Introduction

Abstract

This introductory chapter establishes a perspective on growth and development to understand the current achievements of education reforms in Vietnam. A brief description of Vietnamese higher education is included to demonstrate the distinction between growth and development in education. Building on this understanding of the nature of growth and development, the chapter explores why the expansion of Vietnam's education system is better conceived as “education growth” than “education development”. It then identifies the critical components constituting the government's new approach to education development which are reflected in their neoliberal reforms since Doi Moi. The formation of a neoliberal education, albeit at the early stage, further sheds light on an emerging Vietnamese Way of Education Development, which is greatly aimed at shifting to a threefold process to more responsively and efficiently sustain the country's economic growth: (i) educating the workforce for future capitalist enterprises’ need, (ii) commodifying the education for profit making, and (iii) opening education to the market that allows corporate giants to profit from privatisation activities. In doing so, this chapter marks an important contribution to existing understandings on the political economy of education in Vietnam – the complex relationship of education, economic growth, and income distribution. The chapter also informs key arguments to be investigated across the seven chapters that follow.