Processes for Strategic Planning in Vietnam's Higher Education System

Strategic planning for higher education is a recent activity in Vietnam. National development policies and strategies for education have been formalized on many occasions since 1946, but it was not until 1982 that higher education was overfly incorporated into a national policy and strategy for education. The provisions agreed to at that time were, however, concerned primarily with issues of short-term governance and the resourcing of higher education, rather than with establishing a strategic direction and attendant policy. The notion of a 'strategy' for higher education in Vietnam focused repeatedly on annual administrative and training plans at the institutional level - a situation that continued until 2001 when, for the first time, there was an overt connection established between the development of a network of 'quality' universities and the socio-economic development and the regional and global competitiveness of the nation. The government's commitment to a transformation of higher education has been strong since then and has been underpinned by ambitious goals for the higher education system. The government's enthusiasm for addressing the quality and productivity of the system has been driven by a genuine desire to significantly improve the professional capability and quality of life of the Vietnamese people as quickly and effectively as possible. However, enthusiasm of this nature that is not harnessed by strong and relevant strategy rarely achieves success. Therein lies the current threat for Vietnam.