Educational quality of higher education through learning outcomes and the employability of graduates: A Case study of Nong Lam University in Vietnam

Abstract

Since the release of the Doi Moi reform in the late 1990s, the Ministry of Education in Vietnam has instructed higher educational institutions to innovate their curricula every two years. This approach has focused on meeting socio-economic needs rather than solely being knowledge-based, leading to a competition-based curriculum approach. To effectively implement this approach, higher education institutions in Vietnam have looked to the demands of the market and incorporated the training of various kinds of skills, with a particular emphasis on digital skills and critical thinking skills. However, obtaining information about the implementation of training for these skills at higher institutes, particularly those focused on agricultural education, has been difficult for the public. To understand the quality of higher education in Vietnam after decades under the Doi Moi reform, this current study employed the concept from UNESCO (2005), which is the model of quality evaluation in education, as the framework to access and measure the quality outcomes of higher education programs provided by higher education in Vietnam. To be more specific, the main purpose of this study was to explore the quality of higher education training programs in cultivating essential skills in students in bachelor programs, with a specific focus on exploring the quality of the cultivation of two critical sets of skills, digital skills, and critical thinking skills. This present study put a focus on two programs, Agronomy and Aquaculture-Seafood science, which are under two faculties, Agronomy and Fisheries, of Nong Lam university, respectively. To employ a qualitative approach, this study obtained data from two main sources, semi-structured interviews and documents, which were the curriculum, teaching objectives, and admission scores of these programs. Using purposive technique, this study obtained a total of 6 staff and 8 graduates from two departments, Agronomy and Aquaculture-Seafood Science, and plus 5 employers, who were direct mentors of 5 among 8 graduates. All graduates began their studies at Nong Lam in 2016 and completed them in 2020. The data collection of this study began in October 2021 and was accomplished in March 2022. To analyze the obtained data, two analytical techniques were employed. The content analysis technique was used for processing the documents, while thematic coding technique was applied to transcribed interviews. The findings of the study presented that Nong Lam university was qualified in the cultivation of digital skills and critical thinking skills to their students. Related to the digital skills, the facilities, the policies on the curriculum designs, and the pedagogies were highly supportive of the development of three domains of digital skills: information technology, communication technology, and generic foundation technology to students. Especially, in terms of the pedagogies, teachers of Nong Lam could use multiple methods, with the utilization of social media and digital devices to assist students in improving information and communication technology. In regards to critical thinking, it was found that Nong Lam university was qualified in giving support of policies for teaching objectives, extra curriculum activities, and pedagogies to assist students in sufficiently developing three domains of critical thinking: identifying & analyzing, reasoning & logical, and creative and innovative skills. The teaching pedagogies were viewed as the most crucial factor, as teachers of Nong Lam university could utilize multiple techniques, such as using social media, problem-solving techniques, dialogues, and focused case studies, to assist students in improving critical thinking sufficiently. From the findings, this study offers a number of recommendations for the practical application of its findings for different stakeholders, including policymakers, educators, and students. Policymakers from the government level can use this study as the guideline to develop the national occupational framework for the higher education system, while educators of other universities can utilize this study to enhance their teaching pedagogies to assist students in improving these two skills sufficiently. Students can use the findings of this study to develop suitable learning strategies to enhance these two skills during the time of learning, or suitable strategies to use these two skills at the workplaces. From the results of the study above, this research proposes the following suggestions to ensure continuous and resource-driven production of graduates. This is necessary because most universities lack sufficient resources, especially when compared to Nong Lam University, which is the country's top university. Secondly, there is a need to promote debate and contemplation of teaching science at the higher education level to develop both academic and operational skills. Additionally, further research studies of this kind should be conducted in other higher education institutions. The authors believe that research in universities with lower levels of capital and cultural resources than Nong Lam University might yield different results. The researchers expect higher education to address the demand for digital skills and critical thinking commanded in different sectors of the labor market, in which skills have dramatically changed in this century.

Keywords: quality of higher education, learning outcomes, employability, graduates, Vietnam