Toward Vietnam’s own university ranking system

Thanh Nien: Why is a university ranking system important, particularly for Vietnam?

Mark Ashwill: I think that a ranking system is viewed as a way of providing the public, policymakers and employers with a benchmark by which to compare and evaluate universities.

Rankings can also be used as a means of rewarding institutions that perform well and penalizing those that do not, according to a specific set of criteria.

Mark Ashwill, the director of the Institute of International Education in Vietnam (IIE Vietnam).

Given that Vietnamese students do not have the same freedom in choosing a university as their US peers, I’m not sure how a ranking system would serve their interests.

What problems could arise for Vietnam to rank its universities since Vietnamese universities still don’t have the autonomy they perhaps need?

It’s true that autonomy is an important issue because it determines how much flexibility an institution has and what steps it can take on its own.

You have to look at several factors regardless of what type of ranking system ends up being used: is it objective, is it a “popularity contest” based on purely subjective criteria, or is it a combination of the two?

Ultimately, any rankings system has to decide what should be measured and what is important, which in turn will determine the weight each item is given.

Then of course there is the issue of resources, which is especially challenging in a system that relies upon a state budget in a developing country with many competing demands.

The rankings in US universities are heavily based on admission requirements which are standardized so it’s easier to see how selective an institution is. So, if Vietnam wants to establish its own ranking system, it might have to standardize the university entrance requirements. Would that be difficult?

The most important basis for any useful rankings system, in my opinion, is the accuracy and reliability of the data on which it is based.

If the information is not sound, it may be preferable not to have any rankings system at all until this can be changed.

Vietnam has a limited number of universities offering the same major. So it might be hard to provide an accurate assessment of which universities have the best programs. What are your suggestions?

I acknowledge that this fact makes developing a reliable ranking system even more problematic.

As a result of history, tradition and a lack of resources, Vietnam retains an elite higher education system, meaning that a small percentage of the relevant age cohort has the opportunity to study at a university.

While the US system offers many competing choices in majors and degree programs, there is also a great deal of overlap, duplication and differences in quality.

This is a “luxury” that a low-income country such as Vietnam simply cannot afford.

Vietnam needs a quality post-secondary higher education, including vocational education and training, which is efficient and relevant to the needs of the economy and the larger society.

However, one could collect and make publicly available information about similar types of institutions that would include criteria such as faculty qualifications (e.g., advanced degrees), teacher/student ratio, laboratory, computer and library facilities, student activities and services, special programs, university-industry linkages, internship opportunities, post-graduate employment rates, etc.

This would provide some kind of general indicator or benchmark of how an institution is performing compared to its peers.

Reported by Huong Le