The Changing College President: Aligning Experience with Necessity
Drawing on data from the American College President Study’s (ACPS) 2022 survey, which included 880 presidents who listed their career information—half of whom had never occupied provost positions—as well as insights from interviews with six successful university presidents without provost experience, this report affirms that the provost pathway is not the only one that creates the “ideal” candidate for the college presidency.1 Other pathways also develop equally qualified and successful presidents who are able to meet the needs and demands of today’s colleges and universities.
FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’ COLLEGE CHOICES: Insights from the 2023 CIRP Freshman Survey
Utilizing data from the 2023 survey, this brief highlights student perspectives on making application decisions, financing college, and choosing to attend their particular institution. These data not only help senior leaders understand the key factors that contribute to students’ enrollment decisions but can also be used to address challenges or barriers to postsecondary access. TFS offers a snapshot of who students are before college and acts as a baseline to assess college impact.
FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENT, INSTITUTION, AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Insights from the 2023 HERI Faculty Survey
This brief highlights differences in faculty perceptions of their student-facing roles—including teaching and course delivery, student engagement, and engagement external to the classroom—to contribute to faculty recruitment, retention, and development; support strategic planning; and connect pedagogy to student learning experiences. Where it makes sense to do so, data are analyzed by respondents’ academic rank, tenure status, full-time or part-time status, and institutional control.
Validation of student engagement scale in higher education in Vietnam (V-EiHES): Relationship between engagement, academic achievement, and satisfaction
Student engagement is a critical factor in predicting academic achievement and success. To expand the available short, comprehensive, and effective scale in the literature in the Vietnamese language for measuring this construct, the present study aimed to adapt and initially validate the Vietnamese version of the Higher Education Student Engagement Scale (V_EiHES). This adaptation included rigorous psychometric analyses conducted with a sample of higher education students at a university in Vietnam. The analyses of EFA and CFA allowed the validation of the Vietnamese-adapted version of the EiHES. V-EiHES is a seven-dimension scale (academic learning, online engagement, social engagement with teachers, social engagement with peers, beyond classroom engagement, cognitive engagement, and affective engagement), which belongs to three aspects: cognitive, behavioral, and affective engagement. This study also examined the role of agentic engagement. The internal consistencies were adequate for all subscales, ranging from .75 to .91. It was also evident of strong measurement invariance across genders. Moreover, the student engagement scale was meaningfully associated with agentic engagement, academic achievement, and student satisfaction with the learning environment. The findings of this study demonstrate that the V-EiHES could be a valid and suitable instrument for assessing the construct in the Vietnamese higher education context.
Teacher development
This paper examines the professional learning opportunities for English teaching teachers under the National Foreign Language Project 2020 in Vietnam. The paper starts with a review of literature on multiple Engligh language education reforms in Vietnam, multiple policy strategies under Project 2020, especially professional development programs for teachers, and the failures in policy implementation. Using the seven elements of effective professional development by Darling-Hammond et al. (2017) as a conceptual framework, the paper explores different empericial studies on teachers’ reports and perspective about received training. The paper proposes a more systematic approach to professional development for teachers, tackling multiple levels of education reforms.
Key words: Professional Development, Project 2020, Vietnam
Growth Mindset
Nguyen, N.D.H. (2020). Embracing the Growth Mindset in the Classroom. English Teaching Forum, 58(1).
This teaching article stemmed from my diverse teaching experience with students across backgrounds both in Vietnam and Hong Kong; and my research interest in nurturing autonomy, self-awareness, and resilience for students. It presents a lesson plan to nurture the Growth Mindset - the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work - in the classroom.
Dual Language
Program
Nguyen, N.D.H. (2022). My classroom: Seattle, Washington. English Teaching Forum, 60(2). https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/60_2_pg39-43.pdf
Entering Irene Thanh Pham’s classroom, you would understand how the essences of Vietnamese and American cultures could intertwine at school. The classroom is vibrant with a student writing showcase, a quote in English from Martin Luther King, Jr. with an equivalent Vietnamese proverb on the wall, and a corner dedicated to books in both languages. Despite such a diverse dynamic, one unified theme underlies every aspect: identity awareness and educational equity under the form of languages and content mastery
Quality Assurance for Higher Education
Pham, H.T., & Nguyen, N.D.H. (2020). The Impact of Quality Assurance by AUN-QA Standards in the Vietnamese higher education: a Case Study. Journal of Education Science, 16. University of Education in HCMC.
Abstract: Currently, the AUN-QA curriculum evaluation standards are used the most by universities in Vietnam. This study examined the impact of evaluating study programmes using AUN-QA criteria at a higher education institution in Ho Chi Minh City. Research results show that students’ requests and the internal quality assurance system help improve teaching and learning methods, student assessment, and the development of the investigated program. It can be concluded that the internal quality assurance system contributed to positive changes observed at that university, partly helping to improve the quality of the study program.
Internal Quality Assurance for Higher Education
Under Review:
Pham, H. T, Nguyen, V. P, & Nguyen, N.D.H. (2021). IQA models: an introductory literature review and suggestions for developing an IQA model for Vietnamese higher education.
Abstract: Although being discussed widely at various levels of quality assurance networks in higher education worldwide, internal quality assurance (IQA) is perhaps still an abstract concept easy to discuss but difficult to develop. This paper aims at reviewing IQA models issued at various levels as well as reviewing studies related to IQA systems for best practices and suggestions for developing effective IQA. Based on the introductory review, this paper also aims at suggesting an IQA model for the Vietnamese higher education system. The review indicates that IQA is part of a QA framework and has been formalised in some countries, resulting in fulfilling accountability purposes rather than claimed improvement purposes. For Vietnam higher education, IQA model is suggested to complete one component of the Vietnam QA framework, yet the implementation requires contextualisation.
Key words: introductory review, IQA, compliance and accountability, quality culture, Vietnam
​Link: shorturl.at/dpI37