OPINION
published: 22 February 2021
doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.647471
Higher Education in Times of
Instability and Disruption: Rethinking
Notions of Values, Value Creation and
Instructional Practices in Vietnam and
Beyond
Jonathan J. Felix 1,2*
1
RMIT University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2International and Comparative Education (ICE), Universiti Brunei
Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Edited by:
Stephanie Kelly,
North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University,
United States
Reviewed by:
Kyle Vareberg,
North Dakota State University,
United States
*Correspondence:
Jonathan J. Felix
jonathan.felix@rmit.edu.vn
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Culture and Communication,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Communication
Received: 30 December 2020
Accepted: 22 January 2021
Published: 22 February 2021
Citation:
Felix JJ (2021) Higher Education in
Times of Instability and Disruption:
Rethinking Notions of Values, Value
Creation and Instructional Practices in
Vietnam and Beyond.
Front. Commun. 6:647471.
doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.647471
The disruptive nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a massive shift in
instructional practices in higher education across the globe. The impact of this
pandemic on education globally has led to a surge in online teaching and the use of
various digital technologies and platforms to support instructional practices. However, this
world-changing event has foregrounded the limitations of technology in addition to other
important indications, particularly as it relates to the notion of value and by extension
value creation. Within the context of the Vietnamese higher education ecosystem, what
is evident is that a re-evaluation of values is worth considering, in terms of the value of
local higher education institutions, in addition to the value creation produced by the
same. This article will engage with pertinent implications for the post-COVID realities
which offer untold challenges and opportunities in Vietnam and elsewhere. Moreover,
the post-COVID realities of late modernity only serve to accentuate the importance of
values and value creation in this context as higher education institutions would reevaluate, rethink, and retool approaches to instructional practices. A focus on
questions of value aids in considering the broader conditions and contexts which
support the some of the fruitful and situated outcomes higher education which includes
human capital development, employment, social mobility and the production of
modern social identities.
Keywords: higher educaction, teaching and learning, values, value creation, COVID - 19, Vietnam, modernity and
education, modernisation
INTRODUCTION
Undoubtably, the COVID-19 pandemic has done more than disrupt the course of contemporary life,
but in effect has opened generated a new epoch within late modernity known as the post-COVID
world (MacMullin et al., 2020; Tumlinson et al., 2020; Wagner, 2020; Zahra, 2020). In such a world,
novelty, fear, unpredictability also exist alongside opportunity, evolution and soberness, in unusual
measures of intensity (Wagner, 2020; Zahra, 2020). Experts have noted the greater importance given
to digital technologies in this new post-COVID reality (MacMullin et al., 2020), in addition to the
greater measure of creativity, problem-solving, and rethinking of social systems which existed before
Frontiers in Communication | www.frontiersin.org
1
February 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 647471
Felix
Higher Education in Disruptive Times
the advent of the pandemic (Tumlinson et al., 2020). Higher
education, like all other levels of education, is also in need of
rethinking, problem-solving, and creativity as observed by several
academics in the field (Korkmaz and Toraman, 2020; Peters et al.,
2020). This is important given that instructional practices are in
large part the essential work of colleges and universities
worldwide.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive
increase in online teaching through the use of various
digital technologies and platforms, this world-changing
event has foregrounded the limitations of technology in
addition to other important implications. These limitations
have to do with the ways in which technology use in education,
have been heralded by pre-pandemic futurists as having a near
salvific role in universally elevating education standards
(Feenberg, 2015; Wheelan, 2016; Aldama, 2018; Herman,
2020). However, technology in this context can only do so
much for us.
The experience of COVID-19 has taught the world that
technology brings maximum benefit once issues of suitability,
access, and disciplinarity among other factors are taken into
account (Feenberg, 2003; Feenberg, 2005). As educators the
world over rethink instructional practices and disciplinarity,
the use of technology during the pandemic and the postCOVID world has been more out of necessity and desperation
rather than a calculated ideal (Korkmaz and Toraman, 2020;
Pham and Ho, 2020). Amidst the unpredictability,
desperation, and confusion of this post-COVID reality, I
argue that one of the key implications which came to the
fore as a result of the global pandemic is the question of
values. In what follows, I would like to divert attention away
from educational technology in higher education to a
discussion on values and implications for classroom
instruction.
Values here refers to priorities and principles which function
as a means of navigating the share social worlds that people
inhabit in both their material and immaterial realities (Bergan
and Damian, 2010). These negotiated priorities serve as a
foundation for the self-regulating behaviours of individuals
and shared paradigms which enable collective action and
sustained activity (Shaker and Plater, 2016). As such, values
may be identified as systemic, rule-based perceptions which
may accord with personal convictions or affirmative interests,
which in turn mobilises and legitimises discourses and practice
(Han, 2019).
As an extension of this definition of values, the notion of value
creation involves more contingent and tangible outcomes that
rely to capacity building and innovation (Kettunen et al., 2013;
Aldama, 2018). Within the context of higher education
instructional practices, authentic assessment and independent
learning, for example, are both core values and discourses which
in large part relate to questions of value and value creation given
the social function of higher education within modern societies
(Giloi and Du Toit, 2013; Ajjawi et al., 2020). However,
instructional practices cannot be divorced from questions of
value and value creation, in addition to conditions and
contexts which allow for such practices to provide fruitful
Frontiers in Communication | www.frontiersin.org
gains to the wider scope of societies beyond the walls of the
academy.
Higher Education Within the Vietnamese
Context
Values and value creation are almost always a highly contextual
matter, with value systems varying based on factors of locality and
cultural difference. This is true all over the world, and with
Vietnam as a particular example, as the embrace of deeply
stratified value systems, such as Confucianism, Socialism, and
Neoliberalism penetrate all aspects of local society, with
education being no different (Nguyen, 2016; Tran et al., 2017;
Phan and Doan, 2020). I advance that the value of higher
education institutions lies in the value such institutions
provide students and society at large, but also how students
are socialised as agents of value creation within or though the
academy, in an effort to be able to produce value outside of it.
Higher education institutions in Vietnam are tasked with
addressing issues of efficiency with their operations as well as
how their work maintains pertinency within varying spheres of
national life. Some of these challenges have been highlighted in
previous studies related to the value of human capital in the form of
returning graduates from foreign institutions (Molla and Pham,
2019; Pham, 2019, 2020), the educational reforms both nationally
and regionally (Hirosato and Kitamura, 2009), the impact of
globalisation and local social conditions on the education sector
in general (London, 2011; Chalapati et al., 2015; Tran and
Marginson, 2018), and role of student identity in being a
dominant force in the development of the higher education
sector (Tran, 2013a; Tran, 2015; Phan, 2017).
Institutions of higher education function as important social
organisations within societies across the globe, operating as a space
for advanced teaching, learning, and the production of modern
scholarship. These entities have been historically known to serve a
diverse functions which include national workforce training,
intellectual capital development, indigenous knowledge
advancement, and the socialisation of citizenry (Holland, 2005;
Hallinger and Lu, 2013; Hazelkorn and Gibson, 2017; Mintz, 2019).
However, the Vietnamese academy, like other higher education
institutions in varying global contexts, has to function in the realities
post-COVID world–with the novelties, fears, and unpredictability as
noted earlier. Online and mobile learning have been implemented
within Vietnam in response to the pandemic to varying degrees of
success and failure based on a range of factors (Bui et al., 2020; Ho
et al., 2020; Pham and Ho, 2020). Meeting the challenges of this new
epoch, may require a reconsideration of the values which underpin
higher education institutions, in addition to the value creation which
occurs within and through these spaces all the same. Instructional
practices are only part of the value creation process and an
expression of particular values in a broader sense.
The university classroom environment in Vietnam has been
characterised by local experts as one which rewards and
reinforces problematics such as teacher-centric instruction and
limited learner autonomy and motivation (Tran, 2013b; Dang
and Glewwe, 2018; Tran and Marginson, 2018). However, local
academics have been calling for more research which gives greater
2
February 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 647471
Felix
Higher Education in Disruptive Times
priority to student perspectives, rather than a top-down approach
to addressing these issues (Tran, 2020). While the insights of
Vietnamese higher education scholars published before the
pandemic were valuable in their own right, the issues and
implications of their work are more pertinent in light of the
post-COVID realities which offer untold challenges and
opportunities. However, key ideas raised by these scholars
explicitly and/or implicitly raise questions of value for the
higher education ecosystem at large in Vietnam and its
corresponding impact on local society.
foreign educational models, particularly Western ones. While
local scholars have noted that Vietnamese people have a history of
adaptability on one hand (Le, 2014; Nguyen, 2016), on the other
hand, the import of foreign solutions and models to treat with the
unique character of the education-based social issues has done
little mitigate the far-reaching effects of such challenges (Nguyen
and Vu, 2015; Tran et al., 2017; Le et al., 2020).
DISCUSSION
The creation of value by higher education institutions under the
shifting demands of the socio-historic condition of Modernity
provides both tensions and opportunities for addressing local and
regional issues considering the sociological function of higher
education. Moreover, the post-COVID realities of late modernity
only serve to accentuate the importance of values and value
creation in this context. Instructional practices are but one part of
a larger system of connections and convergences, however
practices of teaching and learning can never be separated from
notions of value. Issues related to the Vietnamese higher
education ecosystem and other situated contexts will perhaps
be forever altered by the reality and impact of the COVID-19
pandemic. However, what also becomes evident, I argue, is that a
reassessment of the value of the academy, its processes, and
outcomes are useful in navigating a way forward.
Moreover, by means of addressing social issues related to
higher education by first engaging with notions of value, Vietnam
and other nations increase the likelihood of building greater
workforce capacity by better educating local graduates, better
utilising the skills of foreign graduates, opening avenues for more
robust forms of socially responsible citizenship and hopefully,
reduce human capital limitations. So, while appropriate
instructional practices are worth considering, even more so are
notions related to value and value creation which underpin such
practices.
Further questions raised in reflecting upon Vietnam’s place in
the post-COVID world include: How might local practices of
teaching and learning be affected with the return of so many
foreign-educated expatriates? In addition to this, how might
Vietnamese higher education institutions equip current and
future students with a sense of resilience and relevance for the
post-COVID world? These questions and more will only be
answered in time to come as this new epoch reinforces the
certainty of uncertainty. While these questions have been
raised in relation to Vietnam, they are also relevant to other
national environments and higher education ecosystems, with
answers to be found in these situated contexts.
Higher Education in Vietnam in the
Post-COVID World
While the nation has made significant strides in the advancement
of all levels of education, including tertiary level study in
particular (Le and Hayden, 2017; Tran and Marginson, 2018),
there yet remains the worldwide issue of colleges and universities
adapting to meet the shifts of the post-COVID world, while
reconciling ongoing stagnancies from the previous century up
until this present time (Tran, 2013a; Peters, 2017; Fischetti, 2019;
Zaphir, 2019). For example, the neoliberalistion of the academy
globally threatens its continued relevance and cogency as a
sustainable institution fundamental to any working modern
society (Kettunen et al., 2013; Hoffman, 2016; Lederman,
2019; Roderick, 2019).
Issues of relevance and cogency are ultimately matters of value
in so far as it relates to how meaning is generated, negotiated,
sustained, and operationalised in practical or tangible terms. The
neoliberalistion and internationalisation of higher education in
Vietnam has presented its own issues in terms of the quality of
education provided to students, issues of social inequality, and the
overall cost-benefit of higher education as it should function to
advance national interests and directives (Obaidul et al., 2016;
Phan and Doan, 2020).
In another example, given Vietnam’s attempt to modernise
and internationalise its education system to make it a much more
competitive, collaborative, and innovative environment, English
language learning has proven to be a major barrier to this effort as
students appear to have very little incentive to engage second
language acquisition and the corresponding disciplinary benefits
to be derived from having access to alternative streams of
knowledge (Ashwill, 2020; Minh, 2020). Furthermore, this is
part of a much broader pattern of decreasing language
proficiency among the nation’s students (Phan, 2019; Nguyen,
2020; Nguyen and Duong, 2020), which is also connected to the
outputs of local higher education institutions in terms of limited
human capital development and capacity building (Tran, 2013b;
Dang et al., 2013; Pham, 2013; Duong, 2019; Kataoka et al., 2020).
Local colleges and universities in this space are faced with the
challenge of producing the necessary intellectual manpower to
address longstanding and emerging challenges within
Vietnamese society (Fitzgerald et al., 2016; McMillan et al.,
2016), since local issues are not adequately addressed by
Frontiers in Communication | www.frontiersin.org
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and
has approved it for publication.
3
February 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 647471
Felix
Higher Education in Disruptive Times
REFERENCES
Hoffman, A. J. (2016). Reflections: academia’s emerging crisis of relevance and the
consequent role of the engaged scholar. J. Change Manag. 16 (2), 77–96. doi:10.
1080/14697017.2015.1128168
Holland, B. (2005). “Scholarship and mission in the 21st century university: the
role of engagement barbara.” in Australian Universities Quality Agency Forum,
Sydney,Australia, July 5, 2005.
Kataoka, S., Le, A. V., Kitchlu, S., and Inoue, K. (2020). Vietnam’s human capital:
education success & future challenges. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/
10986/34316.
Kettunen, J., Kairisto-Mertanen, L., and Penttilä, T. (2013). Innovation pedagogy
and desired learning outcomes in higher education. On the Horizon 21 (4),
333–342. doi:10.1108/OTH-08-2011-0024
Korkmaz, G., and Toraman, Ç. (2020). Are we ready for the post-COVID-19
educational practice? An investigation into what educators think as to online
learning. Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res. 4 (4), 293–309. doi:10.46328/ijtes.
v4i4.110
Le, H. (2014). Vietnamese higher education in the context of globalization:
qualitative or quantitative targets? Int. Educ. J. 13 (1), 17–29.
Le, Q. T. T., Doan, T. H. D., Le Hoang Thuy To Nguyen, Q., and Nguyen, D. T. P.
(2020). Competency gap in the labor market: evidence from Vietnam. Journal of
Asian Finance, Economics and Business 7 (9), 697–706. doi:10.13106/JAFEB.
2020.VOL7.NO9.697
Le, T. K. A., and Hayden, M. (2017). The road ahead for the higher education sector
in Vietnam. J. Int. Comp. Educ. 6 (2), 77–89. doi:10.14425/jice.2017.6.2.77
Lederman, D. (2019). Do colleges measure what they value? Washington,
D.C.: Inside Higher Ed. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/
news/2019/05/01/study-student-learning-outcomes?fbclidIwAR2V8L3ivcv0wBGtr4tzYjlnh8geTCQtNTMf2IbQS7XBF4qpK8-6mRuPks.
London, J. D. (2011). “Contemporary Vietnam’s education system: historical roots,
current trends”. in Education in Vietnam, (Singapore: Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies), 1–56.
MacMullin, K., Jerry, P., and Cook, K. (2020). Psychotherapist experiences with
telepsychotherapy: pre COVID-19 lessons for a post COVID-19 world.
J. Psychother. Integrat. 30 (2), 248–264. doi:10.1037/int0000213
McMillan, J., Goodman, S., and Schmid, B. (2016). Illuminating “transaction
spaces” in higher education: university-community partnerships and
brokering as “boundary work.” J. High. Educ. Outreach. Engagem. 20 (3), 8–31
Minh, N. (2020). Learning English at school, a mandatory chore that leads
nowhere. VnExpress International. Available at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/
news/learning-english-at-school-a-mandatory-chore-that-leads-nowhere-4163391.
html.
Mintz, S. (2019). What is a university today? Washington, D.C.: Inside Higher
Ed. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-edgamma/what-university-today?fbclidIwAR0FZsbSdxawgYwH_PS0n7Wicfvu3VGdBx3dBZso4P9V3HmKH3OaCyOfm8.
Molla, T., and Pham, L. (2019). Editorial: capital, capability and educational justice.
Pol. Futures Educ. Internet 17 (5), 575–581. doi:10.1177/1478210319837835
Nguyen, Q., and Duong, T. (2020). Vietnamese students perform worst in English
in national high school exam. VnExpress International. Available at https://e.
vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnamese-students-perform-worst-in-english-innational-high-school-exam-4153084.html.
Nguyen, Q. T. N. (2016). The Vietnamese values system: a blend of oriental,
western and socialist values. Int. Educ. Stud. 9 (12), 32. doi:10.5539/ies.
v9n12p32
Nguyen, Q. (2020). Vietnam slips in English proficiency rankings - VnExpress
International. VnExpress International. Available at: https://e.vnexpress.net/
news/news/vietnam-slips-in-english-proficiency-rankings-4192970.html.
Nguyen, V. N., and Vu, N. T. (2015). Higher education reform in Vietnam: current
situation , challenges and solutions. VNU J. Sci. 31 (4), 85–97.
Obaidul Hamid, M., and Nguyen, H. T. M. (2016). Globalization, English language
policy, and teacher agency: focus on Asia. Int. Educ. J. 15 (1), 26–43.
Peters, M. A., Rizvi, F., McCulloch, G., Gibbs, P., Gorur, R., Hong, M., et al. (2020).
Reimagining the new pedagogical possibilities for universities post-Covid-19:
an EPAT Collective Project. Educ. Philos. Theor. 1–45. doi:10.1080/00131857.
2020.1777655
Peters, M. A. (2017). Technological unemployment: educating for the fourth
industrial revolution. Educ. Philos. Theor. 49 (1), 1–6. doi:10.1080/00131857.
2016.1177412
Ajjawi, R., Tai, J., Huu Nghia, T. L., Boud, D., Johnson, L., and Patrick, C. J. (2020).
Aligning assessment with the needs of work-integrated learning: the challenges
of authentic assessment in a complex context. Assess Eval. High Educ. 45 (2),
304–316. doi:10.1080/02602938.2019.1639613
Aldama, F. L. (2018). Looking back to the future of education. PMLA 133 (Issue 3),
667–672. doi:10.1632/pmla.2018.133.3.667
Ashwill, M. A. (2020). Missing the forest for the trees: national English exam results
reconsidered. VnExpress International. Available at: https://e.vnexpress.net/
news/perspectives/missing-the-forest-for-the-trees-national-english-exam-resultsreconsidered-4157932.html.
Bergan, S., and Damian, R. (2010). Higher education for modern societies:
competences and values. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe Publishing.
Available at: https://book.coe.int/eur/en/higher-education-and-research/4462higher-education-for-modern-societies-competences-and-values-council-ofeurope-higher-education-series-no15.html.
Bui, T. H., Luong, D. H., Nguyen, X. A., Nguyen, H. L., and Ngo, T. T. (2020).
Impact of female students’ perceptions on behavioral intention to use video
conferencing tools in COVID-19: data of Vietnam. Data Brief 32, 106142.
doi:10.1016/j.dib.2020.106142
Chalapati, S., Chalapati, N., and Weibl, G. (2015). European influences on
Vietnamese higher education: internationalised curriculum and cultural
challenges. Aust. N. Z. J. Eur. Stud. 7 (2), 45–58.
Dang, H. A. H., and Glewwe, P. W. (2018). Well begun, but aiming higher: a
review of Vietnam’s education trends in the past 20 Years and emerging
challenges. J. Dev. Stud. 54 (7), 1171–1195. doi:10.1080/00220388.2017.
1380797
Dang, T. K. A., Nguyen, H. T. M., and Le, T. T. T. (2013). The impacts of
globalisation on EFL teacher education through English as a medium of
instruction: an example from Vietnam. Curr. Issues Lang. Plann. 14 (1),
52–72. doi:10.1080/14664208.2013.780321
Duong, T. (2019). Employers, educators lament Vietnamese students’ poor
soft skills. VnExpress International. Available at: https://e.vnexpress.net/
news/news/employers-educators-lament-vietnamese-students-poor-softskills-3997338.html.
Feenberg, A. (2005). Critical theory of technology: an overview. Tailoring Biotech. 1
(1), 47–64.
Feenberg, A. (2003). Modernity theory and technology studies: reflections on
bridging the gap. Modernity and Tech. 73–104.
Feenberg, A. (2015). The online education controversy and the future of the
university. Found. Sci. 22 (2), 363–371. doi:10.1007/s10699-015-9444-9
Fischetti, J. (2019). The three things universities must do to survive disruption: the
conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-three-thingsuniversities-must-do-to-survive-disruption-117970.
Fitzgerald, H. E., Bruns, K., Sonka, S. T., Furco, A., and Swanson, L. (2016). The
centrality of engagement in higher education: reflections and future directions.
J. High. Educ. Outreach Engagem. 20 (1), 245–254.
Giloi, S., and Du Toit, P. (2013). Current approaches to the assessment of graphic
design in a higher education context. Int. J. Art Des. Educ. 32 (2), 256–268.
doi:10.1111/j.1476-8070.2013.01758.x
Hallinger, P., and Lu, J. (2013). Learner centered higher education in East Asia:
assessing the effects on student engagement. Int. J. Educ. Manag. 27 (6),
594–612. doi:10.1108/IJEM-06-2012-0072
Han, B.-C. (2019). What is Power? Cambridge, UK: Polity Press
Hazelkorn, E., and Gibson, A. (2017). Public goods and public policy: what is public
good, and who and what decides? London, UK: UCL Institute of Education
Herman, P. C. (2020). Online learning is not the future. Washington, D.C.:
Inside Higher Ed. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/digitallearning/views/2020/06/10/online-learning-not-future-higher-educationopinion.
Hirosato, Y., and Kitamura, Y. (2009). The political economy of educational reforms
and capacity development in southeast Asia. New York, NY: Springer.
Ho, N. T. T., Sivapalan, S., Pham, H. H., Nguyen, L. T. M., Pham, A. T. Van, and
Dinh, H. V. (2020). Students’ adoption of e-learning in emergency situation: the
case of a Vietnamese university during COVID-19. Interactive Tech. Smart Edu.
[Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1108/ITSE-08-2020-0164
Frontiers in Communication | www.frontiersin.org
4
February 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 647471
Felix
Higher Education in Disruptive Times
Tran, T. T. (2013a). Limitation on the development of skills in higher
education in Vietnam. High Educ. 65 (5), 631–644. doi:10.1007/s10734012-9567-7
Tran, T. T. (2013b). The causes of passiveness in learning of Vietnamese students.
VNU Journal of Education Research 29 (2), 72–84.
Tran, T. T. T. (2020). Key components of teaching from students’
perspectives— some positive shifts in Vietnamese higher education. J. Furth.
High. Educ. 1–15. doi:10.1080/0309877X.2020.1847259
Tumlinson, A., Altman, W., Glaudemans, J., Gleckman, H., and Grabowski, D. C.
(2020). Post-acute care preparedness in a COVID-19 world. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc.
68 (6), 1150–1154. doi:10.1111/jgs.16519
Wagner, A. F. (2020). What the stock market tells us about the post-COVID-19
world. Nat. Hum. Behav. 4 (5), 440. doi:10.1038/s41562-020-0869-y
Wheelan, P. (2016). Education technology: is it all hype with no return? EdSurge.
Available at: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-01-25-education-technology-is-itall-hype-with-no-return.
Zahra, S. A. (2020). International entrepreneurship in the post Covid world.
J. World Bus., 56 (1), 101143. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2020.101143
Zaphir, L. (2019). What’s the point of education? It’s no longer just about getting a
job: the conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/whats-thepoint-of-education-its-no-longer-just-about-getting-a-job-117897?fbclid
IwAR0Dkrn4O5tmFJAFcydoBPraKMqEi-1zuyjptjI-aoKm09BvguRo24EcBrQ.
Pham, H. H., and Ho, T. T. H. (2020). Toward a ‘new normal’ with e-learning in
Vietnamese higher education during the post COVID-19 pandemic. High Educ.
Res. Dev. 39 (7), 1327–1331. doi:10.1080/07294360.2020.1823945
Pham, L. (2020). Capabilities and the “value” flows of international graduate returnees
and their networks. J. Int. Stud. 10 (2), xii–xv. doi:10.32674/jis.v10i2.1995
Pham, L. (2019). International graduates returning to Vietnam. New York, NY:
Springer. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-5941-5
Pham, L. (2013). Social structures in the economics of international education:
perspectives from Vietnamese international tertiary students. Glob. Soc. Educ.
11 (1), 39–60. doi:10.1080/14767724.2012.690308
Phan, L. H., and Doan, N. B. (2020). Higher education in market-oriented socialist
Vietnam: new players, discourses, and practices. London, UK: Palgrave
Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46912-2
Phan, L. H. (2017). Transnational education crossing “asia” and “the west”: adjusted
desire, transformative mediocrity and neo-colonial disguise. London, UK: Routledge
Phan, N. (2019). Vietnam’s English proficiency drops in 2019 ranking. VnExpress
International. Available at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-senglish-proficiency-drops-in-2019-ranking-4008398.html.
Roderick, I. (2019). Recontextualising employability in the active learning
classroom. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 1–17.
doi:10.1080/01596306.2019.1613020
Shaker, G. G., and Plater, W. M. (2016). The public good , productivity and
purpose: new economic models for Higher Education about this research about
the TIAA Institute. Available at: https://www.tiaainstitute.org/publication/
public-good-productivity-and-purpose (Accessed February 22, 2018).
Tran, L. T., and Marginson, S. (2018). Internationalisation in Vietnamese higher
education. New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-78492-2
Tran, L. T., Ngo, M., Nguyen, N., and Dang, X. T. (2017). Hybridity in Vietnamese
universities: an analysis of the interactions between Vietnamese traditions and
foreign influences. Stud. High Educ., 42 (10), 1899–1916. doi:10.1080/03075079.
2017.1376872
Tran, T. T. (2015). Is graduate employability the ‘whole-of-higher-educationissue’? J. Educ. Work 28 (3), 207–227. doi:10.1080/13639080.2014.900167
Frontiers in Communication | www.frontiersin.org
Conflict of Interest: The author declares that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
Copyright © 2021 Felix. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and
the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is
cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or
reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
5
February 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 647471