnic students are allowed to enrol in degree programmes without taking university entrance exam (cử tuyển) to increase skilled workers in their hometown and address ethnic unemployment rate. Circular No. 01/2016/TT-BGDĐT, issued in January 2016, states that “career-oriented activities and vocational training must be designed in accordance with ethnic student ability and local socio-economic demands”. This reflects the government’s serious attention to an ethnic education that is adaptive to ethnically diverse regions. However, EMGs are still not mainstreamed in policies that help students adapt to emerging challenges. For instance, to respond to

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 119 the COVID-19 crisis, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued Circular No. 09/2021/TT-BGĐT in March 2021 to guide schools to switch to virtual teaching and learning methods. This policy, however, does not clarify as to how it impacts EMG students who are poor and unable to afford digital equipment, e.g. smartphone or laptop, and Internet connection for online classes. It is estimated that only 15% of children in Lao Cai, a mountainous province where the majority of population consists of ethnic minorities, are able to access online classes (Rana 2021). This situation likely threatens to widen the development gap between ethnic students and their counterparts in cities. There is a critical need for the development of appropriate strategies to equip EMG with the capacity to respond to future changes which much rely on advanced technology. However, at this stage, there has not been any regulation on the digital online learning modes. In this regard, existing policies acknowledge the culture and practice of EMG by considering these factors in adapting education to better suit ethnic minority students, but they do not specify on equipping students with skills and knowledge to respond to global changes and unexpected crises. Without greater inclusion of EMG in education policies, ethnic students have less opportunity and necessary support to overcome their disadvantages and build adaptive capacity.

Conclusion and Recommendations Over the past few decades, the Vietnamese government has made consistent efforts and investments to put education for EMG in priority. A number of policies specified for EMG education have been adopted and increase education opportunities for all ethnic peoples. This chapter argues that these policies by and large reflect the availability and accessibility through reforms that encourage all ethnic students of all age to pursue education at all levels without admission barriers. To motivate and facilitate their studies, the current policies provide favourable incentives, from tuition fee waivers to monthly allowances and food supply. Thanks to these aid programmes, the literacy rate of ethnic minorities in Vietnam has been significantly improved. In terms of acceptability and adaptability, the education policies were adjusted to include ethnic native languages and cultural values. Teachers are required to learn local ethnic traditions and customs to adapt their teaching methods and lessons to suit their students’ cultural background and economic condition. Incentives to attract qualified teachers to ethnic schools are highlighted in current policy reforms, including better payments and higher education fellowships. However, our analysis identifies some obstacles to ensuring the right to education for EMG. These include a lack of holistic mechanism to ensure the right to education for EMG, limited resources, exclusion in policy making, and lack of accountability and transparency in implementing ethnic education policies in some provinces. These issues undermine the implementation of the policies and highlight a need to reconsider the current approach to ethnic education in the country. In addition, geographical constraints,

120  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly language and cultural differences are critical issues that are not substantially acknowledged in policy making processes. This explains the mismatch between policy and reality and why some education policies are not appropriate for some ethnic groups. Our findings in this chapter conclude that Vietnam has made some progress in provide an education system that meets the needs of ethnic minority groups. But more need to be done to address the weaknesses of current policies and emerging challenges. Particularly, the policy makers should take the ethnical cultures, languages, and geographic and economic conditions into account while introducing new policies that affect ethnic students. Increasing opportunity for ethnic students to access to high-quality schools, including private education institutions, is needed to reduce inter-ethnic inequality in education. To make education more acceptable for EMG, as suggested by Do et al. (2020), the national curriculum and textbooks should be ethnically inclusive and adaptive to appreciate and mainstream different cultures of ethnic students. Bringing ethnic cultures and values into the classroom not only inspires and increases students’ commitment to studies, but also it helps preserve their ethnic cultures and languages. To that end, a participatory culture that empowers and facilitates the participation of ethnic representatives in decision-making processes that affect EMGs is critical. Without understanding the demands and situations of ethnic students, the policy makers and government may fail to identify the areas in need of action to support where they need most. Finally, to make the policies to be implemented efficiently, stipulations on violations or deprivations of the right to education should be supplemented. Technological solutions, such as opensource databases and information-sharing platforms, could serve as potential tools for monitoring and evaluating ethnic education policies, and reduce the likelihoods of ethnic education right violations.

References Bowen, Glenn, A. 2009. “Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method”. Qualitative Research Journal 9, no. 2: 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027 Bui, Van Thanh. 2016. “Teaching Ethnic Minority Languages- Success and ChallengesDạy học tiếng dân tộc trong trường phổ thông – Những thành công và khó khăn thách thức.” August 2, 2021. https://moet.gov.vn/giaoducquocdan/giao-duc-dan-toc/ Pages/tin-tuc.aspx?ItemID=4075 Cat Tuong. 2021. “Training Teachers of Ethnic Minority Languages to Meet the Needs of New General Education Reform”. Bao Dan Toc, August 2, 2021. https://baodantoc. vn/dao-tao-giao-vien-tieng-dtts-dap-ung-yeu-cau-chuong-trinh-giao-duc-pho-thongmoi-1632404573786.htm CEMA. 2019. Báo cáo cập nhật tình hình phát triển kinh tế – xã hội vùng dân tộc thiểu số (DTTS) và miền núi. Hanoi: Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA). https:// kinhtedothi.vn/gan-2-8-trieu-nguoi-dan-toc-thieu-so-chua-biet-doc-biet-viet-tiengviet.html CEMA and GSO. 2020. The 2019 Survey on the Socio-economic Situation of 53 Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam. Hanoi: General Statistics Office (GSO).

Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 121 CESCR. 1999. “General Comment No. 13: The Right to Education (article 13).” United Nations Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/Training/ Compilation/Pages/d)GeneralCommentNo13Therighttoeducation(article13)(1999).aspx CESCR. 2014. “Concluding observations on the second to fourth periodic reports of Viet Nam, E/C.12/VNM/CO/2-4.” October 1 2021. https://tbinternet.ohchr. org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E/C.12/VNM/ CO/2-4&Lang=En Dao, Van Tung. 2021. “Implementing the Law on Education Right for Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam”. Political Theory, June 2, 2021. http://lyluanchinhtri.vn/home/ index.php/dao-tao-boi-duong/item/3512-thuc-hien-phap-luat-ve-quyen-hoc-tapcua-nguoi-dan-toc-thieu-so-o-viet-nam.html Do, D. N. M., Hoang, L. K., Le, C. M., & Tran, T. 2020. A human rights-based approach in implementing sustainable development goal 4 (Quality Education) for ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Sustainability 12 (10), 4179. Elo, S. and Helvi Kyngäs. 2008. “The Qualitative Content Analysis Process.” Journal of Advanced Nursing 62, (1):107–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x GSO. 2020. Socio-economic Statistics of 53 Ethnic Minorities. Hanoi: General Statistics Office (GSO). Government of Vietnam. 2017. National action plan for the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda. https://vietnam.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/ ke%20hoach%20hanh%20dong%20quoc%20gia_04-07-ENG_CHXHCNVN.pdf Human Rights Council. 2019. “Recommendations to Viet Nam by the UN Human Rights Committee.” March 28, 2019. https://vietnam.un.org/en/ 47309-recommendations-viet-nam-un-human-rights-committee ICESCR. 1966. “General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI)” United Nations Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx Le, Van Loi. 2018. “Policies on Support of General Education for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam in the Current Content”. American Journal of Educational Research 6, no. 12: 1678–1687. MOET. 2020. “Giáo dục vùng dân tộc thiểu số, miền núi sau 10 năm thực hiện chiến lược phát triển giáo dục Việt Nam”. June 2, 2021. https://moet.gov.vn/tintuc/Pages/tintong-hop.aspx?ItemID=6695 MOET. 2021. “Đổi mới mô hình trường phổ thông nội trú, bán trú: Yêu cầu cấp thiết.” June 2, 2021. https://moet.gov.vn/tintuc/Pages/tin-tong-hop.aspx?ItemID=7398 Nguoi Dua Tin. 2021. “Quảng Nam thanh tra toàn diện các gói thầu giáo dục vùng núi.” November 29, 2021. https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/quang-nam-thanh-tra-toan-diencac-goi-thau-giao-duc-vung-nui-a535369.html Tien Phong. 2021. “Sở GD&ĐT Gia Lai vi phạm hàng tỷ đồng nhưng không thể thanh tra vì…’đã kiểm toán’” September 28, 2021. https://tienphong.vn/so-gd-dt-gia-laivi-pham-hang-ty-dong-nhung-khong-the-thanh-tra-vi-da-kiem-toan-post1380101.tpo Phuc Nguyen, Dao. 2021. “Improving Policy on Education for Ethnic Minority Groups in Mountainous Areas.” Tuyen Giao, June 2, 2021. https://tuyengiao.vn/khoa-giao/ giao-duc/hoan-thien-chinh-sach-giao-duc-cho-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-miennui-133356 Rana, Flowers. 2021. “Ethnic Minority Education in Viet Nam: Challenges and Opportunities during COVID-19 Outbreak.” UNICEF. June 2, 2021. https://www. unicef.org/vietnam/stories/ethnic-minority-education-viet-nam-challenges-andopportunities-during-covid-19-outbreak

122  NTH Nga, NTT Hai, TT Ly Tomaševski, Katarina. 2001. “Human rights obligations: making education making education available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable”. June 23, 2021. http://biblioteca. clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/collect/ar/ar-033/index/assoc/D599.dir/11.pdf Truong, Huyen Chi. 2011. “Eliminating Inter-ethnic inequalities? Assessing impacts of education policies on ethnic minority children in Vietnam, Working paper No.69, Young Lives: Oxford University. UNESCO. 2019. Right to Education Handbook. https://www.right-to-education.org/ sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/RTE-UNESCO_Right%20 to%20education%20handbook_2019_En.pdf UNICEF. 2015. Understanding Child Marriage in Viet Nam. Hanoi: UNICEF Vietnam. Vietnam’s Farmer Union. 2019. “Bình đẳng giới của đồng bào dân tộc thiểu số còn nhiều khó khăn”. October 4, 2021.http://www.hoinongdan.org.vn/sitepages/news/1145/89555/ binh-dang-gioi-cua-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-con-nhieu-kho-khan

8

Education Matters for Sustainable Development Reconsidering the Environmental Education in Vietnamese General Education Kieu Thi Kinh, Nguyen Thu Ha, Nguyen Phuong Thao, Ngo Thi Hai Yen, Nguyen Ngoc Anh

Introduction Studies on organisation and implementation of environmental education (EE) in Vietnam have painted a picture of the current situation of environmental protection education at schools in both forms – formal classroom-based education, and experiential and extra-curricular activities in various aspects. Studies on EE at schools have shown that EE integration is considered one of the central goals at all education levels in Vietnam, including preschool and primary education (Phan 2020), lower and upper education levels (Nguyen 2017; Tran et al. 2020; Pham 2013; Quang 2019). According to Nguyen (2017) and Quang (2019), EE integration in subjects such as Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Civic Education at secondary and high schools is considered an effective and simple way in implementing EE. The teaching contents with EE integration in Vietnam include a full range of environmental matters, such as climate change, environmental quality, energy consumption, biodiversity and organic food (Nguyen 2021; Hoang et al. 2020; Phan and Kato 2016; Phan 2020). EE has been integrated into school curricula at all levels in the official national education system since 2009 (Nguyen 2017; Tran et al. 2020; Danh 2021). According to the current general education program, EE is integrated in 3 subjects at the primary level, namely History – Geography, Nature – Society and Ethics, 5 subjects at the secondary level, namely Geography, Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Civic Education. In addition, it is required to integrate EE into content about local education at all school levels (MOET 2006) Although EE, in recent years, has gained attention in Vietnam, there are still limited international publications updating the current status of EE at schools. Thus, this chapter will provide an overview of recent EE implementation in general education in Vietnam from perspectives of teachers across the country. DOI: 10.4324/9781003244776-8

124  KT Kinh, NT Ha, NP Thao, NTH Yen, NN Anh

Background to Study EE has been advanced worldwide over the last 50 years. Novel pedagogy, academic publications, practical guidelines, and textbooks have been constructed and applied across sectors in which education is prominent. Literature review indicates key principles to ensure sustainable and effective EE including: (i) combining various forms of education (formal, non-formal and informal education) (Palmer 2002; Auladi 2013); (ii) employing an interdisciplinary approach in integrating EE into curriculum (O’donoghue and Mc Naught 1991; Vincent and Focht 2011); (iii) considering local demands and indigenous knowledge (Palmer 2002) (Auladi 2013); (iv) applying hands-on pedagogies of which outdoor pedagogy is highly recommended (Evans and Acton 2021; Barrett 2007; Collado et al. 2020; Stewart 2008; Bester et al. 2017); and (v) ensuring coordination and cooperation among stakeholders inside and outside school (Meiboudi 2012; Razumovskaya et al. 2019). Despite the advancement, there remain various challenges to be resolved in both developed and developing nations. Systematic problems such as educational systems (e.g. overloaded curriculum) (Aminrad et al. 2012; Darmawan and Dagamac 2021) and limited EE in teacher education programmes (Waktola 2009) which results in teachers’ poor factual knowledge of environment were discussed as main constraints of EE. In many countries, particularly in Asian region where Confucianism has been widely applied in teaching, interactive pedagogies remain underdeveloped and thus cause difficulties and challenges for teaching EE at schools. Besides, in the contemporary life, young generations tend to rely more on finding their own sense of belongingness rather than being concerned with their surroundings, which is another considerable challenge of environmental educators (Darmawan and Dagamac 2021; Aminrad et al. 2012). EE implementation itself also faces several challenges of which contradictions as pointed out by Stevenson (2007), i.e., EE interdisciplinary approach versus discipline-based school curricula and EE-demanding interactive pedagogy versus traditional teachers’ pedagogy, are still being addressed in many countries. Notably, “the interdisciplinary nature of EE effectively dilutes the accumulation of knowledge, making it challenging for environmental educators or evaluators to learn from the literature base” (Carleton-Hug and Hug 2010: 161). Thus, there are few publications that present applicable EE evaluation. In Vietnam, the work on environmental education and protection has been identified by the State as an important task. Article 153 of the Law on Environmental Protection in 2020 clearly states that “the contents and programs of the national education system should include knowledge and laws on environmental protection” (National Assembly 2021). The Decision No. 2161/ QD-BGDĐT on promulgating the implementation plan of sustainable development goals in the field of education and training by 2025 with a vision to 2030, which was issued in 2017, sets an objective to “integrate basic knowledge on environmental protection, climate change response and natural disaster prevention and control into education and training programs at all levels”. These clearly

Education Matters for Sustainable Development 125 demonstrate the critical role of EE in the national education system in Vietnam. The general education program in 2018 with the orientation of developing students’ quality and capacity outlined the content of EE and made way for teachers to conduct EE. Teachers in Vietnam have been applying diverse teaching methods and forms regarding EE such as role play, games, project-based instruction, fieldwork, community-based learning and extracurricular learning (Truong 2017). Applying information technology (Tran 2010) and finding opportunities to promote EE and STEM education in EE (Nguyen and Nguyen 2019) are also viewed as effective solutions to improve the efficiency of EE (Tran 2010). In terms of extracurricular and experiential activities, the establishment and operation of environmental clubs have achieved remarkable results over the years. In some disaster-prone provinces, students are encouraged and supported to play active role in transformative learning for sustainability by collaborating with professionals on non-profitable projects to assist farmers in their home community (Quang and Weatherby 2019). Research on EE at Vietnamese schools also includes comparison of the implementation of EE between Vietnam and other countries such as Japan (Do 2009) to capture lessons learned for EE implementation in Vietnam, and research and analysis of stakeholders’ roles in EE and ESD to find solutions to promote the effectiveness of EE and ESD (Nguyen 2004; Quang 2019; Quang and de Wit 2020).

Research Methods Data collection This study utilised mixed methods including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Regarding quantitative approach, snowball sampling was applied to reach 156 teachers for an online quantitative survey nationwide. Description of the respondents is presented in Table 8.1. The interview questions focused on how teachers are implementing EE at schools and how they perceive the recommendations to improve EE implementation. We conducted in-depth interviews with 8 experienced teachers specialising in EE. The in-depth interviews allowed the authors to collect primary data to (i) understand how EE has been embedded Table 8.1  Survey questionnaire respondents (N = 156) Level Secondary High school school Quantity % Total

65 41.7 156

91 58.3

Subject in charge Physics, chemistry and biology 27 17.3 156

Experience

Geography Other 58 37.2

71 45.5

20 years

55 35.2

71 46.2

20 12.8

126  KT Kinh, NT Ha, NP Thao, NTH Yen, NN Anh into school curriculum over time with a particular focus on informal education and assessment approach in EE and (ii) what are the challenges and opportunities for EE in schools.

Data analysis For qualitative data, all the interviews were transcribed as verbatim transcription. All the transcripts were coded inductively using NVIVO to: (i) examine the evaluation of EE in formal education; (ii) explore the challenges and opportunities of EE in schools; and (iii) analyse key stakeholders engaging in forms of non-formal EE. Quantitative data was statistically analysed using Excel to understand the overall implementation of EE.

Results Teachers’ perception of the necessity of EE The survey results show that when asked about the importance of integrating EE into school curricula, 100% of teachers agreed the inclusion of EE was “necessary” and “very necessary”. The figure for the latter option is 82.16%. The results also show no difference between teachers according to localities and working experience. Thus, teachers’ awareness of the need to integrate and implement EE is the first key factor for improving the effectiveness of EE at schools. This is reasonable and appropriate when EE is considered an important and compulsory module which is being implemented in local schools in accordance with policy documents.

EE implementation in formal education Integration approaches The survey results indicate three main approaches to integrate EE into school curricula including: (i) integrating EE into school subjects having high possibilities of EE such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Civic Education; (ii) integrating EE into individual learning topics, and (iii) integrating EE into extracurricular activities. The first approach was found to be most popular, with 73.3% of the surveyed teachers claiming to have regularly added EE into their teaching. EE integration in different subjects seems to be a feasible way to make EE contents and discipline knowledge intertwined together while avoiding overloaded curriculum for students (MOET 2006).

EE themes Figure 8.1 shows the themes of EE covered at schools in Vietnam. At least 58.7% of the teachers responded that they integrated EE into most of the related lessons. Only 4.1–11.9% did not integrate EE into classroom lessons nor extracurricular activities (Figure 8.1).

Education Matters for Sustainable Development 127

Figure 8.1  EE themes implemented at schools

The 6 main EE themes being taught at schools include: (i) economical and efficient use of energy; (ii) natural disaster prevention and control; (iii) biodiversity; (iv) climate change; (v) natural management and protection (soil, water, air resources, tourism; reduction of soil, water, air pollution and local environment); and (vi) sustainable development (relationship between development and environment). The percentage of the teachers who covered these themes into all lessons involving EE frequently (more than twice a semester) ranges from 58.7% to 70%. This proves that the majority of the teachers were actively integrating EE issues into their lessons.

Pedagogical approaches of teachers Results from Table 8.2 show that a wide range of pedagogical approaches has been utilised to implement EE in different extents. Table 8.2  Pedagogical approaches in EE at schools Perceived effectiveness Pedagogical approaches Never use Lecture Q&A Group discussion Debate Games Problem solving Role play Visual aids Movies watching Project-based learning Field trip Experiential learning

1.4 0.0 4.5 9.4 10.6 9.3 16.7 0.0 3.3 16.1 26.6 31.6

Ineffective

Quite effective

Effective

Very effective

11.4 8.3 6.5 6.7 6.6 7.9 6.3 7.3 6.0 7.7 4.9 8.5

47.9 46.9 26.0 30.9 22.5 28.5 33.3 31.8 33.1 25.2 17.5 25.6

32.1 34.5 45.5 30.9 40.4 35.1 30.6 40.4 39.7 30.1 32.9 17.1

 7.1 10.3 17.5 22.1 19.9 19.2 13.2 20.5 17.9 21.0 18.2 17.1

128  KT Kinh, NT Ha, NP Thao, NTH Yen, NN Anh The two most popular approaches are using pictures, posters and tables (visual aids) and Q&A dialogues, both of which can be conducted easily, especially the latter. Nearly 93% and 92% of the teachers participating in this survey acknowledged the effectiveness of visual aid method and Q&A session respectively. The two least used approaches are field trips – with only 31.6% of the surveyed teachers found them workable, and experiential learning activities – only 26.6%. The findings from in-depth interviews about the use of EE teaching methods also reflect teachers’ confusion in how to integrate EE. EE activities that have been currently organised are mainly limited to understanding the surrounding environment and outdoor fun activities. The most popular pedagogical approaches in EE are lectures and group discussions whereas other active approaches such as project-based assignments, debates and field trips are not as frequently used. This situation can be partly explained by the fact that extracurricular educational activities in EE at schools have not been much popularised.

Assessment in EE The results of in-depth interviews with teachers show that there is no specific assessment strategy for EE. EE assessment is included in that of the subjects integrating EE. The main form of assessment is class tests to measure students’ memorisation ability. Only 1 out of 8 teachers shared that she had carried out an assessment by asking her students to make videos and recycled products or asking them to solve real-world environmental problems based on biological knowledge. Test questions mainly ask about the knowledge pre-described in the curricular, so students only need to memorize things. What I conduct the assessment is asking my students to make videos or create specific environment products (recycled products, biological products, etc.). The Science and Technology competition is one of the major reasons promoted me to engage students and their parents into such creative activities. By doing this, I will be able to measure my students’ problem-solving capacity, which is impossible by doing paper-based tests. (Q3, female)

Challenges and opportunities All 8 teachers who participated in in-depth interviews pointed out their biggest weakness when organising EE is that they often try to randomly squeeze EE matters in the lessons without an overall strategy to employ an interdisciplinary approach for a coherent and cohesive lesson. The teachers usually ignore the important connection between the main contents of the lesson and EE contents. Additionally, the teachers mainly apply teaching methods that are easy to implement but are not specific to EE because they themselves are still disoriented when

Education Matters for Sustainable Development 129

Figure 8.2  Perceived accessibility to and effectiveness of regulation documents on EE

organising EE activities. The survey results on a sample of 156 teachers show that the proportion of the teachers finding resources from the internet useful is 87.9%. Up to 57.7% of the surveyed teachers thought that the current general education program was overloaded for teachers and that teachers had little to no time allocated for integrating and teaching EE interactively. Another point to consider is the accessibility to guidance documents on EE and the effectiveness of those documents in teachers’ performance of EE. Results in Figure 8.2 indicate that teachers have limited access to guidance documents and policies on EE. These regulatory documents have been issued by governing agencies at various levels from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), the city’s Department of Education and Training (DOET), the district’s Bureau of Education and Training (BOET) and the school’s management board. However, not all of them are disseminated to teachers, who directly perform the teaching at schools. Also, not all types of documents are easily accessed and effectively implemented by teachers. Accessing sources to regulatory documents bring about different level of effectiveness. Regarding the Ministry’s documents, only 59.6% of the teachers found them accessible and could implement the documents effectively. The figures for regulatory documents by the city’s Department of Education and Training and by school’s management board are 67.2% and 75.5% respectively. This shows that there is a lack of connection between educational management agencies at all levels in EE. Schools play the most important roles in directing teachers to implement EE, but the direction is sometimes putting a strain on teachers because there is a lack of relevant preparation. Finally, the survey results also highlight the difficulties that teachers encounter related to the organisational conditions of EE at schools, including facilities,

130  KT Kinh, NT Ha, NP Thao, NTH Yen, NN Anh equipment and funding capacity for the organisation of EE activities. Up to 48.7% of the teachers thought that the school’s physical facilities and educational equipment (such as visual and written materials on EE) were not sufficient, and 66.7% agreed that funding for EE at schools was limited. This paints a picture of the real situation where the funding for teachers to organise EE activities is often very little and discouraging. There are differences in the conditions for organising EE between urban and rural areas. For rural and mountainous areas (such as Dak Lak province, Dak Nong province, etc.), the biggest difficulty is the lack of equipment and infrastructure such as computers, projectors and the Internet as well as cooperation and support from the students’ family. For urban areas (Hanoi and Hai Phong), although support from students’ families is better, there is a lack of space for practical experience for EE activities. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, schools in Hanoi have had to discontinue face-to-face teaching and switch to online modes, so it has been very difficult to organize EE activities. (Qn8, female)

Recommendations from teachers to address EE challenges Table 8.3 shows the solutions proposed by teachers to improve the effectiveness of EE at schools, including: (i) those related to management at ministerial and departmental levels; (ii) those related to the development of a program framework and documents on EE; (iii) those related to capacity improvement of EE organisation for teachers; and (iv) those related to facilities. As seen from the Table 8.3, all solutions of EE proposed by teachers were viewed as necessary and very necessary to a high degree. Notably, all of those 5 account for a very high rate (90% and more). This result shows the high consistency of teachers in EE advancement since open-ended question was applied for this matter. Table 8.3  Solutions proposed by teachers to improve the effectiveness of EE Solutions MOET and DOETs giving specific and timely instructions on EE implementation Developing official documents on EE Organising training course on EE Renovating teacher training in pedagogical institutions Increasing investment in facilities and conditions for organising EE at schools

Unnecessary (%)

Necessary (%)

Very necessary (%)

5.0

43.8

51.2

6.5

45.7

46.8

7.0 10.0

35.8 47.0

57.2 43.0

2.0

45.0

53.0

Education Matters for Sustainable Development 131

EE in non-formal education According to participants in in-depth interviews, extracurricular educational activities at school often take place in the forms of school extracurricular sessions (assembly, weekly class meetings), sightseeing tours and clubs. Some popular campaigns are: • •

•

•

Themed sightseeing tours: visiting scenic spots, factories, garbage treatment sites, museums, sites of natural resources and biodiversity, etc. Tree care activities at schools: planting trees, greening schools on the Tree Planting Festival, on the establishment date of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26), on the World Environment Day (June 5), etc. National level writing contests, drawing contests, photography contests, developing materials on environment and environmental protection: Green Planet competition, Green Life competition, etc. Exhibitions of paintings, photos and posters to promote environmental protection.

Unlike formal education, extracurricular EE activities are diverse and stimulate the participation of students. These activities allow students to access interesting practical knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through specific products such as videos, pictures and posters. The results of in-depth interviews show that extracurricular activities are highly flexible, especially involving the participation of many organisations outside schools. Notably, EE activities of a number of domestic and foreign NGOs such as VVOB, Live&learn, Greenviet and Greenhub are very active. Generally, these organisations employ a project-based approach and work directly with schools after obtaining approval from district’s BOET. Most of the activities organised by NGOs are exciting, which encourage many students and teachers to participate. However, after the termination of a project, many teachers reported that they did not have enough resources (especially financial support) to maintain these activities. Besides, the in-depth interviews also inform that environment clubs collaborate with the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organization and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to periodically organise EE activities at schools. In each school, there is always a vice principal in charge of extracurricular activities. Every year, schools issue their annual extracurricular plan in which EE activities are organised 1–2 times per year on average on special occasions such as World Cleanup Day or World Environment Day. It is worth noting that these activities do not aim at measuring students’ change. Budget for approved extracurricular activities based on the annual plan accounts for about 5% to 10% of the school’s budget. In some big cities, extracurricular activities have gradually improved through social engagement and support. Sightseeing, nature experience tours and soft skills development sessions have been implemented in collaboration with educational service companies. Funding is 100% contributed by parents. Teachers believe that parents are always willing to contribute towards experiential activities for their children to enhance interaction with nature and surrounding

132  KT Kinh, NT Ha, NP Thao, NTH Yen, NN Anh environment due to the face that in urban areas, children are exposed to buildings and construction more than green spaces. But when asked about conversations between schools and service companies, the interviewed teachers reported that these activities were independently developed by companies, so schools and companies mainly discussed the appropriate time and budget for implementation. During the activities, teachers often cooperate to manage students’ safety instead of participating in the development of EE content.

Discussion Drawbacks of EE implementation Although EE has been considered and implemented in Vietnam through many top-down and bottom-up solutions, there are still many limitations. First of all, the combination of education forms including formal education, non-formal education and informal education, is limited. Vietnam currently houses 178 protected areas, including 33 national parks, 59 nature reserves, 23 species management areas, 9 biosphere reserves and 54 protected landscapes (MONRE 2016). This can be seen as an extremely favourable condition for organising extracurricular EE activities. According to EE research by (Nguyen et al. 2009), the number of non-formal EE programs in Vietnam can be varied changes annually but their average lifespan is no more than five years. Therefore, the combination of EE in extracurricular programs and formal education will help strengthen the connection between schools and NGOs and management boards in protected areas. This linkage contributes to the sustainability of EE activities and the effective utilisation of all resources. The survey results show that most of the teachers were aware of the importance of integrating EE into their lessons; however, in reality, EE implementation by teachers is still limited and ineffective. EE activities lack flexibility and do not include diverse active teaching methods. In the meantime, teachers are disoriented on how to disseminate EE content in order to ensure high efficiency of EE and promote students’ competencies. The cause of an overload in teaching programs was firstly addressed in the research by Nguyen Thi Than (Than 2001). According to a review by Than (2001), “there are two main reasons for low effectiveness of EE at schools in Vietnam, one of which is an overload in the school curricula and a tendency to overestimate the importance of imparting too much knowledge to students, and the other is the tendency to continue traditional teaching methods and styles”. Now, after nearly 20 years of implementing EE, the overloaded curriculum has still been a barrier for implementing EE effectively. Therefore, it is necessary to create a space to facilitate teachers to integrate EE into their teaching and organise useful EE activities for students. Therefore, it is necessary to create a space for teachers to integrate EE into their teaching and organise useful EE activities for students. The implementation of EE requires teachers not only to be deeply aware of environmental issues, environmental protection and education, but also to have the ability to think creatively and apply EE knowledge in teaching in

Education Matters for Sustainable Development 133 the context of local environment. Unfortunately, previous research showed that Vietnamese teachers still lack these qualities (Than 2001; Danh 2021). In addition, currently teachers do not have full access to and good understanding of the policies on EE issued by higher authorities. There is still a lack of synchronisation in the implementation of such policies (Danh 2021). Teachers are mostly interested in EE policies which are locally implemented, particularly at their schools, and have not paid much attention to macro policies.

Suggestions to improve EE implementation To strengthen EE at schools, it requires long-term persistence and especially a harmonious combination of management solutions, teacher training approaches and implementation of educational activities. From the experience of many countries, there seems to be no single solution that can effectively address EE challenges (Kwan and Stimpson 2003; Tran et al. 2020). Non-formal EE plays a crucial role in supporting the development of a formal EE system (Nguyen et al. 2009). It is worth noting that informal education’s role is almost ignored in EE in Vietnam. Evidently, the combination among those forms of education will reinforce and build up EE in each form. Such combination will facilitate the collaboration among stakeholders inside and outside school boundary to sustain EE. Currently, in Vietnam, research on long-term collaboration models in education between stakeholders inside and outside educational institutions has not been conducted at primary and secondary levels, but at tertiary level (Peters and Matarasso 2005; Kieu and Singer 2017; Quang and de Wit 2020). One of such collaboration models is community-based EE, which has been widely applied around the world with many advantages such as using local knowledge and people for education, promoting informal and non-formal EE and hands-on learning. The most popular actors engaging in EE at schools includes parents, NGOs and community members (Quang and Weatherby 2019; Vaughan et al. 2003; Tali Tal 2004; Razumovskaya et al. 2019). There are two other potential partners that can support schools in EE activities: •

•

Universities in general and teacher education institutions in particular: The connection with higher education institutions will help schools take advantage of the universities’ facilities such as laboratories, libraries and other modern equipment. Schoolteachers can consult university lecturers with higher expertise regarding how to motivate students to participate in scientific research activities about solving practical environmental problems. Education services: in big cities, education is gradually becoming a lucrative business that attracts many domestic and foreign companies. There is huge demand from parents who wish to have their children participate in outdoor experiences and are willing to pay for such activities. Therefore, schools and teachers should work closely with these companies to design nature experience campaigns that are connected to formal educational content, to monitor and to evaluate students’ changes to regularly adjust study tours.

134  KT Kinh, NT Ha, NP Thao, NTH Yen, NN Anh Raising teachers’ enthusiasm and interests is a prerequisite for the success of EE at schools. The interview results show that teachers are now self-motivated in overcoming difficulties to implement EE at schools. There are some teachers who have implemented EE effectively by creative solutions, i.e., assessment strategy, integration approaches, coordination with organisations outside schools. In such cases, those teachers can find the way to overcome the challenges of EE. There is a need for some regular sessions (e.g., forums, social networks, etc.) where teachers get to share their relevant experience and good practices in order to improve their teaching capacity.

Conclusion EE has been implemented at schools and gradually received the attention of teachers and parents in Vietnam. The survey results suggest that most teachers are aware of the importance of integrating EE into their lessons; however, in reality, the organisation of EE by teachers is still limited and ineffective. EE activities lack flexibility and do not include diverse pedagogical approaches that help promoting learners’ competence. In the meantime, teachers are disoriented in how to disseminate EE content in order to ensure high efficiency of EE and promote students’ activeness. Furthermore, the link between EE in schools and outside schools along with coordination with NGOs is still weak. The process of improving the effectiveness of EE at schools is one that requires long-term commitment and especially a harmonious combination of management solutions, teacher training approaches and implementation of educational activities. The two core factors for improving EE effectiveness in Vietnam are teacher capacity building and systematic institutional supports to coordinate EE activities. It is vital to have a national framework to address these factors, coordinate and facilitate EE in the whole country.

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Index

Note: Page references in italics denote figures and in bold tables. acceptability: in ethnic education 115–118; and right to education 111 accessibility: in ethnic education 113–115; and right to education 111 adaptability: in education 118–119; and right to education 111–112 Amended Higher Education Law, 2018 82 American War (1954–1975) 1 Anti-corruption Law, 2005 93 Asian Development Bank (ADB) 49, 85 assessment: in EE 128; formative learning 32; quality 47 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 28, 98 Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges (AVUC) 73 availability: in ethnic education 118; and right to education 111 Bowen, Glenn 112 bribes, and higher education 94–96 Buddhism 100 Charter for People-founded Universities 81 charter schools 43; and neoliberalism 44–47; public schools transformation into 41 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) 110–111 commodification of education 42, 47; and neoliberalism 41; and school-of-choice system 41 Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) 2, 5, 11; Central Committee of 2; Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption 102; on corruption 93; party-state and institutional reforms 40;

Resolution 07-NQ/TW 42; Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW 64, 82; and tuition charge 78 competency-based education 59 Confucian ideals of education, in Vietnam 1, 11, 28, 36 Confucianism 100, 124 Confucius 91 contemporary Vietnam (2000–present) 26–27, 27; Education for All 26; non-governmental organisations 26; Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 26 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 109 Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 109, 112 Convention on the Rights of the Child 109 corruption: and governmental officials 94; indicators of 93; power 96; and whole-of-government approach 102–103 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 93 Covid-19 pandemic 65, 92, 104, 114, 119 Cullen, A. 90 cultural sources, as drivers for education reforms 28 culture: Confucian meritocracy-driven 11; corporate 10, 48; “exam-driven culture” 69; and gift giving 100–101; participatory 120; Western 44–45 curricula: and education reforms 32–33; integration of environmental education in 123–126; undergraduate 47; updation and revisions of 26; see also education

Index 139 degrees, selling 99–100 Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV): higher education under 24; and North Vietnam education system 23 Department of Education and Training (DOET) 13, 64, 67–68 diversification: of admission schemes 78; institutional 75; sectoral 84 Do, D. N. M. 120 Doi Moi policies 1–2, 4, 8, 90, 105 economic factors, as drivers for education reforms 28 economic growth 79, 102; and education 8–9, 11; and labour productivity 6; and reform schemes 49; and shortages of skilled workers 53 education: adaptable in 118–119; commitment to ethnic right to 109–110; commodification of 41; competency-based 59; and economic growth 8–9, 11; foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 43–44; history of 21–27; marketisation in 11, 42, 44, 52, 68–69, 78, 96; and neoliberalism 40–42; in North Vietnam 23–24; in the post-unification period (1975–1986) 24–25; pre-independence Vietnam 21–22; and sustainable development 123–134 education development: defined 5; drivers and dimensions of 8; vs. education growth 4–9; in neoliberal times 9–11 Education for All (EFA) 10, 26, 28–29 education growth: vs. education development 4–9; and quality of labour force 5, 8 education informality see informality Education Press 32 education reforms: change and continuity, in Vietnam 21–37; characteristics of 31–33; curricula and textbooks 32–33; drivers of 27–29, 36; equity in education 32; history of 21–27; impact of 59–70; niches of 33–36, 34, 35; pedagogy reform 33; periods of 2; in the post-unification period (1975–1986) 24–25; pre-independence Vietnam 21–22; structures and organisation 32; in Vietnam 1–4 education system: centralisation 30; characteristics of 29–31; Confucian view of learning 29–30; high-stake tests 31; inequity in 31; private tutoring and

test preparation 31; and public engagement 30; and public opinion 30–31 Elo, S. 112 entrepreneurial universities 47 environmental education (EE): assessment in 128; background 124–125; challenges and opportunities 128–130; data analysis 126; data collection 125–126; drawbacks of implementation 132–133; implementation in formal education 126–130; integration approaches 126; in non-formal education 131–132; overview 123; pedagogical approaches of teachers 127, 127–128; recommendations from teachers 130; research methods 125–126; suggestions to improve implementation of 133–134; teachers’ perception of 126; themes 126–127, 127 ethnic education: acceptability in 115–118; accessibility in 113–115; increasing availability in 118 ethnic minority education: “4A” framework and right to 110–112; acceptability in 115–118; accessibility in 113–115; human rights approach to 108–120; increasing availability in 118; making education adaptable 118–119; Vietnamese policies for 112–119 “evidence-based research” 98 “exam-driven culture” 69 exam economy 63 exam reforms: High School Graduation Exam (HSGE) 61–65; MOET “hybrid” approach to 67–69 exam renovation 9–10, 14, 103 “filial piety” 100 First Indochina War (1945–1954) 22–23 foreign-owned school systems 45 formal education 116; EE implementation in 126–130; evaluation of EE in 126 “4A” framework 14; policies for ethnic minority education from 112–119; as tool analysing right to education for ethnic minorities 110–112 France: educational presence in Vietnam 23; occupation of Vietnam 22–23 Geiger, Roger 75, 79 ghost research 98–99 Giap Van Duong 67 gift giving, and culture 100–101

140  Index Global Education Monitoring programme 28 global private higher education 74–76 Goyette, Kimberly Ann 79 GPA scores, and access to universities 95–96 Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi 97, 103 Greenhub 131 Greenviet 131 Gregory, R. 93–94, 100

94–96; and its manifestations in Vietnam 92–94; manipulating university exams 96–98; selling degrees 99–100; short- and long-term impacts of 101–102 Institute of Statistics 30 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 109–110 International Labour Organization 5 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 49

Hanoi National University of Education 29 higher education (HE) 26; developments in 23; governance models 77; GPA scores and access to universities 95–96; informality and its manifestations in Vietnam 92–94; informality in 94–96; investments in 62; mapping informal practices in 96–102; marketisation of 69; massification of 53; methods 91–92; and neoliberalism 47–49; opportunities 60; overview 88–91; patronage and bribes 94–96; the pepertoire 96–102; private 13–14, 42, 73–85; restructuring of 10; in ROV 24; technical cooperation in 23; whole-of-government approach and corruption 102–103 Higher Education Law 103, 112, 115 High School Graduation Exam (HSGE): exam reforms 61–65; failure of 64; impact on teaching and learning quality 65–67; overview 59–61; role of 60; “two-in-one” reform policy 69 historical sources, as drivers for education reforms 28 Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union 131 Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organization 131 human capital discourse, and MOET reforms 50 Human Capital Index 5 Human Capital theory 74 human rights, and education for ethnic minorities 108–120

‘job-hunting first approach’ 42

“ideology based research” 98 inequity: in education system 31; and neoliberal reforms 51–52 informality: causes of 94; culture and “gift giving” 100–101; ghost research 98–99; GPA scores and access to universities 95–96; in higher education

National Assembly Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children 80 National Council for Education and Human Resource Development 82 National Institute of Educational Sciences (Vietnam) 29

KKR Global Impact Fund 44 Kyngäs, Helvi 112 labour productivity: of ASEAN countries in 2018 7, 7; and economic growth 6; Vietnam’s 6–7 Law on Anti-corruption 102 Law on Education 2019 114–115 Law on Higher Education 65, 67–69 learning quality, and HSGE 65–67 Levy, Daniel C. 74–76, 84 Live&learn 131 Lucas, Robert 8 marketisation in education 11, 42, 44, 52, 68–69, 78, 96 McCornac, D.C. 90, 96, 100 Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) 2, 10, 25, 28, 43; Decision No. 3538/QĐ-BGDĐT 60–61, 64; discourses for reforms 49–50; and higher education institutions autonomy 47–48; high school curriculum reform 61; “hybrid” approach to exam reform 67–69; National Accreditation Council 47; reform programmes 49 Ministry of Higher and Professional Education (MOHPE) 23–24 Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) 113 mismatch discourse, and MOET reforms 50 “multi-actor governance” 90, 105

Index 141 National Strategy on Anti-Corruption 93 national university entrance exam 62, 62–63 neoliberal discourse, and MOET reforms 50 neoliberal education 9, 10–11, 42; and class inequality 41; drivers of 49–52; implications of 49–52; reconfiguration of teaching and learning purposes 45; see also education neoliberalism: and charter schools 44–47; and commodification of education 41–42; and education 40–42; and higher education 47–49; impact on education 44–49; ‘job-hunting first approach’ 42; political economic perspective on 41; and public schooling 45–46; in Vietnamese education 42–44 neoliberal reforms 9, 12, 48; charter schools 44–47; educationalisation of structural societal problems 51; education inequality 51–52; ‘jobhunting first approach’ 42 Nguyen, T.V. 99 Nguyen Kim Son 68 niches of education reforms 33–36, 34, 35, 37; aids-based resources 34, 34–35; authority-based source 34, 34; market-based resources 34, 34; profession-based sources 34, 34 non-formal education 116, 131–132 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) 26, 34, 50, 90, 131–133 non-public higher education see private higher education (PHE) North Vietnam: education systems in 23–24; higher education 23; Ministry of Higher and Professional Education (MOHPE) 23–24 OECD countries 75 organisational niche, defined 33 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 49 patronage, and higher education 94–96 pedagogical approaches of teachers 127, 127–128 pedagogy reform 33 people-founded institutions 78 Pham Vu Luan 60 pluralist-market, and private higher education 82–83

predatory universities 97 private education 43, 44; and institutional reforms 53; institutions 40, 120; see also education private higher education (PHE) 13–14, 42, 73–85; Asian 75; global 74–76; Latin American 74; overview 73–74; pluralist-market 82–83; policy approach for 81–83; potentials for further growth 81–84; public policy for 76–77; public-private competition 83; saturation of 79–81; sectoral diversification 84; state-steering model 81–82; see also higher education (HE) private institutions 24, 47, 74, 77–78, 80–81 Private Universities Association 80 professional force, as driver for education reforms 29 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 5, 29, 49 public policy, for private higher education 73, 76–77 public schooling, and neoliberalism 45–46 Quang, N.M. 101, 123 Quang Chau 84 Quang Truong 100 reform policy: current exam, in Vietnam 64; educational, and HSGE 60; HSGE 65; “two-in-one” 69; see also specific reforms Reisz, Robert D. 75–76 Republic of Vietnam (ROV) 23; fall of 24–25; socialist 24–25; and South Vietnam education system 24 Resolution 04-NQ/TW 5 Resolution 07-NQ/TW 42 Resolution 14/2005/NQ-CP 43 Resolution 51/2017/QH14 69 Resolution 77/NQ-CP 43 Resolution 88/2014/QH13 41, 69 Resolution No.77/NQ-CP 10 right to education: “4A” framework as conceptual tool 110–112; acceptability 111; accessibility 111; adaptability 111–112; availability 111 Right to Education Initiative 110 Rowan, Brian 12, 33, 36 school-of-choice system: and commodification of education 41; as neoliberalism 51

142  Index sectoral diversification 84 semi-publics institutions 78 socialisation of education 2–3 Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1975–2000): education and reform (1975–1986) 24–25; post-Đổi Mới period (1986–2000) 25 Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) 28 South Vietnam: education system in 24; higher education in 24 state owned enterprises (SOEs) 93 state-steering model, and PHE 81–82 Stevenson, Robert B. 124 Stock, Manfred 75–76 sustainable development: and Decision No. 2161/QD-BGDĐT 124; and education 9, 15, 123–134 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4–5, 26, 29 Taoism 100 teachers 66–68; competition for employment 51; education 23, 46–47; and EE challenges 130; and environmental education 15; as examiners 63; interviews with high school 13; pedagogical approaches of 127, 127–128; perception of necessity of EE 126; quality enhancement programmes 51; role and neoliberal reforms 51; and school-of-choice system 41; training 26, 34; wages 45 teaching quality: and HSGE 65–67; and predatory universities 97; and school-of-choice system 45 technical force, as driver for education reforms 29 textbooks: and education reforms 32–33; updation and revisions of 26 Tomaševski, Katarina 110 Transparency International (TI) 93 Tromme, M. 90, 92, 94, 102 Truong, Huyen Chi 114 Truong Thi Hoa 90, 93, 94

Umakoshi, Toru 75–76 unemployment rate 62; and educational attainment 7; ethnic 118; of university degree holders 6, 6 UNICEF 28 United Nations (UN): Human Rights Council 109; Human Rights instruments 109; human rights mechanisms 110; Office of the High Commissioner 109; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 110 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 28, 49 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 28, 30, 49 Universal Primary Education Law 115 universities: entrepreneurial 47; GPA scores and mediating access to 95–96; manipulating exams 96–98; predatory 97 Vietnam Citation Gateway 98 Vietnam Education Law 112 Vietnamese education reform see education reforms Vietnamese education system see education system “the Vietnamese Way of Education Development” (VWED) 2, 11 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) 79 VNExpress 95 VVOB 131 World Bank 5, 28, 49, 75 World Trade Organization (WTO) 40 Yen Duong 93, 94 Zumeta, William 76