The Need For Academic Reform In Vietnamese Higher Education (VHE) To Align With Employers’ Expectations

The effort to comprehensively reform Vietnamese higher education (VHE) in order to produce an educated workforce better able to contribute to economic development is a major concern not only of educators and the Vietnamese government but also of employers, workers, and the general populace. Successful implementation of VHE’s “Vision 2020” relies on legal change together with macro-policies to support these educational initiatives. For the purposes of this study, however, the author focused on the current state of VHE in providing employable graduates to meet the needs of Vietnam’s knowledge economy in the 21st century. In particular, through an analysis of the advanced training programs (ATPs), the author argues that the wider use and expansion of ATPs is the key to the academic reform necessary to meet the expectations of Vietnamese employers in the 21st century