scholarly journals Vietnamese higher education and the issue of enhancing graduate employability

Author(s):  
June Tran

The rapid change in the graduate labour market in the globalizing era calls for responsiveness from the higher education systems all over the world. Enhancing graduate employability has become a topic of both concern and debate in higher education worldwide. However, the issue is somehow different in Western developed countries and in Eastern developing countries in terms of the way higher education teaching staff perceive the issues, the way universities approach the issues and also the way university practices have been designed to enhance graduate employability. This article aims to illustrate the differences by addressing the issue of enhancing graduate employability in Vietnam compared with that in the literature from developed countries such as US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. It is suggested that while not all academics in Western higher education systems support the idea of accepting enhancing graduate employability as one of the university missions, their teaching practices, in general, support the development of graduate generic attributes, which are claimed to be essential and necessary for graduates to enter the labour market, to succeed at work and in life. By contrast, in the Vietnamese higher education system, where the main mission for universities is still limited to producing an educated labour force for the industry, however, the traditional teaching and learning method and the lack of connections between university, research institutions and the internal industry all hinder the effort of the whole system in preparing students with the necessary skills and knowledge required by the contemporary labour market.

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (S1) ◽  
pp. S7-S33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Bennion ◽  
William Locke

The expansion of higher education systems, new demands on institutions and growing pressures on resources have become common trends across most developed countries. They bring increased expectations of academic staff and appear to lead to greater differentiation in their work roles and activities. At the same time, the backgrounds of some academics are changing and they are developing new specialisms and interdisciplinary collaborations, becoming more mobile domestically and internationally and, for some, the profession is becoming increasingly insecure. The Changing Academic Profession study has produced a rich set of data on the preparation of academics for their roles and the individual circumstances of their working lives, among other aspects of the profession. Respondents to the survey reported on the degrees they have attained, the countries in which they studied for them, the age at which they qualified and the nature of the doctoral training they received. This paper explores the early career paths of academics, makes initial comparisons between different higher education systems and begins to explore how some of these national systems interrelate with each other through academic mobility. Respondents also reported on the disciplines they studied and now teach, the number of institutions worked in and their contractual conditions and income. These data give an indication of the various degrees of flexibility and mobility required of – or chosen by – academics in the early and later stages of their careers and the stability, or perhaps rigidity, of different higher education systems and national career patterns. The data also supplement other evidence of the employment conditions and remuneration of scholars in an increasingly globalised academic labour market.1,2 The conditions of academic work are explored through analysis of the views of survey respondents on the facilities, resources and personnel needed to support it and the degree of research collaboration undertaken. Academics from the 17 countries in the study seem more content with the physical and technical resources provided by their institutions than the personnel and funds available to support teaching and research. Finally, it is suggested that the propensity for collaborative or individual research may be partially related to national differences in academics’ mobility during their training for the profession.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Christopher Martin

This chapter provides an overview of the book’s central claim: that in a free and open society, higher education ought to be a right. It argues that prevailing anxiety about the distributive unfairness of higher education systems shifts needed attention away from a serious consideration of this possibility. However, that chapter also shows how justifying higher education as a right faces conceptual challenges, as well. First, arguments that set out to establish the importance of higher education often end up looking more like an argument in favour of what should be offered to all citizens on a compulsory basis. Second, arguments that set out to establish the general value of a higher education can end up making paternalistic conclusions about what is in citizens’ best interests. Meeting these two challenges, argues the author, can point the way toward a better understanding of why liberal societies should treat higher education as a right as opposed to a mere privilege.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-209
Author(s):  
Antonios Panagiotakopoulos

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the main barriers to employability skills development of ethnic minority students in the context of higher education (HE) in Greece and recommends strategies to help higher education institutions (HEIs) overcome those barriers. Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with 20 ethnic minority students and ten “traditional” students studying at three institutions of HE in Greece. Findings – The study shows that there are many barriers facing ethnic minority students in HE including: poor self-esteem; lack of good advice about HE courses; isolation once in HE; discrimination by staff in HE; and unresponsive curriculum to ethnic diversity in HE. In this context, it is argued that there is an immediate need for decision makers in HEIs to develop policies that target ethnic minority students in order to help them secure employment. It is suggested that HEIs should: provide opportunities for students to discuss concerns with teachers and counsellors; address issues of motivation, self-perception and self-efficacy; encourage teaching staff to adopt various teaching methods to accommodate different learning styles; decrease competitive, norm-referenced environments; use multicultural education and counselling techniques and strategies; and provide work placement opportunities. Practical implications – The paper suggests ways that can help HEIs embrace diversity and promote graduate employability among ethnic minority students in the context of widening participation agenda. Originality/value – The study fills a significant knowledge gap in the existing literature in relation to the measures that HEIs can take to enhance graduate employability among ethnic minority students particularly in less developed countries like Greece.


Author(s):  
Nargiza Shamshieva Nosirkhodjaevna

The significance of the higher education can be seen in terms of assisting the economy with skillful specialists who are considered to be the key force for the development of the country. Higher education is considered to be crucial in modern market-based economies. Particularly, the higher education enables the development and maintenance of the knowledge acquired by the youth. Higher education contributes to the development of the human capital, which can later act as crucial aspect of growth. This paper takes a broad perspective on the importance of higher education, precisely to the structure of Master’s degree programs, in many developed countries of the world including USA, UK and Germany. The paper uses the benchmarking method in order to analyze and apply practices of higher education systems in Uzbekistan. It is important to note that current state of higher education institutions in Uzbekistan reflects the practice of former Soviet Union institutions and needs to adopt strategies that are followed by world’s top universities. The main purpose of this paper is to critically examine the practices and evaluating the higher education system of these countries. The outcomes of the analysis are used to offer a framework for the development of higher education systems precisely in the context of masters programs, in Uzbekistan.


Author(s):  
Bui Vu Anh ◽  
Tran Thi Hoai ◽  
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Anh ◽  
Dao Van Huy

The network of research universities - Universitas 21 (U21) has developed a global ranking which examines 24 measures of performance indicators across four areas: Resources, Environment, Connectivity, and Output (called U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems) to assess the national higher education systems. In which, Resources and Environment are input variables, Connectivity and Output are outcomes. This paper will study Vietnam's policy environment and resources, corresponding to two input measures of the ranking: Resources and Environment. The paper also reviews the experiences of some countries, the current situation of resources, and the impact of the policies on national higher education compared to Vietnam. The authors have proposed six solutions on Resource and Environment to improve the position of the Vietnamese higher education system with the expectation that the higher education system of Vietnam will create positive changes and be in the Top 50 best national higher education systems of U21 Ranking.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Daniil Sandler ◽  

Introduction. Higher education systems at the present stage of development are facing new serious challenges. On the one hand, universities function as independent units, on the other, they are part of the regional system, they attract and share the attention of the stakeholders interested in the system (applicants, students, research and teaching staff, business structures, etc.). The purpose of the study is to assess the competitiveness of regional higher education systems through the formed system of indicators, as well as to draw conclusions about the degree of uniformity in the development of these networks. Methods. To assess the state of the higher education system in Russia, the author uses an indicative method of analysis, which makes it possible to determine the degree of compliance of the indicator values achieved by now with the criteria that meet the set requirements for the development of society. Scientific novelty of the research. The novelty of the research consists in forming a set of indicators, which makes it possible to draw conclusions about the competitiveness of regional systems and the degree of their development uniformity, as well as the number of universities in the regional system and their influence on the entire system, according to their uniform development relative to each other. Results. Following the results of diagnosing the regional higher education systems, the author identifies the regions-leaders and the regions-outsiders. The diagnostic results are compared with the data of international rankings. Conclusions. The conclusion states that the region with fewer but equally developing universities (for example, the Belgorod region or the Republic of Tatarstan) have higher indicators of competitiveness. On the contrary, regional higher education systems, represented by a large number of universities, but with unevenly developing performance indicators, are characterized as less competitive, i.e. the performance indicators of the leading university are leveled within the system as a whole.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 136-145
Author(s):  
L. G. Titarenko ◽  
M. I. Zaslavskaya

The purpose of the article is to give a comparative analysis of the problems and achievements of the implementation of Bologna principles in higher education systems of the republics of Armenia and Belarus. Based on data from 2017–2019, a comparative study of the modernization of higher education systems of the two countries based on expert survey methods (experts are the administration and the teaching staff of universities), focus groups, content analysis of national media, statistics, and student surveys (only in Belarus), the authors identify the achieved successes and reveal unresolved problems in the process of implementing Bologna principles. It is shown that both countries formally ensured an equal access to higher education for their citizens, employment opportunities for graduates, participation of students and teachers in mobility processes; in both countries, a two-stage system of education and a system of transfer points, as well as a new pedagogical paradigm and competency-based approach have been introduced. At the same time, both countries are experiencing significant objective difficulties, associated primarily with insufficient state funding for higher education systems, inconsistencies between different levels of government, bureaucratization and inertia in the practical implementation of new approaches. Therefore, even with the formal implementation of the Bologna principles in Armenia, the national higher education system did not become a full-fledged participant in the European Higher Education Area. As for Belarus, its priorities remain the national principles of education, which define the boundaries of any educational reforms, including Bologna.


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