The purpose of this paper is to review the strategic management of Vietnamese higher education institutions.
The paper examined the external environment of the country’s education system based on the five forces framework by Michael Porter and inspected the strategies of universities and colleges.
It was concluded that lack of environmental analysis from both the government and higher education institutions themselves diminishes the intended effectiveness of the reforms; problems of skill shortage in the labor market, staff insufficiency and poor quality are prevalent; and that strategies developed by the institutions are purely responsive to the State’s direction without considering sustainability.
Lack of literature on Vietnamese higher education limits timely analysis.
Strategic planning based on a thorough investigation of the environment is imperative to enhance the performance of the education system generally as well as of academic institutions individually. The government plays a key role in developing initiatives to enhance staff capabilities and improve quality of educational outputs.
There has not been any paper that approached Vietnam’s higher education management under such an analytical framework.
