Developing a University Research Culture in Vietnam: A Leadership Conceptual Framework

Abstract

This chapter offers insights into the extent to which leading Vietnamese universities have developed a research culture from a leadership perspective. It locates Vietnam and its universities as new players (Phan and Doan in, Higher Education in Market-oriented Socialist Vietnam: “New” Players, “New” Discourse, “New” practices, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 63–82, 2020) in the global higher education landscape. Likewise, it situates ‘research culture’ as a concept that is locally specific, globally driven, and highly mobile across higher education systems. The chapter is informed by a qualitative case study research project which found that although the four case study Vietnamese universities espouse a strong desire to become a research-oriented university, they have yet to translate their research vision into practice. As a result, these four Vietnamese universities exhibit an emerging research culture, as evidenced by (1) a vague understanding of a research university concept among university members, (2) a subordinate position of research compared to teaching, (3) a fragmented concentration of research, and (4) staffing dominated by teaching-only lecturers. As the chapter argues for the importance of developing a research culture in Vietnamese universities, it also shows how and where current organizational policy, practice, and implementation fall short. In the same vein, it sheds more light on the ways in which many universities in developing countries desire to build a university research culture and on the various operational constructs that create this culture. Building further on the lead author’s scholarship on research capacity building and research management, the chapter concludes with a critical discussion of several options for stimulating a university research culture in Vietnam that will also be relevant to other higher education contexts.