Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Vietnam: The Impact of Autonomy Policy

Abstract

The autonomous university model is recognized as a method of advanced university governance to improve training quality . In Vietnam, university autonomy has made many positive changes in training quality in recent years. This study examines if there is a difference in the QA activities of academic programs between two types of higher education institutions: the public universities with financial autonomy and the public universities without financial autonomy. A quantitative method was used to analyze the survey data from 593 participants. An independent T-test was used to analyze the differences between the two types of institutions. The results indicated statistical differences in most activities in seven research areas. The quantitative result provided strong evidence of the impact of autonomy policy on two types of higher education institutions, which was not addressed in the national report on autonomy policy in 2022. Some recommendations were made to improve the QA activities toward continuous quality improvement.