Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia
This paper investigates the context of Vietnamese higher education currently in the first stage of developing and introducing quality teaching assurance systems. The particular challenges encountered during this early period will be illustrated through preliminary results of the author’s research on teachers and heads at three departments in three Vietnamese universities. Issues relating to quality teaching evaluation will be examined in relation to common concerns represented in current literature. Then, the factors contributing to these issues are identified and explained. Teachers’ perspectives will be emphasized and key roles of middle managers will be analysed. The findings of this paper introduce core conditions that need to be satisfied if effective systems of quality teaching evaluation in Vietnamese higher education institutions are to be developed. These conditions are categorised into four major clusters that follow the stages of developing, introducing, and implementing quality evaluation systems, and a fundamental condition underlying all stages.
Key words: quality assurance; teaching evaluation; Vietnam higher education