Quality assurance in distance education in Vietnam: The case of Ho Chi Minh City Open University

Hua Van Duc
Ho Chi Minh City Open University
Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam

Over 20 years of development in Vietnam, distance education has made significant contributions to education and training in the country, at a time when the traditional education system could not meet the demand for human resources, especially in the period of transition to a market economy.

The explosive growth of open and distance learning (ODL) institutions in recent years and the scale of their operations are expected to lead to an enormous increase in the number of students, but not enough attention has been paid to the quality of teaching and learning. Nowadays, the quality of education is of great concern in Vietnam's educational system in general and open and distance education (ODE) in particular. Quality assurance plays a vital role in highlighting the standard of the teaching and learning process in ODL.

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the different factors that contribute to the quality of teaching and learning in ODE, and to discuss how it can be improved to suit learners' needs in the country's changing economy. The discussion is based on the case of Ho Chi Minh City Open University, one of the main ODL institutions in Vietnam.