scholarly journals Students’ readiness for international academic mobility programs: Evidence from Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNUHCM

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-67
Author(s):  
Le Tan Cuong

As a major aspect of internationalization, international academic mobility has been among the most discussed issues in higher education worldwide in recent years. However, while more and more institutions in many countries show substantial interest in implementing international academic mobility programs, the practices seem to be surprisingly in slow progress in Vietnam higher education . The current study, therefore, aims to fill up the gap by exploring the reality of implementing international academic mobility programs and surveying students’ readiness as well as expectations for international academic mobility programs in the setting of the faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University- HCM city. Using data from a semi-structured interview with the faculty dean, a semi-structured interview with 5 students having just coming back from an international academic mobility program to the Philippines in early 2020 and a questionnaire among 78 students coming from 4 continuous cohorts, the findings evidence that (1) Intra-national mobility programs outperform the international ones, (2) Students expect more orientational activities and support from the faculty, (3) Students show high level of readiness for international academic mobility programs, (4) Students are more open-minded in choosing where to go and what to do during international academic mobility programs. Recommendations are well elaborated at the latter part of the study as references for institutions that are considering internationalizing their curricular. The study hopefully sheds light on the feasibility of implementing international academic mobility programs in the setting of Vietnam higher education.

Author(s):  
Mai Thi Kim Khanh ◽  
Chau Huy Ngoc

In recent years, internationalization of higher education has become a guiding agenda and a policy both at the Party and Government’s levels, and of which international student recruitment is seen as an important measure which could improve higher education institutions’ international orientation, contribute to reputation and international university rankings. Hence learning from countries which have successfully internationalized their higher educations in order to draw lessons for universities in Vietnam to utilize their existing advantages and remedy shortcomings in internationalization is a necessity. This article serves as an overview of experiences of Asian countries based on studies conducted in China, Taiwan, and Korea, which suggest that languages and distinctive cultural elements could be important factors attracting international students to these Asian destinations. University of Social Sciences and Humanites will then be presented as a Vietnamese higher education institution that could become a destination of foreign students using its distinctive strengths, namely Vietnamese language and Vietnamese Studies programs and cultural exchange activities.


Author(s):  
Bui Ha Phuong

In the higher education environment, lecturers play an extremely important role in higher education of universities. Assessing the higher education quality based on many standards such as the training program, the facilities, the teaching staff, the supporting staff to the learners, the measures of quality improvement, ... In which, improving the qualified lecturers who meet the training needs and implementing the strategic goals of each university is as one of the requirements important. Assessing lecturers' competences is considered one of the mandatory requirements for measuring the quality of university education. The assessment of lecturers' competences is based on a variety of criteria, in which the competences of teaching, scientific research and community service are considered the core competences of the lecturer. The paper presents the necessity of proposing criteria for assessing lecturers' competences. Besides, the paper also analyzes some of the basic criteria for assessing lecturers' competences. Then, some solutions are proposed to apply these criteria in assessing the competences of lecturers at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-Hochiminh.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Hieu

Education is the foundation and motivation of development of a country. In the current context of globalization, facing the demands of development and integration, the important role of education is most evident in the field of higher education. In higher education, a university, which is considered to be strong and is expected to fulfill its mission, must be a university with a strong culture and a distinctive identity. Upon that criterion, in this article, the author investigates Vietnamese universities from the perspective of organizational culture, emphasizing the requirements of constructing cultural identity in both subjective and objective aspects. This issue is relatively new, especially in the context of studying university culture in Vietnam; therefore, the article mainly introduces the theoretical framework of constructing cultural identity, in the case of university cultural identity from the perspective of organizational culture. The paper chooses the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH, VNU-HCM) -- one of the major humanities and social sciences training centers in the country -- as a case study with the hope that it can help to understand university culture in Vietnam from the requirements of identity construction in the context of globalization and cultural integration today.


Author(s):  
Heather N. Fedesco ◽  
Drew Cavin ◽  
Regina Henares

Field-based learning in higher education is lacking both in practice at colleges and in research within the academic literature. This study aims to address these deficits by exploring the benefits of, and suggesting strategies for, executing field study in higher education across a variety of courses. We report the results of a qualitative research design that included the observation of five courses within the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Approximately eight students per observed course were interviewed three times during their course to assess perceptions of the class, their peers and instructor, the field experiences, and their motivation throughout the course. In total, 130 individual interviews were conducted with 45 students. Results revealed that field-based learning enhances the degree of relatedness students feel with their classmates and instructors, they have a greater degree of intrinsic motivation in the course, and these experiences facilitate learning in ways that may not be replicated in the traditional classroom. In addition, we created a typology of field-based learning, which includes eight different trips that could be employed in higher education courses. We also identified general strategies to improve the execution of these trips.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Rigby ◽  
Barbara Jones

This paper reflects on alternatives to the traditional form of doctoral thesis which are emerging to reflect a new approach to the valuation and designation of scientific outputs. We examine the changes and consider some implications. We suggest that the adoption of co-citation as underpinning principle for the measurement of knowledge structures has led to re-designation of the value of knowledge and knowledge producers in increasingly quantitative terms. We use notions of ‘institution’ and ‘logic’ to better understand such a change and its implications. Under a new logic that is gradually embedding itself across the higher education sector, the ‘constitutive rules’ concerned with the value of research now prioritize quantification, and tangibility of output, and quality is increasingly equated with citation. Whilst the scientific disciplines have traditionally been closer to this model, albeit with significant national variations, subjects within the Social Sciences and Humanities are now being affected. We present evidence from a small study of the UK higher education sector of university regulation of doctoral degree submission format in two disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences (History and Sociology). Our evidence shows the recent and gradual adoption of a practice, previously more common in scientific disciplines, that allows the doctoral thesis to be constituted by a series of publishable papers, known by a variety of names, the most common being ‘Thesis by Published Papers’, ‘Journal Format Thesis’, ‘Alternative Format Thesis’, and ‘Integrated Thesis’. As the thesis of the Social Sciences and Humanities – itself an important institution in the academic field - begins to reflect a greater emphasis upon quantity of knowledge outputs, a tension emerges with the most central of all scientific institutions, the peer-reviewed journal paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veli-Matti Karhulahti ◽  
Hans-Joachim Backe

Abstract Background Open peer review practices are increasing in medicine and life sciences, but in social sciences and humanities (SSH) they are still rare. We aimed to map out how editors of respected SSH journals perceive open peer review, how they balance policy, ethics, and pragmatism in the review processes they oversee, and how they view their own power in the process. Methods We conducted 12 pre-registered semi-structured interviews with editors of respected SSH journals. Interviews consisted of 21 questions and lasted an average of 67 min. Interviews were transcribed, descriptively coded, and organized into code families. Results SSH editors saw anonymized peer review benefits to outweigh those of open peer review. They considered anonymized peer review the “gold standard” that authors and editors are expected to follow to respect institutional policies; moreover, anonymized review was also perceived as ethically superior due to the protection it provides, and more pragmatic due to eased seeking of reviewers. Finally, editors acknowledged their power in the publication process and reported strategies for keeping their work as unbiased as possible. Conclusions Editors of SSH journals preferred the benefits of anonymized peer review over open peer and acknowledged the power they hold in the publication process during which authors are almost completely disclosed to editorial bodies. We recommend journals to communicate the transparency elements of their manuscript review processes by listing all bodies who contributed to the decision on every review stage.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Jay Coakley

This article is organized around the idea that a person can be a part of kinesiology without being in kinesiology. Trained as a sociologist and never having a faculty appointment outside of a sociology department, I am an outsider in kinesiology. However, my participation in kinesiology and relationships with scholars in kinesiology departments have fostered my professional growth and my appreciation of interdisciplinary approaches to studying sports, physical activities, and the moving human body. The knowledge produced by scholars in kinesiology subdisciplines has provided a framework for situating and assessing my research, teaching, and professional service as a sociologist. The latter half of this article focuses on changes in higher education and how they are likely to negatively impact the social sciences and humanities subdisciplines in kinesiology. The survival of these subdisciplines will depend, in part, on how leaders in the field respond to the question, Kinesiology for whom?


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S3) ◽  
pp. 224-236
Author(s):  
Valentyna Slipchuk ◽  
Halyna Yuzkiv ◽  
Nina Batechko ◽  
Maryna Pisotska ◽  
Liudmyla Klymenko

In this article, the concept of "academic mobility" is considered in the framework of internationalization of higher education as a process of moving participants (students and teachers) of higher education from one academic and educational institution to another to exchange experiences and obtain additional educational opportunities for a limited period of time or temporary study. Particular attention is paid to student mobility, which is represented by both internal and external movement of students from one country to another, between regions of the world, or within a region. Information is presented to illustrate the dynamics of changes in the quantitative characteristics of international mobility in the context of a country. Attention is paid to the factors influencing the academic mobility of undergraduate and graduate students. The study uses statistical, analytical, and sociological methods. The study reveals the types of academic mobility preferred by university students. A comparative analysis of undergraduate and graduate students' attitudes toward various forms of academic mobility is presented. Comparing the ratio of students living in student dormitories and students living in families. It turned out that students living in dormitories tend to take a more active part in academic mobility programs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Quang Minh Duong

<p>Student satisfaction is an important part of the effort to market higher education successfully and learning programs, and an important factor in measuring the quality of learning approach. This study explored the student satisfaction in Vietnamese higher education, and how student satisfaction was affected by personal and university experience variables. A quantitative research method was used in the study; out of the 618 third-year students of 24 departments and faculties at in the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City responded to the study and were study participants. The findings of this study show that students were moderately satisfied with their environment on campus. The study also shows that of university experiences had significant positive effects and personal variable had significant negative effects on student satisfaction. </p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-708
Author(s):  
Bjørn Stensaker ◽  
Elisabeth Hovdhaugen ◽  
Peter Maassen

Purpose In recent decades, higher education institutions have been encouraged to develop their own internal management systems as a response to perceived quality challenges in the sector. These quality management (QM) systems have often been found to mainly reflect external accountability requirements, with less focus on coherent study programme development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between QM practices and study programme delivery in Norwegian higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach The study examined how coordination and control of quality work with respect to educational activities take place, using data from a survey to study programme leaders in a large sample of Norwegian higher education institutions. Findings The main findings show that a majority of institutions have established formal advisory bodies with a QM mandate, contributing to more coherent thinking, even though the division of labour between these bodies and formal decision-making structures often is unclear. The study also shows a high level of diversity in the collaboration practices among different actors involved in QM work, indicating that QM practices are adapted to local needs. Originality/value The paper provides new knowledge as to how QM is conducted in practice at the local level. It nuances earlier studies by showing the involvement of collegial bodies in QM although such bodies may have unclear mandates and, thus, an unclear role in the QM process.


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