A case study: Institutional Factors Affecting Lecturers’ Research Engagement in A University in Mekong Delta region, Vietnam

This case study investigated institutional factors affecting university lecturers’ research engagement in a multidisciplinary higher education institution in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam. The study employed the interpretive qualitative case study approach with the use of three data collection tools (document analysis, surveys, and recorded semi-structured interviews). In this paper, the authors presented the findings of document analysis and the recorded semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that institutional factors affecting lecturers’ research engagement in this studied university included governmental policies, funding and structure, resources, teaching loads, leadership and research environment. The paper suggested some recommendations to foster the lecturers’ research engagement in this university

Readiness of Digital Transformation in Vietnamese Universities

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Viet Nam higher education has both highlighted and accelerated the digital transformation agenda at universities. National level policy has also shaped and driven forward the digital transformation agenda. Positive and rapid progress has been made to date. Some universities were actively engaged in this process prior to Covid-19 through the transformation of institutional processes and systems, engaging in a range of collaborative partnerships focused on digital transformation nationally, regionally and internationally and providing a range of support for students and staff. However, a range of challenges remain both nationally and in particular for those institutions that have only recently embarked on digital transformation. The report presents a snapshot of the current state, and potential, of digital transformation in Viet Nam higher education and current collaboration with UK universities to support the digital transformation agenda. A holistic approach to address national issues accompanied by increased support to ensure that all HEIs, and their staff and students, are actively involved and supported appropriately in this process is key. Ensuring that support is equitably distributed is also key to ensure that all universities are able to effectively embark on their own digital transformation journey and participate in a range of collaborations. This report makes a series of recommendations and also suggests a series of recommendations for collaboration to support different types of activity between UK and Viet Nam universities

International Students in the UK : how can we give them a better experience?

This paper focuses on practical actions that can be taken to improve the learning experience of international students in the UK. Informed by personal experience in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, supplemented by an extensive literature search, a series of actions are recommended to improve the learning experience of international students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The suggested actions cover issues for individual lecturers, Departments, Higher Education Institutions and national level bodies. The approach taken is to incorporate personal reflection and personal views and the ideas of writers in the field. The paper is written in the first person and sets out the author’s wish list of ideas, hopes and aspirations for the future, from the perspective of a teaching fellow working in a research focussed University in the UK

Internationalisation and Equality and Diversity in Higher Education: Merging Identities

Summary This project arises out of Eade and Peacock’s (2009) scoping report, commissioned by Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) entitled Internationalising equality and equalising internationalisation: The intersection between internationalisation and Equality and Diversity in higher education. The principal aim of the current study is to identify the advantages of building on the intersection of Internationalisation and E and D agendas, through an exploration of the effective mechanisms for linking E and D and internationalisation policies, structures and activities within a small sample of heterogenous HE institutions located in Australia, England and Wales. Reflecting a multi-level and mixed-method approach this report provides an in-depth account of awareness, commitment, understanding and involvement of domestic and international staff and students, and other key players, in Internationalisation and Equality and Diversity. This account is supported by examples of good practice and synergy and consideration of areas of potential improvement in the two fields. The mixed-method approach involves desk research to consider the influence of geographical location, profile and size on rationales for internationalisation and commitment to Equality and Diversity, complemented by interviews of key personnel to provide insights regarding performance, accessibility etc. Data regarding staff and student awareness, perceptions and dispositions is captured via online survey and focus groups. Finally a review of the literature supports data interpretation by suggesting emergent key themes. Institutional challenges are identified within the context of what may be learned from other organisational forms. A central focus is the student learning experience, with discussions embracing key issues such as competing perspectives on learner support models, the association between inclusive curricula and multicultural education and attendant barriers and tensions. Extensive and systematic analysis of institutional policy in Internationalisation and Equality and Diversity within specific local contexts provides substantial evidence of how current and future direction is shaped by the socio-economic and cultural make-up of surrounding communities, tempered by institutional aspirations in the global arena. The insights of senior managers provide the personal accounts and deep insights into the ongoing strategic initiatives and perceived challenges which determine the practice which emerges from the rhetoric of policy statements. The in-depth exploration of awareness, perceptions and dispositions of staff and students serves to highlight a striking continuity of perspective across the range of stakeholders, within different institutions which approach Internationalisation and Equality and Diversity from widely contrasting positions vis-à-vis locality, status, market position and relative size. Seemingly, any shortcomings of policy to practice transfer are not the outcome of a lack of will on the part of those who have engaged in this research, but rather reflect the complexity of finding the most appropriate way, whether senior manager, teacher, support and development professional, student or other stakeholder. The challenges of internationalisation and Equality and Diversity simply manifest themselves in different ways at different levels within different institutional contexts and key messages from this research include for example: • The need to manage structural diversity within the framework of a broadly-based business-case approach in order to maintain internal cohesion and external credibility. Such an approach should acknowledge diversity of mission which derives from the nature of the global-local interface, profile, status etc. • Broad awareness of the potential synergies between Internationalisation and E and D within a framework of inclusive practice • Broad consensus surrounding the merits of inclusion embodying both local and global dimensions. At this level, diversity of mission, location, status etc. becomes irrelevant. Universities with different cultures can learn much from each other since inclusion should be the response of all institutions recruiting international and/or students from a diversity of cultural, ethnic, religious, socio-economic etc. backgrounds • Awareness of tensions at policy and practice levels, which might be eased by appropriate organisational structures and processes designed specifically to embed synergy across institutions • Acknowledgement of the need to embed the concept of synergy at three levels of diversity: structural (demographic mix); classroom (curriculum and pedagogies) and interactional (informal and social settings) • The significance of readily accessible research-informed and evidence-based practice to raise awareness, build confidence, promote engagement and inform future direction within cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional context

Theoretical Review on Indonesian Academic Legal Education in Conjunction with ASEAN Economic Community Era

Indonesia will be welcoming the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 as a multilateral agreement to create integrated regions such as: (a) a single market and production base, (b) a highly competitive economic region, (c) a region of equitable economic development, and (d) a region fully integrated into the global economy. These characteristics are interrelated and mutually reinforcing in a sense that overall development would not be complete without total completion of the previous sector. This article discusses the participation of Indonesia as part of ASEAN as a single market and production base, through free flow of services which targets higher education in law. The author researched that Indonesian higher education system still faces issues, especially in legal education. Compared to other states that manages higher education in a relatively guided term, Indonesian legal education is still regulated generally by the government, operated by state and private educational entity, and further trained by profession organization. Indonesian legal education standard has not been supported by proper accreditation bureaucracy from BAN-PT or fair treatment from the government between state and private university. As a result, the quality of Indonesian law graduate still varies. Indonesian legal education is special in nature since it is considered profession and regulated by code of ethic. According to the author, legal education should be integrated with profession organization so that upon graduation, law graduates can directly conduct internship according to their desired profession and compete against ASEAN law graduates

Internationalisation of the business curriculum in Australian and Vietnamese universities

This study found that internationalisation of higher education curriculum takes different forms in different national contexts. Drawing on practice architectures theory and the conceptualisation of curriculum as knowing-acting-being, the study also revealed how the structural conditions and institutional arrangements for curriculum internationalisation nurture or constrain academics’ practices and students’ becoming

Social media adoption and employability performance of Universities

This paper is part of series of papers of ongoing research proposing social media advancement in value creation in higher education institutions with a focus on the employability of students as well as employability performance of the Higher Education Institutions. The main purpose of the study was to explore the state of art practices concerning social media adoption in higher education and employability performance of universities. The study used a traditional literature review approach to conduct the exploratory study, where the literal sources selected were representative of the elements under investigation. The study established that social media is a tool that has been used in Higher Education Institutions to build the employability attributes of students. The social media adoption practices were categorized under three themes, that is, student-instructor level, faculty level, and holistic level practices. It was further identified that social media cannot be utilized solely owing to its constraining features. The study provides an argument for the advancement of social media through integration with more advanced strategic tools. The implications of these findings as well as directions of future studies are also mentioned