Understanding quality in Transnational Education in Vietnam: Stakeholder perspectives in a Vietnam-UK undergraduate partnership context.

The research focuses on stakeholder perceptions of the quality of undergraduate transnational higher education (TNHE) provision based on the context of a Vietnam-UK partnership offering two joint undergraduate programmes named BA in Business Management and BA in Banking and Finance. This is a research context that has previously received little attention. The thesis is underpinned by three research questions designed to explore issues related to the determinants of the quality, the effectiveness of the programme delivery and the factors that enable or conversely hinder the quality of the provision, with an emphasis on comparing the perceptions of students, university policy-makers and staff providers. These insights provide the basis of an understanding of the factors contributing to quality from a comparative and intercultural perspective. The methodology is based on a conceptual framework that combines the approach of defining quality in higher education as a stakeholder-specific meaning, the stakeholder theory to approach quality management, and the input-process-output model of quality management in higher education. The research applies a multiple-method approach, including interviews and questionnaires within a predominantly qualitative interpretive paradigm. The key findings fall within four categories. First is the importance of curricular equivalence and adaptation to tailor student learning needs. Second is the awareness of cultural differences to the approaches of transnational teaching and learning which focuses on a glocalised approach in a learning-centred environment. Third is the effective learning environment which focuses on providing value-added activities to enhance student learning opportunities and develop student employability. Fourth is building working relations by a means of effective communications and sharing practices in working with the partner institution. Overall, the findings are not generalizable in quantitative terms, but provide rich evidence (through an in-depth qualitative enquiry) of processes that promote, or conversely hinder, quality undergraduate provision in a TNHE partnership.