Internationalisation of Vietnamese higher education: an overview

Internationalisation has been considered as a key strategy by the Vietnamese government to enhance the quality of the higher education system, enabling it to augment human capacity building for the country and contribute more effectively to the national development. However, the potential benefits of internationalisation in Vietnamese higher education have not been fully reaped. This chapter provides an overview of the background context of the Vietnamese higher education system and reviews the key internationalisation policies and practices. It draws on the primary concepts from contemporary theories and scholarly work on internationalisation and makes connections with the core goals, policies, programmes and activities in internationalisation of higher education in Vietnam. The chapter also summarises three main themes of existing research on internationalisation in Vietnamese higher education: (1) international influences on Vietnamese education, (2) student and staff mobility, and (3) international cooperation, international programs, and internationalised curriculum.