Consultants for Policy Brief on Online Education

USAID Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER)

Terms of reference

Policy Brief on Online Education

I. BACKGROUND

The Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER) is a five-year initiative to help strengthen Vietnam's leading public universities. The project activities are funded by USAID to support targeted reforms to improve institutional leadership and administrative capacity, improve teaching practices to enhance student learning outcomes, elevate university research capacity to international standards, network Vietnamese researchers to maximize access to global knowledge, enable university graduates to better engage with the labor market, and help university faculty to leverage their research for innovation.

To achieve these objectives, PHER activities focus on four pillars:           

1. Governance: This pillar supports the building and strengthening of institutional performance management systems based on agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) supported by a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) that provides consistent, reliable data for decision making and for accreditation of institutions and programs. This includes the establishment of a robust internal quality assurance (IQA) system at each of the target universities. Improved governance will help the leadership of public universities in Vietnam to make better informed decisions as they exercise greater autonomy and focus on academic quality. 
2. Teaching & Learning: This pillar supports the growing of faculty professional development opportunities through the establishment of formalized Centers for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) as well as supporting the work of less formal, more specialized faculty-driven affinity groups through Faculty Academies on Excellence in Teaching (FACET). The goals are to support expansion of faculty capacity to design state-of-the-art courses, digitize curricula, support the development of priority online courses and programs, improve student learning assessment techniques, and develop graduate students in the teaching profession. This pillar will also support technical assistance to help prepare faculty and administration for international accreditation reviews of academic programs and institutions. The objective is for improved teaching and learning at Vietnam’s public universities to increase learning outcomes, enhance recognition of high-quality academic programs, and improve the employability of graduates.
3. Research & Innovation: This pillar supports the enhancing of research capacity so that the scientific outputs of public universities in Vietnam meet international standards, increase knowledge sharing among specialists, grow the number of publications in recognized journals, and align research activities to the social and economic needs of the country.  This will take place through faculty exchanges, visiting scholar programs, research conferences, webinars, workshops, and short course training on research methodologies and academic specialties. The key vehicle for this pillar is the establishment of Vietnam International Academic Networks (VIAN) to help scientists across Vietnam to connect more readily with fellow experts from around the world. The objective is for VIAN activity to lead to greater knowledge sharing, broader promotion of research taking place in Vietnam, and enhanced opportunities for joint research and publications with partners abroad.
4. University-Industry Linkages: This pillar supports student career exploration and workforce preparation, alumni outreach and networking, industry input on curricula, and technical assistance to support strategies for the commercialization of research outputs.  The objective of this pillar is to facilitate talent distribution across industries in Vietnam, increase alumni connections, and ensure that institutions develop commercialization strategies and frameworks for research outputs. PHERfocuses on reforms at three major Vietnamese public universities and their member universities and respective institutes and academic programs:

• Vietnam National University-Hanoi (VNU),
• Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), and
• The University of Danang (UD).

II. OBJECTIVE OF ASSIGNMENT

PHER seeks three (3) Vietnamese consultants to provide technical assistance to the participating universities in developing a report describing and characterizing the online education environment of policy and practice at the three partner universities. The report will be presented at the Online Education Policy Dialogue event in Hanoi in August, 2023.

Each of the selected national consultants will work with one assigned university to document results of online programs, collect lessons learned from implementation and write findings reports which include recommendations for improvement.

The work of this assignment is to be conducted mainly in Vietnamese language, but all summary reporting is required in English. All activities should ensure equitable treatment irrespective of gender, disability or ethnic background.

III. TIME AND LOCATION

The timing is negotiable but the work is expected to commence in July 2023. Ten (10) working days are planned for the work over the period July  - August 2023. The experts will pay visits to the assigned universities and attend the Policy Dialogue in Hanoi in August.

IV. TASKS, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE AND LEVEL OF EFFORT

V. BUDGET (working time)

10 days

VI. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING

The consultant will work under the direction of the PHER team, the Governance Pillar.

VII. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Essential:

• holds a master degree in a relevant field or sufficient experience working in Vietnamese universities
• has expertise and experience in the field of online education in the context of Vietnamese university.
• able to demonstrate active listening and effective mentoring skills with people at different levels in the university hierarchy
• successful past experience in data collection and report writing
• can commit to 10 days spread over the period June–September 2023 to visit the university and attend the project events.
• is fully bi-lingual in English and Vietnamese and will not rely on any interpreter or translator

VIII. APPLICATION

The application documents include:

• A letter of motivation
• CV with three references
• A technical proposal
• Financial proposal, indicating the expected consultancy fee
• Application documents should be sent to [email protected] by 17:00 Jul 12, 2023 with email title as: Consultant to write report on Online Education + Full name