External stakeholders’ roles and factors influencing their participation in developing generic skills for students in Vietnamese universities

Abstract

External stakeholders have increasingly participated in instructional and training activities in higher education; however, their contribution has not yet been adequately documented, especially in non-Western university contexts. This article reports a study that examined external stakeholders’ roles and factors influencing their participation in these roles in developing generic skills (GS) for students at six Vietnamese universities of different institutional contexts. Data, which were primarily collected by semi-structured interviews with 69 university leaders, academics and staff members of the Youth Union and its associates, were analysed using a content analysis approach. The analysis showed that external stakeholders participated in multiple roles in executing GS policy, including consulting relevant GS for curriculum modification, training students in these skills, providing and supervising student internships, and evaluating the effectiveness of the skills development programmes. The analysis indicated that their participation was influenced by their interests in these roles, university location and university status. University leadership, which appeared to be driven by contextual factors such as several reforms concurrently taking place, curriculum autonomy, and regulations about staff appointment, was also found to influence extremal stakeholders’ participation.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• work-readiness skills
• generic skills
• external stakeholders
• leadership

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges thoughtful comments and advice on earlier drafts from Professor Sophie Arkoudis, Doctor Ryan Naylor and the anonymous reviewers. My gratitude is to all of the participants and those who have supported me with the project.

Notes

1. At the time this study was conducted, the MOET specified that an undergraduate programme should have about 120–140 credits, in which 1 credit was equivalent to 15 class meetings of 45–50 min for theoretical subjects.

2. In the socialist context of Vietnam, activities that involve many people must be approved by relevant authorities.

3. Vietnamese universities can only enrol a certain number of students in accordance with the quota given by MOET, which is based on the prestige of each university.