Universities across Vietnam prepare regularly for the required accreditation of each academic degree program they offer. The universities must also satisfy a substantial annual data reporting obligation to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) for the national Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS). Universities in Vietnam are adept at gathering data, collecting evidence, and conducting self-evaluations for external audiences. However, the methods of data collection, the locus of data storage, and the analysis of academic data vary significantly across universities and programs. Standardization of practices, systematic data analysis, and universal application of findings for internal purposes remain a challenge across and within institutions. These highly varied practices prevent universities from better understanding and adjusting academic programs regularly to ensure the highest quality outputs and outcomes.

The USAID Partnership for Higher Education Reform project seeks to support universities in developing a more uniform Academic Monitoring System (AMS), an essential element of internal quality assurance (IQA) that can help these universities to shift from a culture of external compliance to an internal culture of improvement. Accordingly, from March 21–29, 2024, the project conducted technical support sessions on developing AMS capacities at the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM), the University of Danang (UD), and the Vietnam National University-Hanoi (VNUHN), along with 10 member universities. The project expert, Professor Victor Borden from Indiana University, shared his decades-long experience leading IQA efforts at US universities.  The technical consultations were attended by more than 154 participants from the universities, of whom 97 were women.

The participants benefited from a review of their existing templates and practices. These included academic program plans and curriculum maps, along with learning outcomes and assessment plans. Key performance indicators (KPIs) for program evaluation and improvement were also introduced to guide university officials in considering adaptations of their respective AMS practices. The participants actively engaged in both training and coaching sessions at each university, enriching the discussions by sharing their own experiences. Through the consultations, 10 member universities identified improvement opportunities to make their AMS more effective, showing a strong commitment to developing evidence libraries and Annual Academic Monitoring Reports (AAMR), both key components of a healthy AMS.

Each university is expected to deploy an individualized implementation plan to make its academic monitoring more systematic and uniform. Proposed activities include developing data models for consistency and regularity; developing rubrics to review and self-evaluate program plans and learning outcomes; and developing more uniform data collection instruments for stakeholder reporting. The AMS initiative will continue with continued guidance through online coaching sessions from project experts to support universities in continuously improving their practices.

Ms. Nguyen Vo Huyen Dung, Deputy Dean of the International Studies Department at the University of Foreign Languages, The University of Danang, said of the technical support consultations: “Through this coaching, I can see more clearly how my university can leverage the data and information on academic programs for the purpose of improving the quality. Until now we had focused exclusively on addressing data requests for the purposes of accreditation and government compliance. We have not been maximizing the information gathered to refine our academic program. During the expert consultations, many of my questions were answered. For instance, I now better understand that there are diverse benchmarking methods for us to consider, going beyond simple inter-university comparisons.”

AMS activities at VNUHCM

AMS activities at the University of Danang

AMS activities at VNUHN