It’s unusual for a US institution of higher education to send a delegation consisting of its president, a dean and a director of international education to Vietnam.  For an entire week.  But that’s exactly what The College of St. Scholastica (CSS) did in March.  CSS, which was founded in 1912, is a Catholic (Benedictine) institution located in Duluth, Minnesota (MN), where it is situated in a 200-acre forest overlooking Lake Superior.  U.S. News & World Report magazine consistently ranks the college among the best colleges and universities in the region for academic excellence.  The Washington Post named St. Scholastica one of the “hidden gems” in US higher education based on rankings done by college advisors from across the country.  Here are some more CSS facts and figures:

• programs in the sciences, management, international business, psychology, mathematics, computer information science, economics, communications, marketing, business, social work and many other traditional liberal arts and humanities majors
• total enrollment of 4,100 students across five campuses in MN evenly divided between traditional undergraduates in Duluth and non-traditional students in graduate programs, accelerated evening programs and online programs at all five campuses
• 140 students from more than 40 countries

Who and Why

• Dr. Larry Goodwin, President
• Dr. Kurt Linberg, Dean, School of Business and Technology
• Mr. Thomas Homan, Director of International Education

Dr. Goodwin speaking with students at Dinh Thien Ly School in HCMC.

After a meeting at Ton Duc Thang University in HCMC with Dr. Le Vinh Danh, President (middle), Mme Ton Nu Thi Ninh, Senior Advisor to University President and President of Institute for International Studies and Exchange (3rd from right) and staff.

 The purpose of their trip was “to gain a better understanding of the education landscape in Vietnam and the opportunities available not only to recruit students but also relative to study abroad opportunities for our own students and faculty.  Our hope is to come away with a better understanding of Vietnam, its institutions, its national and domestic concerns and its student populations.” 

As Dr. Goodwin wrote in an article that recently appeared in a college publication, this was more than a business trip; it was personal.  Forty three years ago I was a reluctant warrior stationed in Quang Tri just south of the DMZ, interrogating captured and wounded North Vietnamese soldiers and Viet Cong at a brigade field hospital.  During my year deployment, I met ‘the enemy,’ men swept up, like me, in the unfolding struggle.  I spent three days with a high school mathematics teacher from Hanoi, a husband and father, with whom I might have been friends in other circumstances.  I saw grievously wounded men, one in my arms, die. 

Then a young soldier; now a seasoned educator.  This return was a chance to join two chapters of my life together, to connect me to myself.  I will be processing impressions and feelings for a long time, but one thing is already absolutely clear: This journey only deepened my conviction about the importance of the St. Scholastica mission.  Catholic Benedictine education is about the transformation of the human person; for us, education is a moral as well as an intellectual project.  Clear and critical thinking is important; so are imagination, compassion and courage.  Whole-person education really matters.  

Dr. Goodwin speaking to students at the end of an information exchange in Capstone Vietnam’s HCMC office.

TV show taping. From left to right: Ha Quyen, host; Larry Goodwin; Tom Homan and Kurt Linberg.

The Schedule

My staff and I had the privilege of spending the entire week with our CSS colleagues.  For them it was the ultimate experiential learning opportunity, the bookends of which consisted of a HCMC airport pick-up on Saturday evening and a Hanoi departure Sunday a week later. 

During that time, they had a country briefing, met with an American high school teacher and his class at a well-known Vietnamese school, spoke with US Commercial Service colleagues in the Consulate General, visited the University of Economics – HCMC, Ton Duc Thang University, the Vietnam International Education Development (VIED) division of the Ministry of Education and Training, two Hanoi universities and two highly regarded high schools, along with meetings at the US Embassy, AmCham-Hanoi, and with a US expat who runs a successful software engineering firm. 

In addition, they participated in a TV show taping and an information exchange with students in Capstone’s HCMC office, as well as an information session for interested students and parents in our Hanoi office to wrap up the week.  Dr. Goodwin made a side trip to Quang Tri province via Hue that weekend while Dr. Linberg and Mr. Homan traveled to Ha Long Bay.

That eventful week was a crash course in Vietnamese society and culture that provided our colleagues with the opportunity to meet with a variety of people in the education and business sectors, all of which will help them decide what role Vietnam should play in the College’s internationalization strategy and what the next steps for CSS should be in Vietnam. 

MAA

The “Nam,” as some of you still think of it, this country of your dreams and your nightmares, this place in time and mind that will forever be a part of you psychologically, spiritually and, in some cases, physically, survived everything our country threw at it. The story of Việt Nam is one of the great and glorious sagas of history, a nation that exemplifies in nearly ideal terms the resilience, courage, and strength of the human spirit.

So come (back), be ennobled, uplifted and, quite possibly, transformed. The moment you step off the plane you will begin to experience the “new history” that is Vietnam today; your old memories will be overlaid with new ones. Vietnam and its people may even cast their spell on you and inspire you to join your fellow veterans in the U.S. and in-country who are working alongside Vietnamese colleagues to help mitigate the impact of war legacies.

Click here to read the rest of this 29 April 2013 Huffington Post essay.

MAA

This headline  in a recent New York Times article caught my attention.  Washington state ranks 11th in international enrollment, according the 2012 Open Doors report, with 20,198 foreign students, an increase of 13.4% over the previous year.  Vietnam ranks 3rd with 8.2% of total enrollment at WA colleges and universities.  (In case you’re counting, that’s over 10% of all Vietnamese students in the US in 2011/12.) 

The total economic impact is a cool half a billion dollars ($533.8 million).  But that’s not enough in these fiscally challenged times.  Some WA state legislators want to increase that amount by adding a 20% tuition surcharge for international students that they claim would generate an additional $60 million over the next two years. 

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

Links to the Study Washington website.

So let me get this straight.  This proposed surcharge would generate $30 million a year when the economic impact is already over $500 million.  As we all know, the competition for international students is fierce, which means international students have other less expensive choices in the top ten host states, not to mention 40 other states.  (One exception is the high school completion program, which is unique to WA.)  A University of WA spokesman stated the obvious when he said “We think it would price international students out of our market because they have lots of choices about where to go.”  Here are some comments from other WA higher ed colleagues: 

• While the State would receive additional funds from the proposed tuition surcharge, individual schools would receive less tuition revenue due to the lower enrollment.  And in these already tough budget times, that is not a popular or desirable outcome. 
• ​I’ve heard that the college presidents as well of all of us involved are of course opposed to this idea as well as any idea that puts any more financial burden on students.  We also don’t want to kill our place in the market, which surely this would do.
• Colossally bad idea for so many reasons.

University of Washington:  Blowing with the Wind

Like other public institutions of higher education in the US, the cost of tuition has been shifted from the state (i.e., tax dollars) to students.  For example, in 1990 WA state funding was 17k per student – the state paid 82% and the student 18%.  In 2013, funding per student will be about 16.8k – the state will pay 29% and the student 71%.   

UW’s total cost already places in solidly in the ranks of many of the nation’s private colleges and universities.  A 20% surcharge would only exacerbate this problem.  If this proposal becomes a reality, it will be an object lesson in shooting oneself in the foot. 

MAA

No, I’ m not referring to the number of subscribers to my humble blog but to members of VietAbroader (VA), a student-run, non-profit organization that empowers Vietnamese youth to contribute to the sustainable development of Vietnam.  It was founded by a small group of Vietnamese students studying in the US at the time.  Congratulations to them and the many young leaders they have inspired, who have transformed VA from an online forum to Vietnam’s most famous and highly respected student organization. 

In addition to the online forum, VietAbroader is known for its annual summer study abroad conferences, VApedia, a wikipedia of information, advice and guidance covering admission, financial aid, life abroad, visas, and the VietAbroader Club, which initiates workshops and projects that help other high school students develop critical skills and make meaningful contributions to their local community.

According to SimilarWeb, which measures and analyzes web traffic, VA ranked 582,356 worldwide and 7,223 in Vietnam last month.  Those statistics are wildly impressive when you consider that there over 600 million websites in the world and that Vietnam has an Internet penetration rate of about 35%.     

Disclosure:  I am proud to be one of two VietAbroader advisers, a position I have held almost since the organization’s founding.  My company, Capstone Vietnam, has been a proud corporate sponsor of the VA’s summer study abroad conference the last few years. 

MAA

Reblogged from Diplopundit:

For information about Capstone Vietnam, of which I’m managing director, and some upcoming events, including our fall 2013 StudyUSA Higher Education and Community College Fairs, follow these links.  The higher ed fairs will take place on September 15, 17 and 19 in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Danang and Hanoi, respectively, while the community colleges fairs will be held on September 29 and October 1, 3 and 5 in  Haiphong, Hanoi, Danang and HCMC. 

I look forward to hearing from you and meeting many of you at the NAFSA annual conference and other events.  Please feel free to drop me a line, if you have any questions. 

MAA

Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) recently announced plans to reduce enrollment at 23 universities and colleges.  According to Bui Van Ga, a vice minister, the intent of the policy is to “focus on quality instead of quantity.”  Enrollment quotas will be reduced between 10% and 100% at the 23 institutions “because of failures to meet required conditions on lecturers and facilities.”  MoET also announced that it would oppose any plans to establish new universities between now and 2020.  (Read this article to learn more.)

Overexpansion

There are currently 419 universities and colleges in Vietnam, including 82 private institutions producing 14% of all graduates, according to MoET.  Among these are 204 universities and 215 colleges.  This is extraordinary when you consider that Vietnam still has an elite higher education system.  Universities offer four-year bachelor’s degrees while colleges offer three-year vocational programs.  The latter are higher status and more prestigious.  In fact, the goal of some colleges is to be “upgraded” to a university. 

The 2012 enrollment was 2,204,313, of whom 66% were enrolled at a university and 34% at a college.  According to UNESCO, the gross enrollment ratio, which is the total enrollment in tertiary education expressed as a percentage of the total population of the five-year age group following on from secondary school completion , was 22% in 2010,  20% in 2009 and 19% in 2008.  To this in perspective there were 153 institutions in 1999/00 (22 non-public) with an enrollment of 893,754 and 230 in 2004/05 (29 non-public) with an enrollment of 1,319,754. 

Like many other aspects of Vietnamese society, there has been a mad rush to make up for lost time, take advantage of a plethora of new opportunities and respond to a skyrocketing demand for education and training- without the requisite infrastructure or quality control systems.  Not surprisingly, one end result has been “deficiencies in infrastructure and teaching staff,” one of the stated reasons for the enrollment freeze. 

In Vietnam “private” in higher education generally means for-profit.  Investors are looking for healthy and quick returns on their investment, which means that quality often suffers.  (Does this scenario sound familiar in other countries?)  As the article points out, few private institutions reached their quotas with most falling in the 30% to 60% range.   (For more information and  various stakeholder opinions about private institutions, check out this article, Private universities seek better treatment, which appeared on 4 April 2013.)

A Catch-22 Situation

Put simply, Vietnamese higher education is between a rock and a hard place.  It needs to improve quality, which can be addressed with increased funding and specific policy changes, but it will not happen overnight.  On the other hand, the number of students who want to pursue higher education continues to rise.  The government’s plan to reduce enrollments is probably a step in the right direction, given the system’s inability to provide quality education to currently enrolled students.  It is an admission that much of the recent growth has been uncontrolled.  The “gravy train” has also been derailed for some private schools.   Finally, another related issue is the number of students studying “academic” subjects vs. the need for more to study vocational subjects. 

Implications for Overseas Study

It remains to be seen how this contraction will influence the number of Vietnamese students studying overseas.  For those who choose (or are obliged) to study at a college (vs. a university), the impact should be non-existent.  (For a quick overview of the difference between a university and a college, check out this Wikipedia entry about Education in Vietnam.)  Limits on access to private schools may be an impetus for more students of means to select an overseas study option.  Stay tuned.   

MAA

This piece about the US commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War was published in The Huffington Post blog on 9 April 2013.  I introduced it with this excerpt from a 2003 essay written by war veteran Steve Banko:

One of our victims was searched when the shooting stopped and the bleeding continued and was found to be in possession of a medal. Our interpreter told us it was for heroism at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu fourteen years previous. While we were sent to war to fight communism, he had fought his whole life for his country’s right to self-determination. We traveled 12,000 miles to kill him for that. — From I Would Rather Die Alone — for Peace: A Soldier’s Dream by Steve Banko, 2003

Click here to read the rest of the article.

MAA

by Hiep Pham, 6 April 2013, Issue No: 266

Hai Tran never imagined, when he waved farewell to his parents at the boarding gate of Vietnam’s Noi Bai airport in 1998 to study information technology at a Russian university, that it was the start of a 15-year adventure in several foreign countries.
 
The recipient of a government scholarship, he expected to return to Vietnam within two years of graduating – a condition of the scholarship programme. But one way or another, Hai dodged the rule, moving to Canada after graduation and then to the United States, where he still works.
 
“When you are 23 your perspective on life is different to when you were 18 or 19. You are thinking about how to support your parents, how to prepare to finance your own family in the short term and, ultimately, how to avoid the knowledge and skills acquired at university being wasted,” Hai told University World News.
 
“If I returned to Vietnam in 2003 or 2004, how could I achieve all of my desires? I did not have a house in a big city like Hanoi and my parents were only farmers,” Hai said.
 
He is not unusual among Vietnamese born after the Vietnam war, which ended in 1975, who had opportunities to study abroad and never returned. Unofficial data estimates that study-abroad students who stayed overseas number between 10,000 and 20,000.
 
According to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, there are nearly 4.5 million Vietnamese living around the world, including 400,000 who have bachelor and higher degrees – a huge brain drain for the country.
 
In March 2004, Vietnam’s Communist Party enacted Resolution 36 on Overseas Vietnamese. Its objective was to persuade Vietnamese abroad to come back to support development in every sector, including in the economy, science and culture.

Click here to read the rest of this article, which appeared in University World News – The Global Window on Higher Education.

Note:  This is one story but not the whole story.  Stay tuned.  MAA

In April 2011, representatives from over 60 U.S. colleges and universities participated in a week-long tour of Vietnam and Indonesia as part of the Obama administration’s initiative to multiply U.S. exports, including higher education, over the next five years. As Vietnam experiences a rapid economic growth, second only to China, college applications from Vietnam have appeared in admissions offices across the U.S. in increasing numbers. This webinar will feature an overview of the system of education, institution recognition, grading scales, and degree requirements, as well as demonstrate the WES methodology when authenticating academic credentials from Vietnam.

Date: Friday, June 7, 2013
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 PM EDT
Registration Cost: FREE
Contact:  kre[AT]wes.org

There will be ample time afforded for discussion and questions.  All registrants will receive a hyperlink to the recorded session, as well as a PDF version of the presentation and sample documents. Space is limited. If event capacity is reached, you may be added to a wait list.

Registration is limited to participants representing colleges or universities.