Analyzing educational quality of universities in the north of vietnam

Analyzing Educational Quality of Universities in the North of Vietnam in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration Major in Management

Analyzing Educational Quality of Universities

in the North of Vietnam

0

Analyzing Educational Quality of Universities in the North of Vietnam

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (Major in Management and Service Science)

December 2015 Chungli, Taiwan, Republic of China

0

Analyzing Educational Quality of Universities in the North of Vietnam

Student Huong Thi Thanh Bui Advisor Dr Chih-Hung Hsieh

Submitted to Master of Business Administration Program

College of Management Yuan Ze University

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to find the solutions of quality improvement for selected leading universites in the North of Vietnam A survey was conducted in early 2015 The author collected hundred more data from the respondents who are major stakeholders of education in the five departments from the selected five universities in the North of Vietnam, which train one same major that is Business administration or Management The respondents who have the experience in education are mainly students and teachers Besides, the author also collected data from parents, staffs, government officer, industrial experts, etc This study used Likert scale of five The results finally served the purpose of this research I found that nine supported hypotheses, the rest were rejected From the results of hypotheses, the author found the relationships among variables Based on that point of view, the author proposed general recommendations for university and leaders and the suggestion for each stakeholder in education In terms of important findings, finding dimensions and analyzing their relationships contribute to the evaluation of educational quality in Northen Vietnam

Keyword: Total quality management, total quality education, education quality, statistical analysis

Acknowledgements

First of all, I am grateful to Dr Chih-Hung Hsieh for his extraordinary support and guidance

in this thesis process My studying and researching would have been impossible without Yuan

Ze University’s the scholarship for this two – year MBA program I also express my sincere thanks to Dr Yu-Kai Wang and Dr Chorng-Guang Wu for their precious openions and to Ph.D student YC Wu who gave me some useful suggestion for designing the questionnaire

In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Pham Viet Duc for his response in the expert interview that helped me much in creating the framework of the thesis Furthermore, I want to give my sincere thanks to the respondents who helped me to answer the questionnaire

of this survey are the teachers, the parents and the students from the five universities in the North of Vietnam: Department of Business Administration at Thai Nguyen University of Economics & Business Administration (TUEBA); Department of Business Administration at Post & Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT); Department of Economics & Business Administration at Hung Vuong University (HVU); Department of Human Resource Management at Vietnam Commercial University (VCU); Department of Industrial Economy (including majors in management) at Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT)

Finally, I would like to thank my family and my friends who supported and encouraged me so much for me to finish my MBA program

Huong Thi Thanh Bui

Tables of Contents

Title page i

Validation Paper ii

Authorization Paper iii

Abstract - Chinese vi

Abstract - English vii

Acknowledgements viii

Tables of Contents ix

List of Tables xi

List of Figures xii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research background and motivation 1

1.2 The research question 3

1.3 Objectives of the Study 4

1.4 Research scope 4

Chapter 2 Literature Review 9

2.1 Related Literature 9

2.2 Related Studies 12

2.3 Definition of Terms 14

2.3.1 The gaps in total quality management 14

2.3.2 Total quality management in education 14

2.3.3 Customers in education 15

2.4 Key variables found from literature review 16

2.5 Expert visit 23

2.6 The key variables for framework 26

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 28

3.1 Research framework 28

3.2 Research design 29

3.3 Respondent of the study 30

3.3.1 Sampling Design 30

3.3.2 Technique 31

3.4 Data Gathering Tools 31

3.5 Analysis method 32

Chapter 4: Data analysis and Results 35

4.1 Description of samples 35

4.2 Reliability test 36

4.3 KMO and Bartlett's Test 44

4.4 Rotated Component Matrix 44

4.5 Regression analysis 50

4.6 Findings 55

Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation 61

5.1 Summary 61

5.2 Discussion and suggestions 61

5.3 Limitation 64

References 66

Appendix 1: Questionnaire 68

Appendix 2: The transcript of the Interview (Vietnamese) 77

Appendix 3: The transcript of the Interview (English) 91

List of Tables

Table 1.1: The selected five universities in Northen Vietnam 7

Table 2.1: The history of educational development of Universities in the North of Vietnam 9

Table 2.2: Opinions on education quality of Universities in the North of Vietnam through periods 11

Table 2.3: Related studies or researches on higher education 13

Table 2.4: Key variables found from literature review of customer voice 17

Table 2.5: Key variables found from literature review for Total design characteristics Quality Education 18

Table 2.6: Key variables of quality criteria for Total Quality Education 19

Table 2.7: Main contents of the Interview 25

Table 2.8: Key variables for framework 27

Table 3.1: places of data collection 31

Table 3.2: Scaling system of evaluation of customer voice……… 32

Table 3.3: Scaling system of evaluation of quality status……… 32

Table 4.1: Description of samples 36

Table 4.2: Reliability Test 37

Table 4.3: KMO and Bartlett's Test 44

Table 4.4: Rotated Component Matrixes 45

Table 4.5: The result of hypotheses 51

List of Figures

Figure 1.1: A map to show the places in which five Universities are located 5

Figure 1.2: The research process of this study 8

Figure 2.1: Stakeholders of educational system 16

Figure 3.1: The proposed research framework 28

Figure 4.1: The results of the framework models after using SPSS 51

Total quality management (TQM) is considered as total assurance about sociality, organization and operation to manage the enterprise’s resources to get the best performance

on every part (Tapiero, 1996) In the World, total quality management (TQM) is well-known

as the management solution to improve the satisfaction of the customers and the performance

of the organizations (Asif et al., 2013) Although there are many studies on quality management, very few of them focus on the best solution in higher education’s quality measure (Becket & Brooke, 2006) For instance, de Guzman & Torres (2004) considered TQM as the method to achieve competitive advantage and organizational performance Evidently, in an increasingly global economy, in which the benchmark for educational success is the best performing education systems; the success of students depends to a great extent on the school’s capacity Therefore, increasing the capacity of a school is very important to its competitiveness, which in turn has an impact on the student attraction and

faculty recruitment Additionally, the quality improvements and stronger connections between the educational organizations and their stakeholders are necessary for schools to foster their strengths and competencies so that they can find the evaluation tools and program design methods (Saunders & Saunders, 2004) Besides, the programs in universities face up with a number of challenges, such as failing to connect with the industry, thus President Obama proposed that there is a need to find the solution or improvement for current curriculum, such as capstone design courses The challenges that these universities are facing

are mainly due to their lack of student value, clear course objectives, efficient teaching tools, sufficient sponsorship & funding resources, and good teaching approach and contents

Motivation

Years ago, Vietnam issued its own standards to evaluate the quality of education, especially in the high education as well as university education However, the complications in applying multiple standards required for all majors and different kinds of universities led to a situation where customers in this industry do not know how to compare the quality among universities exactly Moreover, Vietnam also does not have offcial university ranking that is accepted throughout the country Although there are some ranking tables from foreign Websites in the World, they are not available in Vietnam because the standards chosen to evaluate are not appropiriate and sufficient Therefore, realizing the key variables that contribute to the development of Vietnam education system is of utmost significance

As a developing country, Vietnamese government invests a large number of resources in upgrading and renovating its education system Most of the universities in Vietnam are public schools which has been dominating their educational market for decades In the past, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) organized the university entrance exam in different groups such as A, B, C, D and other groups (A1, D1) In fact, group A involves Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry; Group B: Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology;

Group C: Literature, History, and Geography; Group D: Mathematics, Literature and foreign language For example, if you want to become a doctor, you will take the exam of group B Another loves becoming a journalist, he or she can take the group C Examinations take this general-purpose input for universities and colleges in Vietnam An examination by the Ministry of Education and Training isheld every year, right after High School Graduaton Examination for about a month According to the plans, the two exams lumped together in

2010 However, until now, in 2015, the MOET has decided tomerge two exams, in which students would take at least four subjects for exam and one sub-subject Scores from these subjects would be used to assess whether the students pass high school graduation exam and are eligible to apply for their desired college with three chosen from the four given subjects.This means that students have more opportunities in their decision to the universites thay consider Nevertheless, competition amongst universities is increasing Therefore, many Vietnamese universities have bcome up with solutions to attract more students Yet, very few

of them have discussed how to improve their competitiveness and student attraction based on analyzing their core resources and voice of stakeholders

1.2 The research question

At the first time, I propose 2 research questions in this research:

1 What are the stakeholders’ (in particularly, student’s) needs for Vietnam education system? Are they satisfied with current educational system in term of management system, technology system, and social system?

2 How can the Vietnam Universities improve their education quality by analyzing their core resources?

However, the research question is quite broad Thus, I narrow my research question in one specific University based on the two questions above

How can Thai Nguyen University of Economic and Business (TUEBA)

Administration improve their quality education of Business administration faculty by comparing the core resources with other competitors?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

This thesis has three following objectives:

Firstly, this research aims to realize the factors that contribute to the customer voices and design characteristics in educational quality of Vietnamese universities in general and universities in the North of Vietnam in particular From that point of view, the author finds the dimensions in the framework predicted

Secondly, the author will identify the relationship of the dimensions of customer voices and the design characteristics, so that the author can understand exactly what and how they interact and influence each other Above all, I measure their satisfaction on these expectations

Finally, it is hoped that the findings of this study can offer some useful suggestions to decision makers in the educational system

1.4 Research scope

In this research, we pay attention to the educational quality in university To collect the data for analysis, five departments in which the major is Business Administration are chosen from five universities in the North of Vietnam: Department of Business Administration at Thai Nguyen University of Economics & Business Administration (TUEBA); Department of Business Administration at Post & Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT); Department of Economics & Business Administration at Hung Vuong University (HVU); Department of Human Resource Management at Vietnam Commercial University (VCU); Department of Industrial Economy (including majors in management) at Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT)

There are three reasons for selecting these five univeristies Firstly, in terms of students’ choice when applying for Economics & Business Administration in University, the first

choice is always National Economics University (NEU) that is well known in Vietnam, the second choice is for universities such as VCU or TUEBA The five departments picked up from five universities have the similar majors and standards For instance, students can take group A or D to apply in these universities Secondly, in terms of the location, five universities are located in the places that are the center of the North as Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, and Phu Tho The distance among cities is not too far Thirdly, in our research, we selected the department of Business Administration in TUEBA as the main sample, the four departments in similar major from other universities picked up as the competitors of TUEBA The map following shows the locations of the cities in which five universities are located The purpose is to demonstrate the locations clearly for the audiences to compare and contrast

Figure 1.1: A map to show the places in which five Universities are located

Source: The map of the cities in the North of Vietnam

As you can see, the universities are in the cities which are the main center of the North Hanoi

is known as the capital that is the second largest one in Vietnam In terms of higher education, Hanoi is the largest centre of Vietnam in which many famous universities are located The development of this city is growing very fast However, the stipend is much higher than the

one in other cities The area is 3,324.5km2and its population is about seven million (data in 2014) So, the density is so high, which makes some limitations VCU and PTIT are on the second top of universities in Hanoi People who graduate from VCU & PTIT have to face up with the intense competition.Thai Nguyen is a province which is the economical, cultural and political center in the Northeast region of Vietnam The stipend is lower than the one in Hanoi Thai Nguyen is well-known as an ancent beauty and safe environment The area is 3.562,82 km² and its population is over 1.2 million people (data in 2014) The people are from eight ethnic groups such as Kinh, Tay, Nung, San Diu, Hmong, San Diu, H’mong and Dao Additionally, Thai Nguyen is known as the third largest center for training human resources TNUT and TUEBA are the famous univiersities in Thai Nguyen, which attract a lot of attentions from people in Thai Nguyen and other places in the North Phu Tho is famous for its history which is linked to the origin of Vietnam The area is 3,528.1 km² and its population

is over 1.3 million people (data in 2013) The stipend is cheaper than this in Hanoi The system of education is well established in Phu Tho Hung Vuong University (HVU) is on the first rank in Phu Tho’s higher education, which plays an important role in the educational standards of this province HVU also attracts the students from other cities, which suppulies the well-trained and skilled human resourses

To understand more about the selected universities, table 1.1 describes the basic information

of five departments from five universities chosen It is clear to see that we can compare the detailed information among departments

Table 1.1: The selected five universities in Northen Vietnam

The

selected

University

The selected department students in Number of

department

Number of lecturers in department

The majors in department groups to The

- General Business Administration

A, A1, D1

Administration 850 over 20 - Marketing Management

- Enterprise Administration

- Ecommerce

A, D1

HVU Economics &

Business Administration

Administration

- Enterprise Administration

- Accounting

- Economics

- Financial banking

A, B, D1

Resource Management

resource management

- Industrial Management

- Enterprise Accounting

A, A1, D1

Note: A1: Mathematics, Physics, English; D1: Mathematics, Literature and English

In the table, although the name of some departments is quite different, they are the same major in management The number of students in VCU is highest (1638) However, the department of Human Resource Management at VCU has only one main major The people who want to become students of this department have the only choice Department of Industrial Economy at TNUT has only 500 students because the advantage of TNUT is

technology, not management Other Universities are quite similar Among schools, HVU has Economics &Business Administration department whose major is quite big The groups to apply in five departments are mainly A and D1 while some universities among them have A1, D1 HVU has B, which is a question mark The reason is that the group is not used for only this department, but also others

1.5 Research process

In this study, the process is conducted as bellowed

Figure 1.2: The research process of this study

First of all, from the research question, the authors conduct the literature review and the expert visit to collect the variables and build up the hypotheses Therefore, the model or the framework will be created After that, the questionnaire is based on the framework, and then the online survey is conducted After getting the data, SPSS version 22 is used to analyze the data by confirming factor analysis (CFA) in order that the author can confirm the model to know which hypothesis is supported and which hypothesis is rejected In the next step, the managed insight is found from the result so as to find the meaningful and important points The final step is to make conclusion and give some suggestion

Research

question

Literature review

Expert visit

I

II

Collect variables

Build up hypotheses

Build up model Questionnaire Survey

Analyze data

Managed insight

Confirm

Confirm factor analysis Conclusion & suggestion

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Related Literature

In the first place, it is important to understand the history of higher education in the North of Vietnam in different periods, which is demonstrated in Table 2.1 It is the fact that Vietnam has nearly five thousand years of a meaningful and colorful history Therefore, the education

of Vietnam in general and the education in the North of Vietnam in particular have witnessed gradual development

Table 2.1: The history of educational development of Universities in the North of Vietnam

Main types of education Development of University

Feudal period

(1076 – 1885)

Confucius, Buddhism, Taoism 1076 : Establishing the QuocTuGiam

University, the first University in Vietnam

French

colonial period

(1885 – 1945)

New educational model applied

achievement of Western (France)

1906: Establishing the Dong Duong University, the first university of Vietnam to apply the modern model of France

From 1945 –

1985

The North: Applying Soviet Union model in educational system

1945: Establishing the Vietnam National University, the first university

of Vietnam to apply the model of Soviet

The reform era

(from 1986 to

now)

Graduate and post-graduate 1980s and behind: More and more

graduate & post-graduate schools have been established and developed in universities

Source: this study modified from the book: “Giáo d c Vi t Nam: i m i và phát tri n Hi n

đ i hóa” (Vietnam education: Renovation and Development)

In feudal period, Confucius played the most important role in education system Besides, Buddhism and Taoism were also trained in this period Notably, in 1076, the first University

named Quoc Tu Giam was established At first, this University was only aimed for training the royals It was not until 1253 did Quoc Tu Giam University change its name to Quoc Tu Vien University in which excellent people in both urban and rural areas were chosen to train

In French colonial period, because of historical condition, Vietnam education was influenced

by Western models In 1906, France established Dong Duong University (The first University

of Vietnam applied the modern model of France) and used French as the main means of teaching and learning Although the purpose of France was to dominate in many areas, the new model in University was a vital step in education of Vietnam

The period from 1945 to 1985 was unforgettable for each Vietnamese asit witnessed the process of fighting for freedom within the whole country In 1945, after the North of Vietnam gained independence and established Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the temporary Universities were reopened and Vietnam National University was founded In the North, the Government applied Soviet Union model in many educational institutions such as Synthetic University, Univesity of Technology, and University of Education In the South, the model of American academy in educational system was used in Saigon University, Hue University, and Can Tho University After the Southern liberation and national reunification in 1975, the Government implemented many educational reforms

In the reform era (from 1986 to now), the educational system in University has seen massive improvements The Government invested more and more in education, especially in tertiary level Especially, the postgraduate education has attracted significant attention from people in this field

Interestingly, there have been relatively different opinions on the quality of higher education, which is based on historical factors of each period Thus, Table 2.2 demonstrates a general overview of education quality over time

Table 2.2: Opinions on education quality of Universities in the North of Vietnam

through periods

Before 1986 From 1986 to 2003 From 2004 to now

Opinions Quality = rigorous

selection

Quality = adequate resources

Quality = Meet the standard

Achievement - Finding talented

people

“nothing wrong” in education system

- Improving the supply capacity of human resource for society

number of students and Universities

Limitation - Too much focus on

seeking solutions to

instead of finding the ways to improve

- Fail to meet actual requirements

- Not pay attention to

leadership capacity and administration system

- Lack of the standards

to evaluate the quality efficiently

- Quality assurance system belongs to the Government

- Not base on the actual needs

- Lack of the ranking

or stratification

- Lack of quality standard to evaluate the quality of different training programs

Source: this study modified from website http://www.udn.vn in the research of Ph.D Vu Thi Phuong Anh of Education Quality Training and Support Center (EQTS) and the Association

of Universities and Colleges, 2014

As shown in the table, quality caught attention from early time in Vietnam According to Vu Thi Phuong Anh (2014), opinions on quality have varied through three main periods Before

1986, the opinion on quality was rigorous selection In this period, the education quality in

University was not mentioned Indeed, it was excellent students and exams that played an important role in education system During this time, thanks to rigorous selection, the Government found many excellent people who served the benefit of society Therefore, it was made sure “nothing wrong” However, the educationists did not care about improving quality that met the requirements

From 1986 to 2003, the purpose in education was to attract more and more students More Universities were established and extended However, in this period, quality meant adequate resources, including tuition and investment Other important resources such as human resource, leadership capacity and administration system were ignored They did not have proper standards to evaluate quality efficiently

From 2004 to now, although quality assurance has been created and cared, quality assurance system belongs to the Government Therefore, it lacks objectivity Moreover, the Government has not provided any ranking of Universities in Vietnam and different training programs do not have different standards

Table 2.3: Related studies or researches on higher education

2013 Kim, Gyesoo Effects of Difference Education Quality on Student

Satisfaction and Student Loyalty

Korean

2010 Nguyen Thi

Thu Hang

T ch c ho t đ ng d y h c theo h ng phát huy n ng

l c t duy sáng t o cho sinh viên c a các tr ng cao

đ ng, đ i h c kh i Nông – Lâm – Ng khi d y

(Organization of teaching activities towards promoting creative thinking ability for Agriculture - Forestry - Fishing majors at colleges and universities)

Vietnamese

2005 H Coates The value of student engagement for higher education

quality assurance

English

Source: this study

In general, these studies tend to focus on teaching quality and student engagement Since many of them are from Asia, it is clear that Asian countries have paid attention to further improve education quality The research studies in Vietnam also look for the solutions to labour quality as well as teaching and learning activities

2.3 Definition of Terms

2.3.1 The gaps in total quality management

In order to assure the quality of the organization, traditionally, it is important to clarify the problems or the gaps existed in the system

Parasuraman et al (1985) stated that there are the differences between expectation and performance in the service quality Thus, they implemented the gap model to analyze them The gaps in the model involve (Seth &Deshmaukh, 2005):

 Gap 1: There is a gap between the customer’s expectations and the perceptions of management

 Gap 2: There is a gap between the perceptions of the management and the consumer’s expectations and service quality specifications

 Gap 3: There is a gap between service quality specifications and actual delivered service

 Gap 4: There is a gapbetween the service delivery and the communications to consumers about service delivery

 Gap 5: There is a gap between the expectation of the customers and perceived service This gap depends on the four gaps above

2.3.2 Total quality management in education

“Total quality management in education is multi-faceted It includes within

its ambit the quality of use inputs in the form of students, faculty, support

staff and infrastructure; the quality of processes in the form of the learning

and teaching activity; and the quality of outputs in the form of the enlightened students that move out of the system.” (Sahney, 2002)

Based on Sahney definition, the writer proposed at least three kinds of quality indices, namely input, process, and output As a result, a set of measurement for quality system is

proposed as follows:

 Inputs involve students, faculty, support staff and infrastructure;

 Process contains learning and teaching activities;

 Outputs are enlightened students that move out of the system

2.3.3 Customers in education

It is necessary to take customers in education in consideration There are different ways to define the customer, but they are divided into some groups Edward (2005) discovered that it

is useful to make distinguish between following customers:

 The primary customers: The people as students who receive the service in the direct way

 The secondary customers: They are the people who have the stake in education or parents, governors, sponsors

 The tertiary customers: They are the people who are important to education, but not have a less direct, namely future employers, government and society

 The internal customers: They are the staffs of the organization and who play an important role in the organization’s success

Base on the literature review, the stakeholders of educational system with the members are found

Figure 2.3: Stakeholders of educational system

Source: (Sahney, 2002; Edward, 2005)

Figure 2.1 describes the factors or stakeholders of educational system It is clear that the main members are students and teachers Next, the faculty also plays an important role in system Parents also have influences on the education, followed by industrial employer and governmental officer

2.4 Key variables found from literature review

Customer requirement or customer voice mentions the customers’ expectations in the educational system The design characteristics mention the design elements (Sahney, Banwet

& Karunes, 2004)

Table 2.4: Key variables found from literature review of customer voice

for Total Quality Education

# Important

variable

1 Content The program’s content (i.e., curriculum), the

course objective, the knowledge A good content should meet with expectation of customers and industrial purpose

(Owlia & Aspinwall,

1996) (Sahney, 2004)

2 Attitude The way of the teachers and staffs how to solve

the problems effectively, be ready to help, be polite and courteous

(Owlia & Aspinwall,

1996)

3 Competence The ability and the skill of the teachers and the

staffs, enough staff, the standard of the staff, good facility and reputation of the school brand name

(Owlia & Aspinwall,

1996) (Sahney, 2004)

4 Delivery The way (e.g., IT system, coordination process,

etc.)for communication between teachers, students and others in and outside of the school

For example, the administrative system and the information online of the school are effective and updated

(Owlia & Aspinwall,

1996) (Sahney, 2004)

5 Reliability The clear regulation, consistent teaching

objectives and the policies

(Owlia & Aspinwall,

1996) (Sahney, 2004)

Source: this study

Table 2.4 shows the key variables of customer voice found from literature review This is one

of the basics to build the framework and questionnaire Five factors metioned are content, attitude, competence, delivery, and reliability (Owlia & Aspinwall, 1996; Sahney, 2004)

In fact, finding the solutions for customer voice plays a vital important in creating the

framework of the study Table 2.5 describes the important variables found from literature review for design characteristics

Table 2.5: Key variables found from literature review for Total design characteristics

Quality Education

# Important

variable

Explaination Literature

1 Management management style, management system such as

clear vision & statement, leadership, policies

(Lewis & Smith, 1994)

Source: this study

In universities, according to the opinion of Lewis and Smith, three main parts which are

needed to pay attention to are management, technique system and social systems

The Ministry of Education and training is the highest governmental office that gives the rules and controls all the activities in education of Vietnam They also supply the standards of education quality in Vietnam Universities There are ten key standards which are mentioned

in Table 2.6

Table 2.6: Key variables of quality criteria for Total Quality Education

(2) Goal is in accordance with the training objectives university level stipulated in the Law on Education and the mission statement of the school; be periodically reviewed and supplemented, adjusted and implemented

(4) Having a system of documents to manage efficiently the operations of the school

(5) Having the quality assurance organization in University (6) Efficient plans and strategies for short, medium and long terms

(7) Fully implement periodic reporting regime governing body, the management body of the operation and the complete archives

of the university reports

(1) The framework program by the Ministry of Education and Training issued with the participation of lecturers, managers,

(4) Designed according to the regulations, ensure quality training

(5) Training programs are periodically supplemented and adjusted based on the feedback from stakeholders

(6) Educational programs are periodically assessed the progress and implementation of results-based quality assessment

4

Training

activities

(1) Variety of programs (2) Recognize the learning outcomes of students with annual statutes incorporate modules flexibly

(3) Evaluation plan of teaching method, improve the methods methods and assessment process is to diversify, ensuring sufficient science fair, objective, accurate, fair and consistent with the form of training

(4) Learning outcomes of learners to be informed promptly, fully hosted, accurate and secure

(5) The database of training activities of the school, the situation of graduates, the employment situation and income after graduation

(6) Plan to assess the quality of training for students after graduation and plans to adjust the training to suit the requirements

staff rights in universities

(6)Give the teachers the chance of studying abroad, academic activities in the country

(7)Teachers are ensured the standard qualifications of teaching, foreign language, informatics to meet the requirements of the task

of training, scientific research

(8)Having technical team and staff enough, they have to have the professional capacity of teaching, learning and scientific research

6 The student

(1)Being cared and guided effectively the instructions on curriculum, assessment and regulation of training regulations of Ministry of Education and Training

(2)Assurance of the policies (3)Teaching of knowledge and moral (4)Take part in many activities in University (5)There are specific measures, the positive effects to support the learning and activities of the school

(6)Educating the ethics, healthy lifestyle, sense of responsibility, respect for law, policy, guidelines and policies of the Party and State and the school’s rules for students

(7)Support activities to increase efficiency of graduates who have jobs matching training fields

(8)The learner has the ability to find jobs after graduation In the first year after graduation, over 50% of the graduates find the right jobs

(9)Learners are joined in the evaluation of teaching quality of teachers at the end of the course, the participants rated the quality

of training before graduation

(3)The standards of competence and ethics in science activities and technology as prescribed

technology

transfer

(4)Taking measures to ensure intellectual property rights (5)Developing and implementing a plan for scientific activities and technology fit with the mission of research and development

of the university

(6)Scientific activities and technological development of the university have new contributions to science, valuable practical applications to solve the problem of socio-economic development

of the province and the country

(7)Guaranteeing the revenues from scientific and technological transfer not less than the fees for these activities

8 International

Cooperation

(1)Be under the provisions of the State (2)The activities of international cooperation on effective training (3)The International cooperation on scientific research to be effective

(5)Enough classrooms, large lecture halls, labs, laboratory service, teaching, and scientific research to meet the requirements

of training

(6)There is enough area prescribed class for teaching and learning; There are dormitories for students, ensuring adequate housing area and activities for students; including equipments and grounds for cultural activities, art, sports

(7)There is enough room for the staff, faculty and staff prescribed (8)Taking measures to protect property, ensure safety, security for management, staff, faculty, staff and students

(9)There total plan for the use and development of infrastructure

in the University’s strategic plan

Finance and (1)Solutions and plans of financial autonomy create legal and

10 Financial

Management

financial resources to perform the activities (2)Standardized, publicized, transparent and in accordance with regulations

(3) Reasonable use of finance, transparency and efficiency

Source: this study modified from the website of The Ministry of Education and training, 2007 (website: http://www.moet.gov.vn/)

Based on these standards and their variables, some parts of the questionnaire can be designed This is also a good reference for people to understand more about Vietnam education

However, the writer realized that the information and the variables achieved from literature review are not persuasive enough because of relatively limited literature Thus, there was a need to conductan interview with an expert specialized in higher education and familiar with Vietnam education

2.5 Expert visit

Topic: INTERVIEW OF EDUCATION QUALITY OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM WITH EXPERT

The interviewer: Huong Thi Thanh Bui-MBA student at Yuan Ze University, Taiwan

The interviewee: Associate Professor, Doctor Pham Viet Duc

The job title: Director

Workplace: Thai Nguyen Department of Education and Training

Background:

- Before becoming the director of Thai Nguyen Department of Education and Trainning, Dr Pham Viet Duc had worked in University for 27 years In that period, he was a professor in

17 years, and used to be a Vice rector in Thai Nguyen University of Education for 10 years

- Thai Nguyen Department of Education and Training is a local organization of education management in Thai Nguyen In Vietnam, Ministry of Education and Training is the highest

educational organization, which controls all the activities, standards and rules in education Departments of Education and Training in cities help the Ministry of Education and Training

to examinize and to supervise schools and universities

Main questions:

1 Would you mind describing your job title in detail?

2 Have you ever had experience in University? On the other hand, does your current job involve education of University?

3 What are the needs of teachers in your University? (How)

4 What are the needs of students majoring inBusiness Administration? (Why)

5 What are the needs of parents and other stakeholders?

6 Among customer voices, which points do you have to pay attention?

7 According to your experience, how do you evaluate the eduacation qualiy of the Universities in which the major Business Adsministration is trained now? Any gap?

8 Do the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam have the standards for quality evaluation? Does Vietnam has any University ranking?

9 Are the other ranking which are evaluated by foreign organizations and newspapers reliable or not? Can you explain more

10 What does the University do to improve the education quality ? Can you explain more?

11 Is it necessary to add other solutions?

12 Is any your family members a student or a lecturer of any University in Thai Nguyen?

13 Can you evaluate the competitiveness among the Business Administration departments of TUEBA with other Universities as TNUT, PTIT, VCU, HVU?

14 Nowadays, more and more students have an intention of applying for Universities

in Hanoi Is this a threat to TUEBA?

Main contents

From the transcript of the interview with the expert, insight points are demonstrated in Table 2.7 as below These codes help design the framework

Table 2 7: Main contents of the Interview

Theme Code Description Examples from the transcript (English)

Customer’s

voices

Students’ needs

Campus environment

& teaching quality

This code relates to campus condition, the quality of education in teaching and studying

“They also need a green, clean and beautiful campus, safe dorm, the place to practice, the internship Specially, the teachers are excellent and helpful The program is practical and suitable”

International opportunity &

the output

This code relates to the exchange study, overseas study, and the job opportunity after graduation

“To make sure that they can apply for a job sucessfully after graduation”

“Especially, students hope that they can study oversea and exchange study in order that they can open their mind, get more knowledge”

Teachers’needs

Campus environment This code relates to the management, working

environment, relationships

“They look forward to a good teaching environment, the clean and beautiful campus, high quality, good reputation Besides, there must be a well organized and efficent leader and professional teachers In addition, the salary paid has to catch up with the modern trends”

International opportunity This code relates to the chance of studying or

working in foreign countries

“Among the needs, they also want to attend the conference, researches, and study abroad

to meet the standard of their University”

This code relates to quality of teaching,attitudes andbehaviors of the teachers

“All the parents want their children to study

in a good environment, with professional teachers who are also the good examples of morality for students follow This environment needs to be beautiful, safe and friendly”

“The departments and the companies also need the excellent students who graduated from a good Univesity and studied in a good environment”

Output after graduation This code relates to job opportunities after

graduation

“The parents want their children who graduate from a good campus will find a job easily”

Total design characteristics

Management system

This code relates to the management for goals, vision, mission, leadership, organization design and clear policies

“Firstly, the schools need an efficient management about good policies, good organizational structure Notably, the strategy , vision and mission should be clear and objective”

Technical system, social system &

management system

This code relates to technology, program design, cooperative relationships, recruiting, nurturing and

developing faculty and staff, Budget priorities, and evaluation and control system

“Secondly, it is necessary to have the social system, consider the learner as the center The cooperation with the Universities in Vietnam and International instititutes & Universities should be closer In term of technology, the regular evaluation, the lecture and curriculum design need to meet

the quality standard”

International environment

& campus condition

This code relates to open environment, the opportunity for teachers and students study abroad, the campus

“Finally, we have to make the chance of studying and working abroad Besides, the facility and the condition of the campus has

to meet the standard”

Reputation, facility &

activities

This code relates to the ranking, facility condition anddiversed activities organized in campus

“The most important things are modern equipment, extracurricular activities that are suitable with the porpose and requirement of each program and each University The good reputation is also vital”

Public information

on website &

diverse curriculum

This code relates to different programs trained in University and the basic information of University that puclic

on website of University for all people easy to find and know

“The University has many kinds of profram and training The information has to public

on web, which means that we let people know, we evaluate and feel together Thus, it

is a better solution”

Source: The appendix 3 - The transcript of the Interview (English)

As described in the table, serveral codes in customer voices (X) from the needs of students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders are found Nevertheless, there are same codes from different customers in education For example, both students and teachers look for nice campus environment and international opportunities In term of stakeholders’ satisfaction (Y), the variables are divided into three groups such as Y1 (satisfaction of teachers), Y2 (satisfaction of students) and Y3 (satisfaction of other stakeholders) In addition, the output after graduation attracts attention from students and parents Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the variables and choose the general variables The key variables for the framework will be presented in the next part

2.6 The key variables for framework

From the literature review and expert visit, the author found the key variables for the framework as below

Table 2.8: Key variables for framework

Variables Description Source Note

(Owlia &

Aspinwall, 1996);

Y1a Technical system,

social system &

management system

(Lewis & Smith, 1994);

Expert visit

Management system (for clear recruiting,

developing faculty and staff, Budget priorities, and clear evaluation and control system)

system (Lewis & Smith, 1994);

Expert visit

Management system for goals, vision, mission, leadership, organization design

Expert visit

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Research framework

In the previous chapter, we already found the key variables for the framework Based on the literature review and the interview with expert, we proposed the framework and hypotheses

as figure 3.1

Figure 3.4: The proposed research framework

H1: Campus environment and teaching quality has influence on technical system and social system, and management system (for clear recruiting, nurturing and developing

Campus environment &

&campus condition

& the output

Campus environment &

&campus condition

& the output

Campus environment &

&campus condition

& the output

Campus environment &

&campus condition

& the output

Campus environment &

teaching quality

The hypotheses between expectation of all testers and satisfaction of others

faculty and staff, Budget priorities, and clear evaluation and control system)

H2: Campus environment and teaching quality influence management system for goals, vision, mission, leadership, organization design and clear policies

H3: International opportunity and the output after graduation for students has influence on Technical system and social system, and management system (for clear recruiting, nurturing and developing faculty and staff, Budget priorities, and clear evaluation and control system)

H4: International opportunity and the output after graduation for students has influence on Management system for goals, vision, mission, leadership, organization design and clear policies

H5: Faculty’s competence and attitudehas influence on Technical system and social system, and management system (for clear recruiting, nurturing and developing faculty and staff, Budget priorities, and clear evaluation and control system)

H6: Faculty’s competence and attitude has influence on Management system for goals, vision, mission, leadership, organization design and clear policies

H7: Campus environment and teaching quality has influence on International environment and campus condition

H8: International opportunity and the output after graduation for students has influence on International environment and campus condition

H9: Faculty’s competence and attitudehas influence on International environment and campus condition

H10: Campus environment and teaching quality has influence on Reputation, facility and activities in University

H11: Campus environment and teaching quality has influence on Public information on website and diverse curriculum

H12: International opportunity and the output after graduation for students has influence on Reputation, facility and activities in University

H13: International opportunity and the output after graduation for students has influence on Public information on website and diverse curriculum

H14: Faculty’s competence and attitudehas influence on Reputation, facility and activities in University

H15: Faculty’s competence and attitudehas influence on Public information on website and diverse curriculum

3.2 Research design

This study uses the quantitative method to analyze the educational quality of universities in

Northen Vietnam In addition, a qualitative method is applied to discover and explain the causes behind the findings of quantitative analysis The purpose of a qualitative analysis is to check a phenomenon or relationship that is happening at a specific time and places (Mbambo, 2009) Based on the analysis of key variables, we discover the demands of customers, and then we use it to measure satisfaction level of them

Due to limit of time, questionare was delivered to respondents via internet An online survey was conducted to collect the data from customers of education The respondents of the study are teachers, students, students’ parents, staff, government officers and industrial employees, etc in five universitieswhich train one same major that is Business administration

3.3 Respondent of the study

3.3.1 Sampling Design

 Sample: mainly students, and others such as teachers, parents, staffs, government officer, industrial employees

 The age: from 18 to over 40(From 18 to 24 years old; From 25 to 30 years old; From 31

to 35 years old; From 36 to 40 years old; Over 40 years old)

 The samples from the Universities are as table 3.1 belows

Table 3.1: places of data collection

3.4 Data Gathering Tools

Statistical Tools

To have the general view of the respondents, this study uses the Likert scales on a scale of 1

-5 (1=strongly disagree; -5=strongly agree) The questionnaire consists of the items involved in the evaluation of the importance of demand factors, and some factors about the reality of quality in each university In the research, the scaling system used below