Hang Thi-Diem Ngo’s research while affiliated with Mount Carmel College of Nursing and other places

Hang Thi-Diem Ngo and Trong-Nghia Tran This chapter looks at the institutional transformation of higher education institutions (HEIs) through the case study of the program training Vietnamese language for international students in contemporary Vietnam. The investigation focuses on a HEI in the South of Vietnam, the birth and development of its Vietnamese Studies program, in which the role of Vietnamese language education has been key to the department’s success. The study is set in the context of post Doi Moi opening, with the surge of market-based economic, social mobility and globalization, evident in the increase of international student mobility to Vietnam. The chapter unpacks the practices of HEI who put effort in changing for good, including curriculum development, textbook writing, research collaboration, leadership innovation, and so on. Framing and linking these practices with the larger economic and social movements, the chapter highlights the creative and active agency of Vietnamese HEIs and their teachers in embracing the change and accommodating the demand of language education from those who come to Vietnam for work, travel, or education. Yet, it also points out the challenges of change and the stress on implementing changes. The chapter reveals how institutions can position themselves for opportunities and success through institutional transformation. It argues that HEIs in Vietnam can be proactive agents in conducting transformation for internationalization with the use of its national language programs. Despite the dual nature of these practices, it opens up the opportunities for a much more globally connected education system, where an emerging country like Vietnam can amplify its voice.

Vietnam at its initial announcement of independence, in 1945, had a remarkably high rate of illiteracy. The many wars that followed have contributed to slow down the government effort in delivering literacy education to its citizens. Yet, from the 1980s, Doi Moi marked the big shift in politics, economic policies, as well as educational practices. The privatization of economic factors in Doi Moi went with the liberation of social activities in other cultural fields. The late 1980s and 1990s saw the booming education market, which helped to increase the rate of literacy. Subsequently, in the second decade of twenty-first century, there has been another intensive innovation of education policies on literacy education, responding to increasing social and economic globalization. This chapter provides an overview of literacy education in modern Vietnam and brings those historical marking stones into a discussion of current challenges toward the future for Vietnamese literacy education. The chapter also unpacks current practices in the twenty-first century with some significant landmarks of development toward globalization. Taking the outline of literacy education in Vietnam to the point where it is today, the chapter shows a shift from the centralized nationalist discourse toward a more critical approach, looking outward to global standards and inter-connected settings.

This chapter looks at the institutional transformation of higher education institutions (HEIs) through the case study of the program training Vietnamese language for international students in contemporary Vietnam. The investigation focuses on a HEI in the South of Vietnam, the birth and development of its Vietnamese Studies program, in which the role of Vietnamese language education has been key to the department’s success. The study is set in the context of post- Doi Moi opening, with the surge of market-based economic, social mobility and globalization, evident in the increase of international student mobility to Vietnam. The chapter unpacks the practices of HEI who put effort in changing for good, including curriculum development, textbook writing, research collaboration, leadership innovation, and so on. Framing and linking these practices with the larger economic and social movements, the chapter highlights the creative and active agency of Vietnamese HEIs and their teachers in embracing the change and accommodating the demand of language education from those who come to Vietnam for work, travel, or education. Yet, it also points out the challenges of change and the stress on implementing changes. The chapter reveals how institutions can position themselves for opportunities and success through institutional transformation. It argues that HEIs in Vietnam can be proactive agents in conducting transformation for internationalization with the use of its national language programs. Despite the dual nature of these practices, it opens up the opportunities for a much more globally connected education system, where an emerging country like Vietnam can amplify its voice.