Vietnam in transition : education, culture and ethics : a reader and curriculum

Preface by Christoph StückelbergerThis book reflects on the process of constructing a curriculum for Vietnam studies designed for educators and researchers in the field of social studies. Based on a selection of scholarly works, proceeds of seminars and conferences on education inside and outside Vietnam, the English edition proposes an analysis on factors that affect the learning environment of Vietnam as a young nation in the context of globalisation. The texts presented cover a large spectrum of subjects, starting with the changes in the educational and cultural background of Cochinchina under the French colonial period, visiting the role of higher education in an economy in transition, including the major literary trends in the pre-1975 Southern Vietnam modernisation process, among others. Transcripts of seminars and conferences reflect participants’ visions on the future of Vietnamese education, with the editor’s comments as takeaways at the end of each section

The Internationalization of Higher Education in Southeast Asia: Three Case Studies from Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam

The increase of international economic collaboration as a result of globalization has an impact on various aspects of society at the regional level. To improve the effectiveness of such collaboration, the government of numerous countries begins to focus on internationalizing the education system as an approach to increase the level of global competence among the local population. Nevertheless, the results of integrating the international elements in each county are often varied whereby some countries are able to conform to the international policies according to the standards set by global agencies while others distort the international policies to conform to the local norms. This research attempts to provide a holistic explication of the process of internationalization of higher education in Southeast Asia. The purpose of the research is to utilize the findings as case studies for other universities in Southeast Asia that are experiencing the challenges of the internationalization process. Through the application of the grounded theory approach, the focus of the research is to identify how and why the selected universities are able to meet the international standards provided by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013. Moreover, the research also focuses on identifying the level of convergence and divergence in the process of internationalization among the selected universities through conducting a SWOT analysis. The results of the study present a substantive grounded theory on the significant factors positively influencing the internationalization process of the three universities from the perspectives of each university as a result of the coding process. Furthermore; the research findings identified factors such as the level of nationalism, the local political insurgency, and the increase of living expense as having a negative impact on the success of internationalizing higher education in Southeast Asia

The Socio-Political and Cultural Determinants of Diarrheal Disease in the Mekong Delta : From Discourse to Incidence

The annual diarrhoea deaths of children under 5 years old in the world are at the striking level of 1 - 3 million. Together with pneumonia, diarrhoea is one of the primary killers of children and especially the poor, with countries in Africa and South East Asia (SEA) bearing most of its global burden. Vietnam is a country which, despite its official exit from poverty during the 1990s, has been facing an average of over 1.5 million annual documented cases of diarrhoea for the period between 2005 and 2011. This high incidence of the disease persists despite the existence of known preventions, and thus remains an ongoing development concern. By examining the case of diarrheal disease in the region of Vietnam's Mekong Delta, the study strives to understand the factors that govern this essentially preventable health risk. The goal of this study is particularly to answer how cultural, social and political environments define and shape the spread of diarrheal disease in Can Tho City in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. In order to achieve this goal, the study draws greatly from the theoretical current of Political Ecology. Tracing the roots of inequalities that come together with the use of natural resources, political ecologists usually seek to answer how knowledge around these risks is being constructed. Through this questioning of socio-environmental problems, power emerges as an element which determines if and how policy will be turned into practice and whom this process will benefit. Similarly, as this study aims at locating ‘the political’ in disease, it asks questions such as: what guides the spread of disease physically, what hinders its control institutionally and why people are disempowered from being able to be adequately protected from it. Engaging with questions of how the risk of disease is constructed, communicated and understood, this study, therefore, also calls for a better understanding of the agents who produce, receive and circulate that knowledge. The field of Critical Medical Anthropology proves extremely useful in exploring human health in this regard, laying bare issues of access to wealth and power, relating health patterns to socio-political aspects and to the cultural meanings that are ascribed to disease. In the case of Vietnam, it was shown how the projected image of a modernized and developed state which procures for its citizens highly contradicts the reality of a degrading and increasingly unhealthy environment, with significant parts of the population being vulnerable and suffering from a disease that can be controlled. This now obvious contradiction, however, remains blurred within the country. The constructed discourse marginalises the poor and normalises suffering, while at the same time legitimising the state's abdication of its responsibility to provide basic healthcare and clean water; instead the state transfers these responsibilities to the people. The Vietnamese state has subtly, but methodically, designed its institutions in a way that they obey bureaucratic order and present proof of their prescribed activities; even if in reality, much of the policy is hardly ever turned into meaningful practice. As this study shows, even though indicators of disease (incidence and mortality) provide a measurable and logical way to assess health risks, this type of assessment defines the risk of disease in a very narrow manner. It is for this reason that biomedical experts, public health practitioners and international think-tanks on health need to engage in a sincere dialogue with the humanities, including ethnographers, sociologists and political scientists. Although the methodologies and the epistemologies followed in these widely-defined fields might diverge immensely, they share a common interest of acting for the improvement of human health. If such a claim holds truth, then there is a lot to be gained from interdisciplinary thinking and sharing

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Embracing proaction : the role of self-perception in Thailand's post-Cold War foreign policy

This thesis examines Thai foreign policy since the end of the Cold War as a focusing period. In its essence, it proposes that Thailand's post-Cold War foreign policy can be viewed as more proactive than what the conventional wisdom holds. Considering the strong influence of nationalistic sentiment amongst Thai people, this thesis suggests to look closely at the role of how this factor plays part in constructing Thailand's self-perception. In other words, it examines to what extent the way in which Thai policy-makers see their country, influences Thai foreign policy-making process and the possibility of transforming Thai foreign policy behaviour from reactive to proactive one. This thesis traces back the origin of this self-perception. It argues that Thailand's self-perception is a product of social construction throughout its modern nation­ state building process. It has resulted in a consensus view that Thailand and its people are in a better quality than its neighbouring countries. Coupled with its strong geopolitical position in mainland Southeast Asia, Thai policy-makers have been convinced that Thailand is a natural leading state in this area. This thesis argues that this self-perception has remained in its essence. The Cold War environment in which Thailand became a frontline state against communism accentuated this view whilst its surrounding neighbours were viewed with an antagonistic attitude. The prevailing globalisation since the end of the Cold War did not alter this self­ perception in its core. However, this thesis further contends that since the nature of the Thai state has transformed into the competition state model in which economic competitiveness replaced national security as an ultimate national interest. State's strategy then revolved into promoting its competitiveness. One way to achieve this goal was to promote economic co-operation. Operating within this logic, Thai decision-makers therefore maintained the perception that Thailand was in a suitable position politically and economically and should be a leading actor to foster regional co-operation. This thesis shows that Thailand's aspirations to play a leading role in Southeast Asia's development arguably reflect in its foreign policy throughout the post-Cold War period. Regional economic co-operation schemes preoccupied most of Thai governments' agenda since Chatichai Choonhavan until Thaksin Shinawatra. This thesis gives a detailed study of two major foreign policy ases in the Chuan government and the Thaksin government. They reveal that regional aspirations in both cases mattered in shaping foreign policy goals. Regardless of its success or failure to achieve these goals, this feature was a part of Thai foreign policy-making that shapes foreign policy direction and behaviour in the post-Cold War era. Therefore, this research finds that Thai foreign policy in the post-Cold War era has gradually become more proactive partly based on the self-perception and a re­ emergence of regional aspirations. Contrary to the conventional belief depicting Thai foreign policy as 'bamboo bending with the wind'-a policy of accommodating external forces in order to preserve its national security and status quo, this thesis demonstrates that Thailand has increasingly played a regional leading role. This leadership involved an active role in regional agenda setting and facilitating regional co-operation. This leading role is expected to illuminate Thailand's position in the region

Contextual factors affecting the development of digital library education in Vietnam

In Vietnam the need for digital library education (DLE) has increased significantly in the last two decades. Educating staff to establish and manage digital libraries has become a critical issue. However, there are no DLE programmes offered by library and information management (LIM) education providers in Vietnam and we do not know why this is the case. The aim of this study is to investigate and understand the factors affecting the development of DLE for LIM practitioners in Vietnam. The interpretive study employed a qualitative approach and its findings are based on the analysis of data gathered in 17 individual interviews and 11 focus groups with key stakeholders, as well as from documentary evidence. The stakeholders involved in this study include LIM practitioners, LIM managers, LIM lecturers, library school deans, government policy makers, academic library directors, professional association chairpersons and LIM students. To guide the data gathering and analysis, an initial conceptual model of factors affecting DLE was developed from three sources: Fullan’s Educational Change theory, Nowlen’s Performance Model in continuing education for practitioners, and Rogers’s Diffusion of Innovations theory. The study found seven major factors were affecting the development of DLE in Vietnam: the government, the information technology infrastructure, the prevailing social and cultural values, the efforts of change agents, the attitudes of key stakeholders, the characteristics of DLE design, and the nexus of the educational needs of library staff and the libraries in which they were working. Of these the government factor was the most influential. These factors were inter-related and affected DLE development at different levels. The initial conceptual model was revised based on the study's findings. The revised model provides a contribution to educational change theories relevant to the identification and understanding of factors affecting professional educational programmes in universities in developing countries. The study’s findings are also of value to governments, libraries, library schools and library associations for developing relevant policies and new curricula for DLE, and for establishing new professional development programmes in DLE for library staff

Global Software Development and Local Capacity Building : A means for improving Sustainability in Information Systems Implementations

Information system implementations in developing countries have demonstrated a tendency to fail to persist over time. This thesis addresses this issue of sustainability by exploring how global software development and local capacity building can improve an information system’s ability to endure. Following an action research approach; I have worked as a core developer in a global software development project and participated in an effort in Vietnam for establishing a local development team. My effort included training and employment of students at the project’s partner university, implementation of information systems, and practical problem-solving related to development. Firstly, this thesis explores challenges and solutions regarding global software development and capacity building in developing countries. The case study from Vietnam demonstrates that exposing students to realistic environments in terms of requirements and feedback from users of a real-life information system encouraged practical, independent problem, which eventually increased learning. Also, combining software development with implementation support entailed comprehension of the user domain and training in requirements management as well as personal ownership and commitment to the system. Secondly, this thesis explores challenges and solutions regarding adaptation of information systems to local contexts while maintaining global requirements. By means of experience from the global development effort I show that making solutions to local requirements as general as possible allows for including the functionality in the global solution and avoiding maintenance of local branches, and hence curb local-global tensions. Additionally, I show how flexible solutions to local requirements can benefit the global network if similar requirements are likely to emerge at other nodes. Eventually, an IS implementation project’s capability for local requirements gathering, contextual system adaptations, cultivation of learning processes, and establishment of persistent working routines has been identified in the literature as vital in order to achieve sustainability. From a pragmatic point of view; I demonstrate how and why establishing local development and implementation teams is a favourable approach for accomplishing these tasks