Mai Vang- Week 7 blog 6

“Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam” is an article written by George Nguyen and Anna Shillabeer. The authors of this article introduces transnational education in three components: People,  Program, and Institution mobility-based education. Vietnam, a growing country that has expanded its economy, has these three components in their education system to provide their students the best quality of education. From the article, we can observe that many students have become more ambitious in broadening their circle. Students are taking the extra step to learn a second language, English, in hopes of working overseas and finding a good career. Higher education has become a national aesthetic for their country. Opening their country to other countries allow for better relations globally. Their investment in the education system allow their people to re-create their culture and build their country to be more prosperous. As Vietnam promotes higher education, there is an underlying issue that the the approach and the regulations Vietnam has enforced has been poorly organized. This puts students in a crisis because the changing regulations has to be followed by students as well.

Throughout the article, we see that Vietnam’s ambition is not any different from other countries. From prior knowledge, we know that Vietnam is a poor middle class country. After the war with the US, we saw that their war was still continuing with other counties. This became a setback in developing their country because to do well, their economic power has to be strong. But in this case, Vietnam stood at a point where taking a step forward places them a step back while war was still happening. From this short history, we can see that changes to the regulations and its unorganized approach to the education system can be due to Vietnam still trying to figure out who they are and what they want. However, as students do end up with higher education, the system will eventually evolve and make the country economically better off.

Question: Does the quality of higher education varies depending on the city the Institution or program is located?

Nguyen, George, and Anna Shillabeer. Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City: RMIT International U Vietnam, 2013. Print.