Article by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Kim Son (Vice Principal) at the scientific conference "Quality culture in universities" held on October 20, 2011.
1. Quality culture in universities
The importance of cultural concepts in education has increased since the 1990s and into the 21st century. One of the cultural concepts in education is “quality culture”. People have different understandings of quality, for example: (1)
Quality is excellence. In this conception, high standards of quality are valued. Quality must be the best, the most excellent. It is possible to speak of something that has quality and something that is of higher quality. People often talk about improving quality, which means promoting excellence. Of course, everyone wants to do their best to achieve quality. But there is no country where all universities are excellent. The second understanding (2)
quality is fitness for purpose. With this conception of quality, the question is whether a university achieves the goals it sets. In this understanding, the concern is with the quality of processes. This conception of quality is development-oriented. But, can this approach ensure quality if a university sets goals that are too low and can be achieved easily? This means that we must not only discuss fitness for purpose but also fitness for purpose. The third conception (3)
Quality is added value.This concept emphasizes what happens to the students. Of course, education is student-oriented. Accordingly, quality means the value added to the students in education and training. It is the method of creating learning outcomes and recognizing the achievements of graduates. The basic question of quality would be: “What did the student learn in school?”. The fourth concept is
Quality is the value for money. This concept emphasizes competence. It measures outputs against inputs. This is the concept supported by governments. This concept is considered to not measure customer satisfaction. Along with the rapid increase in the concept of “students as customers”, quality is described as: “something has quality when it meets the expectations of customers, quality is customer satisfaction”. There are also many other concepts. There are also many inconsistent opinions about quality culture. One of the definitions has affirmed that “
Quality culture is a system of organizational values that creates an environment conducive to the establishment and continuous improvement of quality”. *Based on this understanding of quality culture, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has been forming a new system of values to create an environment for creating and improving quality. In fact, these values are becoming a cultural feature of the University.
2. Initial steps in building a culture of quality at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities
2.1. Building a culture of quality is closely linked to ensuring the quality of teaching and learning of teachers and students.For a long time, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has affirmed
Quality is the school's lifebloodOn that basis, the School is moving to
University management takes university quality management as the core. Imbued with Article 15 of the Education Law affirms: “
Teachers play a decisive role in ensuring the quality of education", The school has evaluated the lecturers' lectures. If at the beginning there were many different opinions, up to now, this activity has become a regular and continuous activity; a new culture is forming. A new value is being affirmed. Specifically, the school has collected students' opinions on the quality of teaching.
Foreign languages,Process and complete the results of foreign language teaching quality assessment.
46 lecturers.
- During the 2007-2008 school year,conducted a survey of students' opinions on the quality of lectures at
08 Departments:Oriental Studies, Psychology, Journalism, Tourism, Literature, International Studies, Archives and Office Administration, Information - Library. Processing and completing quality assessment results
47 lectures;Rated by 4077/4820 current students (accounting for 92% of total students).
- School year 2008-2009:Semester I of the 2008-2009 school year, a survey of 2,289 students evaluated 32 lectures by lecturers in the faculties of Tourism, History, Journalism and Communication, Literature, Library Information, and Political Science. Semester II
2008-2009: Survey of 3526 students evaluating lectures of lecturers of 8 faculties: Literature, International Studies, Languages, Tourism Studies, Sociology, Philosophy, Library Information; Archives and Office Administration. - In particular, in the 2009-2010 school year, the School conducted a survey of students' opinions on
18,508Number of students evaluating the lectures of lecturers of 13 faculties: Faculty of Journalism and Communication; Faculty of Tourism Studies; Faculty of Oriental Studies; Faculty of History; Faculty of Archives and Office Management; Faculty of International Studies; Faculty of Linguistics; Department of Political Science; Faculty of Psychology; Faculty of Sociology; Faculty of Management Science; Faculty of Philosophy; Faculty of Literature. The evaluation survey results show that the teaching quality of lecturers in the school has improved each semester and each school year. This can be seen through the results below:
|
School year |
School average score |
| 1 |
2007-2008 |
3.80 |
| 2 |
2008-2009 |
3.95 |
| 3 |
2009-2010 |
4.13 |
2.2. Quality culture is closely linked to quality assurance of faculties/disciplines/training programs.Nowadays, program evaluation and evaluation of universities and institutes have been present in most countries with higher education systems. Universities operate in an international competitive environment. Students can study at different universities. They can study at one university and then transfer to another. Therefore, unifying the program of the same training major is an objective requirement of training. In recent years, the reality shows that the international cooperation activities of the University have both expanded the scope of partners and improved the quality of cooperation programs. In order to develop training to meet the needs of society and international integration, the University has implemented Vietnamese studies training programs with universities in the US, Korea, China and Japan in the form of certificates (courses from 3 months, 6 months to 1 year) and university degrees (according to the 2+2 method). The number of foreign students studying joint training programs has increased from 47 students in the 2003-2004 school year to 350 students in the 2008-2009 school year. In addition, every year there are about 250 foreign students studying Vietnamese Language and Culture at the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language of the school, bringing the total number of students studying at the school in the 2008-2009 school year to 650 students. The total number of foreign students studying on their own in the 3 years (2005-2009) is more than 1,500 students. In the 2010-2011 school year alone, the school coordinated with partners to organize short-term training programs for 682 foreign students. In addition, the School also focuses on internationalizing its training programs through opening joint master's training programs such as the Master's program in Organizational Management, Master's program in Developmental Psychology and Master's program in Tourism Management with degrees awarded by Toulouse 2 University (France). The form of joint postgraduate training has created opportunities for the school's lecturers to access advanced foreign teaching content and methods. The number of students studying in joint postgraduate training programs has increased, from 21 students in 2007 to 83 students in the 2008 academic year. The science and technology management training program cooperates with Lund University, Sweden with a total of 143 postgraduate students. To contribute to improving the quality of training and creating conditions for staff and students of the School to grasp updated information, the School has proactively invited more than 70 foreign experts to teach within 3 years 2006-2009. Students of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and International Studies are often transferred to study abroad. In the 2010-2011 academic year, the School received 851 international scientists and students to attend seminars, scientific exchanges, internships, study and research; 138 staff and students of the University (121 staff and 17 students) were facilitated and sent to scientific exchanges, attend seminars, research and study abroad. Implementing the plan of Hanoi National University, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities is implementing an international training program (16+23). A program is understood in a broad sense as the training program of prestigious foreign universities in the group of 500 universities in the world that has been adjusted to suit the requirements of Vietnam. The above reality raises the issue of mutual recognition of degrees. In order to combine and link training, academies and universities must establish a basic foundation of training programs so that students can transfer within a country and within schools in the region and the world. Furthermore, program evaluation creates a prerequisite for two other quality assurance activities: benchmarking and ranking. Program evaluation is also an objective requirement of each university within Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU). The mission and goals of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities have been clearly stated, the school must “
become one of the leading centers for university and postgraduate training and scientific research with high quality in the system of training and research facilities; create the premises to catch up with the university level of advanced countries in the region and the world in the next decade; practically and effectively serve the cause of national construction; build the capital."The mission or task of a university must first and foremost be linked to the training task. On the basis of the mission and goals, the university must determine the goals in the training program. From the training goals, training strategies are established, on that basis, the training strategy is implemented. In the process of implementing the strategy, problems arise that require decisions to improve the training program accordingly. The purpose of these basic requirements is to ensure that the school has an effective approach in carrying out its tasks. In the process of evaluation and planning, the commitment to development and improvement plays a central role. The evaluation process is a continuous, cyclical process, requiring flexibility, high connectivity and quick response, etc. The method of evaluating the effectiveness of educational activities of universities includes the evaluation of programs. It is closely linked to the decision-making process, including decisions on financial planning for the unit. Although the above requirements must be met, not all aspects and elements of the system must be applied simultaneously or annually. However, activities in the unit's assessment and planning system must be scheduled periodically. Because the results of those assessments can be used to build unit development plans. Accordingly, the training process is closely linked to the assessment process.
| Train |
Evaluate |
| Mission, training goals and strategies of the school |
Evaluate training requirements, objectives, priority objectives, mandatory objectives and issues related to training objectives |
| Design training strategies that align with school goals |
Consider different training strategies, compare training designs with standards to evaluate the feasibility and likelihood of success of the designed strategies. |
| Training Implementation |
Monitor and review the implementation of training strategies and programs, identify problems and review needs, assess whether set objectives have been achieved.... |
| Decide whether to continue, shorten, or extend training |
Identify current and emerging needs, highlight the benefits of training, reconceptualize problems, and review needs to make training more useful. |
Evaluation of training programs for the above reasons becomes an objective requirement to ensure the mission and tasks of the school. Therefore, in addition to the high-quality program of the Linguistics major evaluated according to the requirements of the National University, the school is currently evaluating the training programs of four majors:
- Tourism Studies
- History
- Archives and Office Administration
- International Studies
2.3. Quality culture is associated with improving and enhancing training quality.The University of Social Sciences and Humanities has been evaluated and accredited. After the evaluation, the University has based on the evaluation opinions of the external evaluation team to propose solutions; for example, in Standard 4 on training activities, the external evaluation team pointed out the following shortcomings of the University:
“Innovation in teaching methods is not strong; score management is not scientific"and recommended to the school:
“The plan to switch to a credit-based system is a good opportunity to expand innovation in teaching methods, especially active teaching methods; It is necessary to have a consistent training management program in the school: data needs to be centralized at one point and units can access it to get information or update information.”
The school has a solution:
Convert training method from year-based training to credit-based training.The transition to credit-based training has created favorable conditions for the School to carry out articulation, cooperation, and credit transfer with foreign universities, and exchange students on the basis of mutual recognition of some subjects.
Innovation in teaching methods:The innovation of teaching and learning methods of the staff and students of the School has been strongly and extensively implemented. Teaching according to the outline is a mandatory regulation for all lecturers teaching subjects at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. As mentioned above, in recent years, the collection of students' opinions on the teaching activities of lecturers, teaching methods and a series of other related issues has received special attention from the School and is organized regularly in most units.
Improve assessment and inspection work:The methods and processes of testing and assessment are also diversified, ensuring continuity, seriousness and objectivity in accordance with training regulations; the work of invigilation and grading in all exams/tests is carried out seriously; the forms of exams/tests have assessed the knowledge and skills of learners in each subject. Along with the implementation of credit-based training management software, issues related to the announcement and storage of learning results, diplomas and certificates of students are also improved in a more complete and clear manner. The scores of learners at the end of each semester and at the end of the course are announced promptly, accurately and in accordance with regulations.
Strengthening innovation in training information work:The school has implemented a plan to widely communicate the credit-based training method to students; promote the activeness of the academic advisory team; strengthen cooperation in training exchange and credit exchange with advanced universities in the world, especially with universities in the US and Europe. In the years after the accreditation, the school has widely and thoroughly applied the course outline; has a plan to organize all lecturers participating in teaching the course to compile and implement
Course manual;Pilot use of subject website...
Conclude:Quality culture, assessment, quality assurance and accreditation in education is a very new field of activity in Vietnam. Even in countries with developed education, this is still a controversial field. Quality culture in higher education is simply understood as the thoughts, views and orientations of an individual or an organization towards the quality of teaching and learning in order to achieve better quality levels over time. It requires leaders, staff, lecturers and employees in the school to think regularly about how to make teaching, learning, scientific research and other aspects of work better and better. Talking about quality culture means talking about assessment and improvement. Continuous improvement step by step helps each individual and each organization form the mindset and thoughts about continuous improvement in order to achieve better quality. Assessment and improvement, improvement and then re-assessment of improvement form a quality circle. From
planningpurpose, goals and steps to perform work from small to large,
performaccording to what was planned,
test-evaluationduring and after the implementation process,
actto change, learn from the implementation process. And so, this cycle repeats itself for all school activities. That is the path to building a quality culture in universities. ___________
Note* Ahmed, S. M. (2008
): Quality Culture, College of Engineering & Computing, Florida International University, Miami, Florida (Quoted from Nguyen Phuong Nga in
“Some aspects of quality culture in universities”- Report on acceptance of scientific topic (Code: QCL.09.01)
