Vietnamese Student Mobility And Preparation For Overseas Education
Pham Lam, Hanh-Trang (2015)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015061413330
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015061413330
Tiivistelmä
This research project investigates how high school students in Vietnam are prepared to travel abroad for their university studies. Nine interviews with three types of guidance and training services providers located in Vietnam, overseas study consultancy firms, English language centers, and local high schools, are carefully examined for how they provide guidance and support services to students planning to study abroad. In addition to focusing on what language and practical services are needed, attention was also paid to identity and cultural issues students may encounter in new cultural environments.
Vietnamese students who are presently or have in the past travelled for study abroad are studied via a questionnaire in order to identify their self-assessed support needs as foreign students and assess the effectiveness of the preparation support provided to them by mobility service providers prior to leaving Vietnam.
A descriptive research approach was employed utilizing mixed-methods data collection and triangulation analysis in which both sets of data were analyzed simultaneously. Semi-structured interviews with the nine service providers were analyzed and combined with the results of a questionnaire completed by 71 Vietnamese students studying abroad. The questionnaire was distributed through the researcher’s host university JAMK University of Applied Sciences' domestic email system and through social networks of Vietnamese students studying overseas.
A holistic analysis of the results revealed a range of support that is currently offered by the three types of service providers, which was contrasted with the types of challenges that students reported to experience, and including what specific support they claimed to actually need. Recommendations are provided so that service providers can improve their services. Finally, prior to departure, the importance of increasing the awareness of future students about challenges they may encounter is illuminated, in order to improve their prospects for success in their overseas education.
Vietnamese students who are presently or have in the past travelled for study abroad are studied via a questionnaire in order to identify their self-assessed support needs as foreign students and assess the effectiveness of the preparation support provided to them by mobility service providers prior to leaving Vietnam.
A descriptive research approach was employed utilizing mixed-methods data collection and triangulation analysis in which both sets of data were analyzed simultaneously. Semi-structured interviews with the nine service providers were analyzed and combined with the results of a questionnaire completed by 71 Vietnamese students studying abroad. The questionnaire was distributed through the researcher’s host university JAMK University of Applied Sciences' domestic email system and through social networks of Vietnamese students studying overseas.
A holistic analysis of the results revealed a range of support that is currently offered by the three types of service providers, which was contrasted with the types of challenges that students reported to experience, and including what specific support they claimed to actually need. Recommendations are provided so that service providers can improve their services. Finally, prior to departure, the importance of increasing the awareness of future students about challenges they may encounter is illuminated, in order to improve their prospects for success in their overseas education.