Issues of Quality in Education
Issues of Quality in Education
Unfortunately, though Vietnam has passed several reforms and worked to improve education since “Doi Moi”, it still struggles with providing quality education. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is responsible for quality assurance in Vietnam’s education system. This ministry developed a ten year strategic plan from 2001-2010 to improve the quality of education in the country (Ministry of Education and Training, 2006). As indicated by the website, the strategic plan lists goals for each level of education. Some of these include developing an accreditation system for all levels of education, correcting the management and provisions of diplomas and certificates, standardizing conditions on curricula, etc. However, this ten year strategic plan lasted through 2010, and problems still remained beyond the “end” of the plan’s timeline.
In the year 2000 The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) was formed between Vietnam and the United States (VEF, 2011). The goal of VEF is to improve the quality of higher education in Vietnam by providing scholarships for
Vietnamese undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students to study in the United States. When MOET’s strategic plan ended in 2010, VEF decided to formulate a five-year strategic plan for quality in higher education from 2011 to 2016. Their goals include fostering stronger relationships between national leaders, increase participation of U.S. and Vietnamese institutions, maximizing resources to increase scholarship opportunities, etc (VEF, 2011). This strategic plan may help in ameliorating the quality of higher education, yet it does not concern itself with lower levels of education.
The Ministry of Education and Training has established an accreditation agency to develop a better system of quality assurance. This will hopefully increase quality in the lower levels of education as the agency further develops.
Information from:
Ministry of Education and Training. “The Organization of Strategic Plan Implementation”. (2006). The Minitry of Education and Training. http://en.moet.gov.vn/?page=6.6&view=3462
VEF. “Vietnam Education Foundation Strategic Planning and Assessment CY 2011-2016”. (2011). Vietnam Education Foundation. http://home.vef.gov/download/VEF_Strategic_Plan_2011-2016-APPROVED-April_4_2011.pdf
