Enhancing Quality Assurance Awareness: VLU's Insights for Managers, Lecturers, and Staff

Quality assurance plays a crucial role in the development strategy of any higher education institution. The Higher Education Law has specific regulations on this issue, such as: “[...] Higher education quality assurance is a continuous and systematic process, including policies, mechanisms, standards, procedures and measures for maintaining and improving higher education quality” (Article 49, Clause 1). To carry out quality assurance effectively, a higher education institution shall: " [...] maintain and improve training quality assurance conditions, including the lecturers, managers and other employees, the training programs, textbooks, teaching and learning materials, classrooms, offices, laboratories, libraries, IT system, practical training facilities; financial resources, dormitories and other service facilities" (Article 50, Clause 4).

Figure 1: Lecturers and staff of VLU attending the workshop.

Thus, lecturers, managers, and all staff of VLU are required to take a pivotal role in the quality assurance processes. Recognizing this, Van Lang University has regularly organized training programs on quality assurance and accreditation. At the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year, the University conducted a series of online workshops on quality assurance and university rankings. Specifically, five topics were discussed over five weeks, including:

• Fundamental issues of quality, quality assurance and accreditation
• Accreditation according to the standards set by the Ministry of Education and Training and international standards.
• Quality assurance of the online training programme in compliance with international experiences
• University rankings
• Building the culture of quality in the scope of the university

The training content was meticulously prepared by referencing both domestical and international best practices. Each topic covered not only the foundational theory but also specific examples from within the country and abroad, directly relating to the University's quality assurance activities. Each training session began with a pre-test, allowing participants to share their perspectives through objective questions related to the training topic. At the end of each session, participants completed a post-test to evaluate the extent of knowledge gained. The training sessions were conducted online via Microsoft Teams, with the same content offered at two different times during the week, enabling the majority of the lecturers, managers, and all staff of VLU to participate in.

Figure 2: An activity conducted in the pre-test.

VLU has been proactive in quality assurance and accreditation efforts from an early stage. In 2006, the University was selected by the Ministry of Education and Training as one of the first 20 universities to pilot accreditation and was recognized by the National Council for Education Quality Accreditation as meeting quality standards.

In 2018, VLU received the National Higher Education Institution Accreditation Certificate. Additionally, six of its training programs have been accredited according to the Ministry of Education and Training's standards. Currently, the University has completed self-assessment reports for four training programs and is ready for external assessment based on the Ministry of Education and Training standards. In 2022, the University will undertake assessment for eight undergraduate training programs in accordance with AUN-QA standards and accredit two master's training programs based on the Ministry of Education and Training's standards. Over the next five years, the University aims to have all eligible programs undergo accreditation according to either domestic or international standards.