Quality Assurance of Distance Education in Vietnamese Higher Education

Abstract

Thanks to the 4th Industrial Revolution, distance education including online and blended learning have been massively implemented in many countries across the world. As a transition economy in the Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam has considered distance education important modes of teaching and learning in its national education system. However, controlling and ensuring the quality of this training mode in Vietnamese higher education have been quite challenging. This chapter, therefore, discusses and analyses aspects regarding quality control and quality assurance of distance education in Vietnam. To begin with, the study presents key concepts of distance education. It then provides an overview of the Vietnamese national education system, with a focus on higher education and reviews the government policies on distance education. A discussion ensues on how distance learning has been implemented in Vietnamese universities and an account is given of the quality assurance and accreditation of higher education institutions and programs in Vietnam. The chapter goes on to discuss the policies and tools from the government to control and ensure the quality of distance learning in Vietnam and how it has been implemented in Vietnamese higher education institutions. The challenges and difficulties in the quality assurance of distance education in Vietnamese higher education are presented, followed by recommendations for the government (at the macro level), accreditation agencies (at the meso level) and higher education institutions (at the micro level) on how to implement the quality assurance of distance learning effectively in Vietnam.