'University of the World' Or the Globalised, Entrepreneurial Logic of Professionalism Management in the Vietnam Context

http://www.diva-portal.org

This is the published version of a paper published in Quality in Higher Education.

Citation for the original published paper (version of record):

Vu, M T. (2019) ‘University of the world’ or the globalised, entrepreneurial logic of professionalism management in the Vietnam context Quality in Higher Education, 25(3): 324-339 https://doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2019.1684653

Access to the published version may require subscription.

N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper.

Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-164909 Quality in Higher Education

ISSN: 1353-8322 (Print) 1470-1081 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cqhe20

‘University of the world’ or the globalised, entrepreneurial logic of professionalism management in the Vietnam context

Mai Trang Vu

To cite this article: Mai Trang Vu (2019) ‘University of the world’ or the globalised, entrepreneurial logic of professionalism management in the Vietnam context, Quality in Higher Education, 25:3, 324-339, DOI: 10.1080/13538322.2019.1684653 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2019.1684653

Published online: 04 Nov 2019.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 164

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cqhe20 QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 2019, VOL. 25, NO. 3, 324–339 https://doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2019.1684653

‘University of the world’ or the globalised, entrepreneurial logic of professionalism management in the Vietnam context Mai Trang Vu

Department of Language Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This case study of a university in Vietnam examines how Organisational professionalism is established and managed in the university professionalism; context as manifested in institutional quality assurance policies managerialism; university and practices towards academic staff development. By looking quality assurance; globalisation; Vietnam at both ‘regulations and instrumentalities’, the research show- cases the different political forces involving in the making of professionalism. The findings suggest that the professionalism emerging from the case study is informed by a managerialist ethos. This striving university with its globalised logic can, in turn, be interpreted against a backdrop of larger socio-cultural contexts. In constructing the contemporary professionalism, there exist several forces and together they form an ecology system that includes both internal and external pressures under the overarching globalisation. A better understanding of these forces raises other questions about how they might change the traditional relationship between university and academic staff members, the impact of globalisation and the nature of teacher work and autonomy in higher education.

Introduction Professionalism for academics has been concretised into quality assurance, performance appraisal, outcomes, standards, innovation, funding, ranking and accreditation, all of which are happening on a global scale (Ball, 2012; Mårtensson et al., 2014;Field,2015). In professionalism theories, this phenomenon is referred to as the construction of ‘organisational professionalism’. ‘Organisational professionalism’ in many ways can be related to the debates about quality in education. Organisational professionalism, operationalised by managers, has been criticised for serving mainly the interests of the management and overlooking the interests of the profession (Harvey & Stensaker, 2008); and even intruding its values, including trust and autonomy (Evetts, 2009). At the same time, professionalisation practices such as identifying and applying professional standards, staﬀ performance appraisal and research productivity

CONTACT Mai Trang Vu [email protected] © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduc- tion in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 325 enforcement are considered by ministries and universities in many countries as important measures of quality assurance and education reforms (Kusumastuti & Idrus, 2017; Zgaga et al., 2013). This article investigates this complex notion of ‘organisational professionalism’ in contemporary higher education. Resonating with Freidson’s(2001)ideas,thestudy holds that professionalism is a mode of social coordination and involves interactions between three main players: authority, the market and the profession. Each follows their own logic, and they inﬂuence the establishment of professionalism but they also act under pressures: to advance professional interests; to keep to the rational, bureaucratic frame; to gain (political or economic) favour; and to maintain power. The ‘contingencies of professionalism’ (Freidson’s words) can thus be said to function based on a kaleidoscope driven by segregated interests (Vu, 2016). With these considerations, the involvement of each party (authority, the market and the occupation) in the construction of professionalism can be argued to be complex, dynamic and controversial, since there is often hardly a single ‘professional orthodoxy’ (Freidson, 2001, p.144). This study focuses on the interaction between authority and the teaching occupation in establishing professionalism. It explores this contested concept in the context of institutional quality assurance systems, in this case a particular site of a university in Vietnam. The study aims to unravel professionalism that is supposed to be an ‘organisational professionalism’‘from above’ (McClelland, 1990). What is professionalism as it is conceptualised through institutional quality policies and mechanisms? What are the values and priorities underpinning this conceptualisation? How do these values and priorities reveal insights into the construction of professionalism? In order to portray organisational professionalism, the research uses an embedded case study by examining institutional policies and management practices, or ‘regulations and instrumentalities’ (Freidson, 2001, p. 136). Viewing professionalism as a socially constructed notion allows the study to consider this concept beyond an ‘institutional parochialism’ and within larger sociocultural context frames (Robertson & Dale, 2008). Thus, the study contri- butes to the growing area of profession research by providing more insights into the forces that compel professionalism, especially in the context of Vietnam, a so-far under-reported setting. At the same time, in the era of higher education reforms and quality assurance campaigns at both national and international levels in many parts of the world, a globalisation perspective can also be adopted in reading the study’s implications. A better understanding of these forces may raise principal questions about the role of authority and the changing relationship between university and academic staﬀ.

Organisational professionalism in higher education Professionalism established by management is depicted as having challenged traditional values of higher education: students are now seen more as customers, 326 M. T. VU and the purposes of education are greatly impacted by priorities such as the ‘publish or perish’ pressure. This happens in the context of league tables that provide global, regional, and even national rankings of universities. Higher education policy, with its technologies, ‘technicalisation, standardisation, managemen- tisation, proletarisation, marketisation’, deprives academics of discretionary decision-making (Hasselberg, 2013, p. 142). Organisational professionalism is viewed as a political tool to keep individuals, and institutions, functioning appro- priately. This discourse is contrasted with occupational professionalism, constructed by professional groups and includes collegial authority, trust, discretion and work control; the elements of ideal-typical professionalism. In discussing the contingencies of professionalism, Freidson (2001) emphasised the complex role of the state/authority. In principle, authority is the major force required for creating, maintaining and enforcing ideal-typical professionalism. This support is, however, done depending on the authority’s ‘own organization and agenda, which varies in time and space’. This has critical consequences on the extent to which all the institutions of ideal-typical professionalism are realised (Freidson, 2001, p. 129). With its coercive and regula- tory mechanisms and its instrumentalities, authority supports or, in some extreme cases, suppresses the elements of professionalism. Ideally, the relationship between authority and profession is a mutual one, since ‘when state agencies ratify arrangements established in civil society by occupations to establish professionalism, they rely by default on the competence and legitimacy of those who created those arrangements’ (Freidson, 2001,p.139). Because of the specialisation of knowledge and skills, professionals’ intentions and ethics must be trusted and their practice protected. The (ideal) duality of authority’s role and its interrelationship with profession implies a complexity in the nature of its involvement in establishing and maintaining professionalism, which is worth an investigation.

Current professionalisation projects in Vietnam higher education

In 2017, approximately 1.7 million students enrolled in 235 higher education institutions in Vietnam (Vietnam National Statistics, 2017). Until recently, Vietnam higher education system has been highly centralised. Heavily inﬂuenced by the former Soviet academic system, Vietnam universities are structured as teaching-focused institutions and research is assigned separately to research institutes. Vietnamese higher education has been described as being ‘in a crisis’ (Vallely & Wilkinson, 2008). Publication record by Vietnamese researchers in peer- reviewed international journals remains poor. Universities were regarded as failing because they cannot produce the workforce the economy and society demanded. Professional qualiﬁcations of university teachers is another chal- lenge (Pham & Fry, 2011). QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 327

Vietnam Higher Education ReformAgenda,HERA,period2006–2020, is a turning point in the country’s higher education governance. The reform proposes, by 2020, that Vietnam higher education ‘shallattaintheregionaladvancedstandards, approach the world’s advanced level, have a high competitiveness and suit the socialist-oriented market mechanism’ (HERA, 2005). Vietnam higher education discourse can thus be described with two main themes: linking education to socio- economic development and striving for international standards. Universities are to produce human resources with employability skills that meet the needs of the changing society. Quality control and inspection systems are also to be enhanced (HERA, 2005). In 2012, Vietnam’s Higher Education Law, the country’s ﬁrst law on higher education, was adopted. Universities receive increased autonomy and undergo internal and external accreditation. Collaboration between universities and industry is promoted. The vision is set for a higher education sector of ﬂexibility, mobility and practicality (Marginson & Tran, 2014). The government requires universities to increase the number of academics with PhDs and professorship.

Materials and method The study adopts embedded case study (Yin, 2014) with various sources of data: policy documents, interviews and fieldwork. This method has largely been used to investigate higher education institutions, especially in changing circum- stances (Beach, 2013; Gonzales, 2015; Mårtensson et al., 2014;O’Meara & Bloomgarden, 2011), and is relevant to the current research, considering its qualitative epistemology and aim: to provide more understandings about organisational professionalism management. The university selected (with the pseudonym ‘Dominus University’)hasalong prior history of striving for quality and innovation and is considered one of the largest institutions in engineering in Vietnam. Founded during the 1960s, the university has expanded from training vocational teachers to providing engineers. It has over 26,000 students on more than 50 bachelor’s programmes in engineering, economics, graphic arts and media, and foreign languages (mainly English), together with master’s and PhD programmes, mostly in engineering. The university claims to be the first in Vietnam to apply the quality management system ISO. The main source of data is the university’s institutional policies. They comprise five key documents: mission statement, vision statement, two university president’sspeeches(Year’s address and Teachers’ Day address) and one staff management policy (the Key Performance Indices). These documents were selected because they reveal the university’s dominant aims, priorities and management practices. Other related documents (for example, University Introduction pages, annual plan, recruitment announcement) served as supplementary data. The second source of data is interviews. Three managers at a department were invited to express their views on the university’sstaff management mechanisms 328 M. T. VU

(the data equal talks of around 15 minutes). The participants are: the Department Chair (male), PhD, more than 30 years of teaching experience; and two Deputy Chairs with the pseudonyms Tam and Binh (female), MA degree, 10–20 years of experience. The third source of data is field notes, including meeting notes, campus life observations and informal conversations (Gonzales, 2015). These three main sources of data, policy documents, interviews and field study, provided rich information on the institution’s regulations and instrumentalities not only in its future orientation but also its current realities, which are the aims of the study. The data collection and analysis adhered to the ethical guidelines by the Swedish Research Council’s Good Research Practice (2011), since the researcher’saffiliated institution is a Swedish one. The researcher had no connection to the study site prior to the project, and during the research, participants’ rights of anonymity, confidentiality and of withdrawal were protected. The policies were analysed in their original language Vietnamese. The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese so participants could fully express their views, and analysed. The analysis results were then translated into English for reporting in order to avoid too-early interpretation risks, given translation is interpretation (van Nes et al., 2010). The data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2008; Gläser & Laudel, 2013). The analysis and coding process followed five phrases: 1. linking information to the content areas (management values, priorities and practices); 2. generating initial codes (from segments of data); 3. searching for patterns to form sub-themes; 4. integrating sub-themes to form themes; 5. reviewing themes within each category and conducting further analysis. Examples of data segments are ‘serve the community’, ‘recognise the community’s interests’ and ‘comprehensive cooperation with businesses’, grouped and coded as Responsibilities to stakeholders, which is, in turn, categorised in the sub-theme A responsive, entrepreneur university under the theme The ethos of organisational professionalism in the content area of Dominus University’s promoted values and priorities.

Results and discussion The ethos of organisational professionalism A member of the international community Destination: the premier league. With a ‘dynamic language’ (Kuenssberg, 2011), Dominus University’s webpages show the university wants to spread out its reputation. The university aims for ‘the nation’s development, making an active and positive contribution to Vietnam’s education reforms, and acting as the driving force for the nation’s vocational education’ (Year’s address). This ‘leading’ and ‘prestigious’ position needs to be maintained (Year’s address) so the institution will be among ‘Vietnam’s top ten universities’ (Vision). QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 329

Dominus University also strives beyond the national scope: it ‘endeavours to be on the same level with recognised universities in the region and in the world’ (Year’s address). There is a strong sense favouring internationalisation in its strategic approach. An extensive usage of ‘internationalisation’, ‘regional and international’ and ‘international integration’ is noticed throughout its mission, vision, core values, goals and public speeches. The university has adopted policies borrowed from foreign contexts. A great number of international collaborative projects are highlighted in the Year’s address. On the university’s Introduction web page, these projects and international partners, including universities and corporations, occupy a focal place. The page emphasises the university has participated in international accreditation systems: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ASEAN University Network (AUN), Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) and Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO), an international outcome-based design framework for engineer education. The university’s upcoming management mechanism Key Performance Indices (KPIs), guided by Management by Objectives (MBO) model, is also a borrowed concept. The recent recognition of international English test scores such as Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is another indication showing the university’s attempts in reaching international standards. Internationalisation continues to be the strategic goal for the university’s future development (Annual plan).

Research promoted. Dominus University presents itself as an institution with a research orientation. Conventionally, the university provides engineers and technical workers and trains teachers for vocational schools. However, the for- mulation of its mission indicates its wish to move beyond this vocational-applied scope. Technology and vocational education and training are still the tracks the university pursues but, in the mission, this aspect is paired with a more scientiﬁc- scholarly research aspect: ‘technology’ now goes with ‘science’, vocational education is formulated as ‘vocational educational science’. ‘Research’ and ‘technology transfer’ are stressed as the university’s key operational areas alongside training. In his speech, the president stated the university wants to participate in ‘important research projects’ that yield ‘practical application’. Extensive investment in post-graduate education also indicates Dominus University’s ambition for a more research-oriented status. The university will provide more PhD and MA programmes (Year’s address). Its international joint programmes, especially at postgraduate level, will also be expanded. Dominus University thus wants to move away from its traditional image of an institution that only produces skilled labour force. Focusing on science and research, the institution wishes to aﬃrm its image as belonging to Tier 2 (university of applied sciences) and even with an orientation towards the top Tier 1 (research university) rather than Tier 3 (professional and vocational university). The research 330 M. T. VU that the university embraces, however, can be noted as associating with practical applications with tangible products.

English flourishes. English language education has become one key task for future development, short-term and long-term. Improving English skills for both students and staff members is particularly stressed because ‘the demand for English competencies in the coming years is higher than ever’ (Year’s address and Teachers’ Day address). English is seen as a means of reaching the world. The university has already required the TOEIC score as a graduation criterion. Field observations show a prevalence of English with notices and banners all over campus advertising English workshops and clubs. The researcher attended one of these, an English club session organised by students from Economics Department, and noted that those attended came from all departments and not just from economics and business. The researcher also had a chance to attend an important event hosted by Dominus University: a review meeting of the National Foreign Languages Project 2020, with ministry leaders and university managers from across the country. In the meeting’s welcome speech, the president emphasised English to Dominus University is ‘essential because the slogan of the university is international integration’. English is to be used more as the language of instruction. He also stressed students need to have good English skills because ‘otherwise when we join the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) they will face fierce competition from students from other universities in the region who are fluent English users’. The president spoke of today’s engineers as global engineers who, if lacking English, become illiterate in a way.

A responsive, entrepreneur university Responsibilities to stakeholders. Dominus University seems to concern the needs of every stakeholder. It aims to provide students ‘a highly ﬂexible and adaptive higher education’ so they are employable, both in the country and internationally. The university is ‘to bring a positive impact on the social and economic life of the nation’. It aspires to ‘take a role in Vietnam’s education reforms, and in the country’s development of technical and vocational education ﬁeld’ (Vision). Its commitment to ‘social responsibilities’ is also articulated as providing community services, with an explicit mentioning of ‘businesses’. ‘Community’ is repeated twice in the mission both as a core value and a strategic goal: the university needs to ‘serve the community’ and ‘recognise the community’s interests’. Among public and community groups, only ‘businesses’ is exclusively mentioned, and as a strategic partner rather than a cause: ‘comprehensive cooperation with businesses’ is one of the university’s long-term priorities. The university’swebsite highlights regular contributions from companies and enterprises for training and QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 331 research such as laboratory and training facilities procurement, research collaboration, conferences, internships and scholarships.

Business-driven. In the president’s speeches, the word ‘thương hiệu’ (brand name) is repeated to refer to Dominus University’s reputation: ‘the university has successfully built a strong brand name’, and it ‘endeavours to promote its brand name in the science and technology market’. Also, the university is implementing a project called ‘Dominus University’s 1001 video clips’‘to PR the university to the public’ and ‘to create a good impression and establish a brand name’. In the speeches, ‘brand name’ is used in association with ‘promote’, ‘market’ and public relation (PR) activities. This business language suggests an entrepreneurial mindset: not only Dominus University constructs itself as having a business-like identity with a brand name to be promoted and identiﬁed (from competitors) in order to ‘PR the university to the public’, but it also views science and technology as a market. Also, the university will ‘generate income from short-term training activities’ (Mission). This entrepreneurial approach is also articulated through how students are seen as a customer-partner-stakeholder. In the Year’s address, ‘student relations’ is placed with ‘business relations’ and ‘brand-name promotion’. This suggests a close association between ‘students’ and ‘customers’, and ‘education’ and ‘commodity’. Student-customers need to be attracted, for example, via the university’s plan to ‘make use of the social media’. The campus life observed could be described as energetic and lively with many catchy banners promoting employability: a university-supported recruitment opening for a big foreign company; scholarships from the industry; a Job Fair; and the next session of an English club that helps everyone ‘be ready for big changes’. The relationship with students is cherished. ‘Recognising student rights and interests’ is mentioned as a core value of the university. To innovate learning methods, students are ‘mobilised’ (as opposed to being ‘requested’ or ‘required’). Resources will be allocated for infrastructure. Students’ opinions are acknowledged, seen through the university’s initiative of ‘Dialogues with students’ meetings, implemented for several years now. ‘Dialogues’ (Đối thoại) implies a degree of equality between parties, and indeed one of those meetings attended could be described as an open dialogue between departmental management, teachers and students. The Chair after that spoke of the meeting, ‘it is for the management to get students’ feedback, and often the feedback is complaints’.

Quality measurement and control intensification. Dominus University’s strategies are presented with an enterprise principle with the use of words such as ‘standards’, ‘criteria’, ‘quality assurance’, ‘quality management accreditation’, ‘review and revise’, ‘systemise and standardise’ (Year speech). ‘Quality’ is declared as both an aspiration and a value. The university’s aims are quantified 332 M. T. VU into indicators, such as, targeted number of enrolled students, targeted number of staff (specified into employment tracks), targeted percentage of academic qualifications (Vision). Dominus University is to apply ‘progressive higher education management and governance technologies’ (Mission). Indeed, an entrepreneurial management approach has been implemented since 2007, as proudly indicated in a certificate of ‘ISO 9001:2000 quality management systems’ placed on the university’s Introduction web page. Dominus University continues to implement administration reforms, by ‘redefining all management positions as task-and- competency-based’ [emphasis added]. Monitoring and management measures are to be intensified. The Department of Quality Assurance will be appointed with new responsibilities of ‘auditing training programmes’ [emphasis added]. All training programmes are to be ‘reviewed’, ‘revised’, ‘systematised’ and ‘standardised’ to meet quality management and accreditation criteria. Also, the university will ‘revisit regulations to maintain and enhance work routine and work discipline’. The most significant evidence illustrating the university’s culture of monitoring and measurement is its recent development of KPIs, discussed later. The KPIs measure staff performance through indicators. It not only claims to be a compensation policy but also acts as a sanction mechanism.

The shape of organisational professionalism: striving academic staff for a striving institution Rounded whole academic staff who strive to be the best Dominus University expects its staff members to also be ambitious. Throughout its mission, vision and speeches, the university stated teachers need to show their efforts in teaching and research and to become ‘the best’, ‘professional’, ‘competitive’ and ‘adaptive’. Teaching staff have to innovate teaching and learning methods, vary evaluation and assessment methods, improve English proficiency, have strong subject knowledge and teaching skills for short-term courses, participate in professional development and conduct research. Teachers need to have PhD degrees and at least MA degrees in some particular disciplines. Besides, they need to have certificates of computer skills, English proficiency and pedagogy. Position candidates have to submit a reflection on their moral virtues and professional qualities, and take an IQ test (Recruitment announcement). How the university manages academic staff’s research can be described as a stick-and-carrot strategy. Academics are required to fulfil research responsibilities, translated into additional 90 hours; otherwise, they will not be paid for these hours. At the same time, the university has recently decided to double the amount of funding for university-level projects. Staff who have publications QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 333

(preferably in international journals) are rewarded an amount that is equal to a month’s salary. Regarding the relationship with students, teachers should no longer be the master who oﬀers knowledge; rather, they should be the facilitator: ‘The vertical hierarchical relationship between teachers and learners must be changed into a horizontal student-centred relationship’ (Teachers’ Day address).

Policy change: the KPIs support and sanction What Dominus University looks for, or rather, requires from, its academic staff is perhaps most articulated in the KPIs. The KPIs is placed first in the list of projects to be implemented. At the time of visit, the KPIs was in its pilot phase: the researcher had access to a draft version 178-page policy document. The contents of KPIs suggest professionalism by Dominus University is framed around five pillars: teaching, research, service, regulations compliance and self- learning. The KPIs claim to be ‘an effective tool to evaluate the performance of individual staff members and units so that a fair and reasonable reward system can be put in place . . . to motivate staff’. The policy is ‘within the University’sstrategyof employing the “hybrid” model of university-corporation management’ and is created in response to ‘both external pressures and the University’s internal ambi- tions of self-innovation and globalisation’ [emphasis added]. Information from the KPIs will be used for ‘bonus, reward, appointment, reallocation and sanction’. The policy applies to both staff members (including managers) and units. Individual teachers’ performance will be periodically assessed according to the job description developed by their supervisors and the Human Resources Office. The results are graded into six ratings from F–A: ‘Punished—Not eligible for appraisal’, ‘Failed to accomplish tasks’, ‘Completed tasks but with flaws’, ‘Completed tasks’, ‘Successfully completed tasks’ and ‘Completed tasks with distinction’. These ratings are measured on a 0–100 point scale. The rating one receives will decide the amount either added to or subtracted from their salary. The ratings, when accumulated, also affect whether a teacher will be rewarded, promoted, reallocated, or even dismissed. In a way the KPIs can be compared to a Fordism assembly-line management system. It is managed by a central administration board and supported by all offices, each assigned with particular tasks and together they make the KPIs smoothly function both across levels (from the university level to department and unit level, down to individual staff members), and through designated steps (setting objectives, conducting and monitoring the appraisal process, collecting results and applying results in either reward or punishment decisions).

Manager ’s views The managers were asked for their views on the university’s research management policy and the KPIs. 334 M. T. VU

The stick-and-carrot policy of research management is perceived differently by managers. It creates a necessary positive pressure that enforces staff research, because ‘now they just simply don’t do research’ (Manager Tam). Increasing incentives also has a positive psychological impact in raising teachers’ motivation because ‘they feel what they are doing is recognised’ (Manager Binh). However, the overall reaction of the managers interviewed is doubts: they showed little certainty that this imposition would enhance research. Since staff are forced to conduct research, they will do it ‘just to get by’ and ‘to cope with the situation’ (Manager Tam, Manager Binh). Regarding the coming KPIs, participants showed concerns about its managerial nature, but they also thought it is the very factor that motivates staff members. Managers foresaw ‘teachers’ behaviour will change’ (The Chair), they will do more research because ‘together with the sanction the bonus is increased’ (Manager Binh) and all operation areas of the department will be improved (Manager Tam).

I am not totally happy with the KPIs—it acts better in a business environment. But to an extent, having it here does have advantages. It motivates people to make eﬀorts, otherwise everyone will be the same. Our oriental culture is intuition-based, not reasoning-based. We always round up our evaluation. If we give easy, messy evalua- tions, all standards will become easy and messy, and qualities will become easy and messy. (The Chair)

The KPIs will be a more accurate tool than the previous mechanism with those vague comments such as “Yes, it looks good” or “Yes, it seems to be good”. (Manager Tam)

Managers’ seeing the KPIs as a catalyst for change indicates that the policy is appreciated not because it is a management tool but because it generates an accurate, thus, fair and transparent system of reward and recognition, some- thing that the earlier system lacks. Accuracy, fairness and transparency are perceived as being able to motivate people in their performance, research and self-learning. Managers implied an ambiguous rewarding system will be as demotivating as no rewarding system.

A globalised entrepreneurial professionalism: in whose interests?

The analysis of the data has unravelled the regulations and instrumentalities employed at Dominus University in establishing and maintaining professionalism and revealed the ethos underlying these policies and practices. The essence of the university and its articulated professionalism can be encapsulated in two adjectives: striving and entrepreneurial. Dominus University wants to identify itself as an avant-garde, energetic, ambitious and responsive university. Striving universities have been conceptualised as those that consistently strive to pursue prestige, that is, to better their ranking in the higher education academic hierarchy, or ‘moving to the next level’ (Toma, 2009; QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 335

O’Meara, 2007;O’Meara & Bloomgarden, 2011). Striving universities often employ strategies for increased prestige: integration, diversification and expansion (Toma, 2009). At Dominus University, all these measures are associated with an entrepreneurial mindset and managerialism ethos. Through the use of a ‘language of business’ (Deem & Brehony, 2005)andan emphasis on quality practices and measurement stated as the institution’s values and priorities (Mårtensson et al., 2014), Dominus University’s business-driven identity is revealed: the university is shaped and operationalised almost like a corporation entity. The relationship between the university and its students, a traditional, and important, relationship for any higher education institution, takes on an entrepreneurial tone. Its staff management mechanism also reflects the culture of performativity and fabrications in the education economy (Ball, 2012). Academic staff are expected to be productive and prolific, a requirement increasingly set up by universities today (Hazelkorn, 2011). The professionalism emerging from the KPIs appears to be built on a numeric structure. Dominus University adopts the logics of a ‘managerialist university’ (Aspromourgos, 2012) characterised by an idealised notion of market forces (for example, students as customers, education as service, English language education for international integration and student employability), enhanced surveillance and measurement for outputs and ‘efficacy’ (Field, 2015). This reflects the trend of higher education institutions prioritising market values and employing business-like organisational management behaviour in an education economy, where the academic is expected to work along with the market and the society at large (Kuenssberg, 2011; Rider et al., 2013). This ethos seems to be comprehensible in wider contexts: the knowledge economy and globalisation. In realising its ambitious goals of becoming a ‘university of national, regional and global level’, similar to the goals of many other universities around the world (Hazelkorn, 2011; Kiatkheeree, 2016; Zgaga et al., 2013), the university promotes ‘international integration’ as its strategic ace. It seems its expectations and values all become the means or tools to achieve the target goals. Dominus University with its globalised entrepreneurial professionalism can also be interpreted against a backdrop of the socio-cultural contexts of today’s Vietnam with the country ’s increased participation in international collaborations, especially in economic integration. The university’s concerns claim to be con- nected to larger forces. These forces include both wider pressures (for example, globalisation, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ‘new conditions of today’s higher education’) and local realities (students’ employability, the university’s commitment to its international collaboration). These aspects can be traced in all Dominus University’sstrivingefforts, articulated through its stated aspira- tions and organisational behaviour, or its ‘rhetoric and operational strategies’ (Toma, 2009). The university calls on almost all promoted values of our time, such as quality, efficiency, renovation, sustainability, employability, creativity, 336 M. T. VU research and international integration, while it does not forget to emphasise its motto of ‘preserving Vietnamese traditional humanistic values’ in its mission statement. The university’smanagementtechnologiesemployedcanalsobe interpreted, as viewed by the managers interviewed, as bringing about the conditions for professionalism (for example, transparency, increased income). Its ethos is in line with the ongoing Vietnam higher education reforms (international integration, societal needs response, academic staff professionalisation). With this managerial professionalism, however, academic staff risk being seen as employees regulated to help the functioning of the entire machinery with its cobweb of politics. Indeed, the interviews with the managers indicate their doubts about the effectiveness of policy if it is based on merely authority’s interests. The research once again raises the question about how quality assur- ances systems enhance higher education (Harvey & Williams, 2010) and the voice of academics in the process (Yang & Clarke, 2018).

Conclusion The study presents further understandings of the making of professionalism by authority. The data suggest professionalism is cast in a network of larger dis- courses, most notably the knowledge economy and globalisation. These new conditions require actors, the university and the academic staff, to demonstrate greater commitment to social responsiveness. The study also unpacked the roles of authority: besides the attempts to control the work of academic staff are efforts to professionalise the occupation and improve the quality of teachers. The organisational professionalism depicted in this research, however, can overall be described as being dominated by measurability, functionality and productivity under the pressures from managerialism and globalisation. In line with the ‘international integration’ in a ‘hybrid model of university-corporation management’,professionalism as defined by the university follows a managerial logic in connection with ‘international codes of conducts and regulations’. Managerialism principles of marketisation, outcome-based management indicators and monitoring are operationalised. To save the soul of professionalism, it is necessary for authority to be aware of the logic of professionalism. The ultimate questions to ask, therefore, concern primarily meanings, values and ideologies for all sides: ‘Are the monopoly, credentialism, and elitism that are intrinsic to professionalism inimical to the public welfare? Should all vestiges of professionalism in present-day political economies be replaced by the free market or rational bureaucracy? Or should professionalism be reinforced?’ (Freidson, 2001, p.181). Questioning the validity of the values that the contemporary professionalism embraces could thus be necessary. On the one hand, those expectations for academic staff, for example, to be more flexible and responsive to societal needs and globalisation, to conduct more publications, and to obtain better academic QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 337 qualifications, may appear to be relevant in the current context of Vietnam with the country’s higher education reforms, university teacher professionalisation and internationalisation. On the other hand, if these are conducted with a managerialism ethos that prioritises performativities, which entails minute, detail control, this in many ways goes against the values and purposes of higher education (Biesta, 2009; Roth, 2014). Indeed, the making of professionalism should not be a situation when different forces oppose, compete with, and deny each other; rather, they should correlate and presuppose each other.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Professor Nafsika Alexiadou, Associate Professor Asbjörg Westum and Associate Professor Carin Jonsson, Umeå University, Sweden, for their support during this study. This article is developed from part of the author’s doctoral thesis: Vu, M.T., 2017, Logics and Politics of Professionalism: The case of university English teachers in Vietnam (Sewden, Umeå University).

Disclosure statement

No potential conﬂict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Mai Trang Vu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1001-6156

References

Aspromourgos, T., 2012, ‘The managerialist university: an economic interpretation’, Australian Universities’ Review, 54(2), pp. 44–49. Ball, S.J., 2012, ‘Performativity, commodiﬁcation and commitment: an I-spy guide to the neoliberal university’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 60(1), pp. 17–28. Beach, D., 2013, ‘Changing higher education: converging policy-packages and experiences of changing academic work in Sweden’, Journal of Education Policy, 28(4), pp. 517–33. Biesta, G., 2009, ‘Good education in an age of measurement: on the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education’, Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability,21 (1), pp. 33–46. Braun, V. & Clarke, V., 2008, ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), pp. 77–101. Deem, R. & Brehony, K.J., 2005, ‘Management as ideology: the case of ‘new managerialism’ in higher education’, Oxford Review of Education, 31(2), pp. 217–35. Evetts, J., 2009, ‘The management of professionalism: a contemporary paradox’, in Gewirtz, S., Mahony, P., Hextall, I. & Cribb, A. (Eds.) Changing Teacher Professionalism: International trends, challenges and ways forward (London, Routledge). Field, L., 2015, ‘Appraising academic appraisal in the new public management university’, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(2), pp. 172–89. Freidson, E., 2001, Professionalism: The third logic (Cambridge, Polity). 338 M. T. VU

Gläser, J. & Laudel, G., 2013, ‘Life with and without coding: two methods for early-stage data analysis in qualitative research aiming at causal explanations’, Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 14(2), pp. 75–84. Gonzales, L.D., 2015, ‘Faculty agency in striving university contexts: mundane yet powerful acts of agency’, British Educational Research Journal, 41(2), pp. 303–23. Harvey, L. & Stensaker, B., 2008, Quality culture: understandings, boundaries and linkages’, European Journal of Education, 43, pp. 427–42. Harvey, L. & Williams, J., 2010, ‘Fifteen years of Quality in Higher Education (Part two), Quality in Higher Education, 16(2), pp. 81–113. Hasselberg, Y., 2013, ‘In defence of discretion’, in Rider, S., Hasselberg, Y. & Waluszewski, A., (Eds.), Transformations in Research, Higher Education and the Academic Market: The breakdown of scientific thought, pp. 137–44 (Dordrecht, Springer Science & Business Media B.V.). Hazelkorn, E, 2011, ‘Questions abound as the college-rankings race goes global’ Chronicle of Higher Education 13 Mar 2011. Available at https://www.chronicle.com/article/Questions- Abound-as-the/126699 (accessed 25 March 2016). Higher Education Reform Agenda (HERA), 2005, Resolution Number 14/2005/NQ-CP dated 2 November, 2005 (Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam). Kiatkheeree, P., 2016, ‘Rise or fall of the EFL teaching profession in Thai universities’,in Haworth, P. & Craig, C. (Eds.) The Career Trajectories of English Language Teachers (Oxford, Symposium Books). Kuenssberg, S., 2011, ‘The discourse of self-presentation in Scottish university mission statements’, Quality in Higher Education, 17(3), pp. 279–98. Kusumastuti, D. & Idrus, N., 2017, ‘ Nurturing quality of higher education through national ranking: a potential empowerment model for developing countries’, Quality in Higher Education, 23(3), pp. 230–48. Marginson, S. & Tran, L., 2014, Vietnam higher education must focus on flexibility. University World News, Global edition issue 335. Available at https://www.universityworldnews.com/ post.php?story=20140918110311868 (accessed 25 March 2016). Mårtensson, K., Roxå, T. & Stensaker, B., 2014, ‘From quality assurance to quality practices: an investigation of strong microcultures in teaching and learning’, Studies in Higher Education, 39(4), pp. 534–45. McClelland, C.E., 1990. ‘Escape from freedom? Reflections on German professionalisation 1870–1933ʹ, in Burrage, M. & Torstendahl, R. (Eds.) The Formation of Professions: Knowledge, state and strategy (London, Sage). O’Meara, K.A., 2007, ‘Striving for what: exploring the pursuit of prestige’, in Smart, J.C. (Ed.) Higher Education: Handbook of theory and research (Dordrecht, Springer). O’Meara, K.A. & Bloomgarden, A., 2011, ‘The pursuit of prestige: the experience of institutional striving from a faculty perspective’, Journal of the Professoriate, 4(1), pp. 39–73. Pham, L. H., & Fry, G. W. (2011). Vietnam as an outlier: Tradition and change in education. In C. Brock, & L. P. Symaco (Eds.), Education in South East Asia. Oxford: Symposium Books. Rider, S., Hasselberg, Y. & Waluszewski, A., 2013, Transformations in Research, Higher Education and the Academic Market: The breakdown of scientific thought (Dordrecht, Springer). Robertson, S.L. & Dale, R., 2008, ‘Researching education in a globalising era: beyond methodological nationalism, methodological statism, methodological educationism and spatial fetishism’, in Resnik, J. (Ed.) The Production of Educational Knowledge in the Global Era (Rotterdam, Sense). Roth, M., 2014 , Beyond the University (New Haven & London, Yale University Press). Swedish Research Council, 2011, Good Research Practice (Stockholm, Vetenskapsrådet). Toma, J.D., 2009, ‘Positioning for prestige in American higher education: case studies of strategies at four public institutions toward “getting to the next level”’, summary paper QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION 339

for the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice (CERPP). Available at http:// www.usc.edu/programs/cerpp/publications1.html (accessed 29 April 2016). Vallely, T.J. & Wilkinson, B., 2008, ‘Vietnamese higher education: crisis and response’, Cambridge, MA: ASH Institute, Harvard Kennedy School. Available at https://sites.hks. harvard.edu/innovations/asia/Documents/HigherEducationOverview112008.pdf (accessed 16 July 2016). van Nes, F., Abma, T., Jonsson, H. & Deeg, D., 2010, ‘Language differences in qualitative research: is meaning lost in translation?’, European Journal of Ageing, 7(4), pp. 313–16. Vietnam National Statistics, 2017, Statistics on Higher Education. Available at https://www.gso. gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=722 (accessed 19 May 2018). Vu, M.T., 2016, ‘The kaleidoscope of English language teacher professionalism: a review analysis of traits, values, and political dimensions’, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies,13 (2), pp. 132–56. Yang, H. & Clarke, M., 2018, ‘Spaces of agency within contextual constraints: a case study of teacher’s response to EFL reform in a Chinese university’, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 38(2), pp. 187–201. Yin, R., 2014, Case Study Research, fifth edition (Thousand Oaks, CA., Sage). Zgaga, P., Klemenčič, M., Komljenovič, J., Miklavič, K., Repac, I. & Jakačić,V.,2013, Higher Education in the Western Balkans: Reforms, developments, trends (Ljubljana, University of Ljubljana).