Governance and the governance of higher education in Vietnam

In Vietnam today there is great concern as well as debate about the future of the country’s higher education system and the way to address perceived inadequacies in accessibility and quality, apart from the concern about the relevance of higher education. This chapter highlights attributes of governance in Vietnam and in its higher education system. Vietnam’s higher education system was initially designed to supply a small coterie of scientists and intelligentsia for the needs of state-socialist planned economy. It is now being reformed into a mass education system with the ability to meet the needs of an internationally oriented market economy. Many of the obstacles Vietnam faces concern not resources but governance. “Controlism,” perverse incentives that reward quantity over quality, and commercialization, all threaten the efficacy of present reform efforts. There is considerable disunity among education officials about how best to reform the governance of higher education in Vietnam.