Quality Culture in Vietnamese Universities: A Multiple Case Study of Quality Assurance and Quality Culture of Business English Undergraduate Programmes at Three Universities in Vietnam

Abstract

Recent developments, notably reduced public funding and massification, have triggered increasing concern for the quality of tertiary education worldwide. In order to find ways to improve quality of tertiary education provision, researchers are attempting to theorise the concept of quality. Debates over these varied conceptualisations of tertiary education quality, however, are continuing. In Vietnam, tertiary education has received widespread criticism of its poor quality, and the government has promulgated a national set of standards for quality assurance and accreditation in an attempt to improve the quality. Developing a quality culture in each institution has been discussed as another solution for quality improvement because the standards appear to be unable to improve the quality as anticipated. This research is designed to explore the possibility to develop quality culture in the Vietnamese context. This research (i) explores quality assurance arrangements at three institutions in Vietnam, as perceived by academic leaders, quality assurance members, and academics; (ii) investigates how structure and culture inform quality assurance practices; and (iii) identifies enablers and obstacles for quality improvement. The methodological approach taken in this research is a multiple case study, underpinned by a quality culture conceptual framework suggested by the European University Association (2006). A qualitative approach was used to explore how academic leaders, academics, and quality assurance members interpreted and responded to quality assurance mechanisms. Data collected from documentation, in-depth interviews, and direct observations were analysed for patterns and themes. Four academic leaders, 9 quality assurance members, and 23 academics of three business English (BE) programmes from three universities volunteered to take part in this research. Interviews were conducted to identify how participants described and perceived the existing quality assurance mechanisms and what the barriers and enablers they experienced while attempting to assure and enhance quality of their programmes. The findings from this study illustrate that quality was overwhelmingly conceptualised as meeting societal needs, elaborated as equating to employability of graduates, and as fitness for purpose, clarified as meeting predetermined objectives. The results of this research also indicated that quality assurance activities, and teaching and learning processes at the three institutions reflected limited association with perceptions of quality. Student learning at the three programmes appeared to depend largely upon academic individual preferences in teaching without evidence of how teaching would ensure employment for graduates. The fitness for purpose perspective of quality was frequently perceived to be in place as a measure for assessment of quality by Quality Assurance (QA) practitioners and academic leaders, but alignments and principles to connect quality assurance activities to this direction were absent. The findings of this research demonstrate that tertiary education quality was assured traditionally under a centralist mechanism in Vietnam. This centralism has resulted in limited autonomy and compliant accountability for tertiary institutions and allowed limited bottom-up engagement in decision-making processes. This has led to an absence of faculty ownership in strategic directions of the institutions. Conflicting perceptions between leaders and wider academic communities were notably evident in almost all quality assurance activities. A major challenge identified in this study involves the feasibility of engaging academics in a conversation about improving teaching and learning processes in different institutional contexts. Academic leaders were found to be able to determine faculty involvement in decision-making processes and to play an active role in creating a supportive and collegial environment for the wider academic communities in attempts to improve teaching and learning quality. The research suggests that it is time to distribute responsibility of quality assurance among academic staff. These activities require considerations of cultural values and contexts to be effective. The study also identifies how structures and cultures shape quality assurance in the selected institutions, notably reactive quality culture in Vietnam. This culture is characterised by top-down quality assurance policies, disconnection between quality assurance activities and those enacting policy, absence of academic ownership of quality assurance, and a widespread culture of compliance. Importing a quality assurance model from another context to the Vietnamese setting also contributes to this reactive quality culture because the values of face-saving, harmony, and hierarchy in a Confucian, collectivist country require contextually appropriate approaches for quality assurance to evolve in Vietnam.