An experience of global higher education and university autonomy in Viet Nam: A case study of Ton Duc Thang University in Ho Chi Minh City

In this study, we present issues in opening Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU) in Ho Chi Minh City to global education experience in which academic staff and researchers are recruited from mostly western countries’ tertiary educational institutions in the past 5 years and the increasing number of student exchange programs. Besides cultural and language communication adjustment for both students and foreign academic staff, there are also various challenges for both foreign academic and university in integrating the local and global experiences from different perspectives. The overall result is positive with people of diverse background working together in an educational and research environment aiming to provide the best outcome for students and enhance the research capacity and output of the university. There is adjustment to be made for all actors in the transitional period to make Ton Duc Thang University as a model for exposing university environment in Vietnam to global experiences to gradually adapt and become an institution with international standard in teaching and research. And finally, the lessons learned are discussed and suggestion made on the way forward in the future for TDTU to capitalise on its present success of the internationalisation effort from its autonomy status granted by the Ministry of Education and Training.