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Lien Pham

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I have a PhD in sociology from Macquarie University and a bachelor in economics from the University of Sydney.

I am an interdisciplinary researcher with interests in links between education and development, political participation in non-democracies, diaspora, postcolonialism and Southeast Asian studies. I have conducted extensive research on educational systems in the Asia-Pacific region, and community development and climate change adaptation in rural Vietnam and Cambodia. I have also undertaken a range of social policy analyses and program evaluation for government agencies in Australia, in disability, employment, and migrant and refugees support services.

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Papers by Lien Pham

Financial Risks and Economic Viability of Water and Sanitation Businesses in Rural Cambodia: A Rapid Review

Journal of accounting and finance, Oct 12, 2023

This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group ... more This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group discussions with 26 private sector suppliers. The top risks encountered by water services providers were water pricing, lack of management skills, and high investment costs. The most impactful risk factors for their economic viability were water losses, construction delays, and high energy costs. Sanitation services suppliers faced risks of low demand, lack of capital, and household affordability. Limited loan access and household subsidies were risk factors affecting both groups. The paper highlights that financial risks are primarily borne by suppliers serving impoverished households in rural Cambodia, despite the involvement of various stakeholders in the supply chains including donors, government, households, financial institutions, and NGOs. Assessing the financial health and viability of these businesses require consideration of multiple risk factors. The paper offers strategies to address challenges at both the supplier and government levels to ensure financial sustainability of water and sanitation businesses in order to achieve universal water and sanitation access in Cambodia.

Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: A Case Study of Women Working in Rural Cambodia's WASH Sector

Journal of Business Diversity, 2024

This paper explores Cambodia's progress in gender equality over the last 25 years, focusing on it... more This paper explores Cambodia's progress in gender equality over the last 25 years, focusing on its adherence to international human rights treaties, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the implementation of the Neary Ratanak Strategic Plan. Despite advancements, challenges persist in women's empowerment. The study presents a case study of a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) development intervention to promote women's empowerment at the commune and village levels. It suggests key strategies to enhance gender equality, including providing training and awareness, promoting participation, offering job opportunities and financial support, facilitating decision-making roles, and enforcing laws related to women's rights. The findings underscore the importance of training and networking opportunities for female WASH suppliers, emphasizing the need for more training, education, and awareness. The paper concludes with implications for policy to enhance gender equality and women's empowerment in Cambodia, aligning with the Neary Ratanak V strategy's goals.

Financial Risks and Economic Viability of Water and Sanitation Businesses in Rural Cambodia: A Rapid Review

Journal of Accounting and Finance , 2024

This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group ... more This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group discussions with 26 private sector suppliers. The top risks encountered by water services providers were water pricing, lack of management skills, and high investment costs. The most impactful risk factors for their economic viability were water losses, construction delays, and high energy costs. Sanitation services suppliers faced risks of low demand, lack of capital, and household affordability. Limited loan access and household subsidies were risk factors affecting both groups. The paper highlights that financial risks are primarily borne by suppliers serving impoverished households in rural Cambodia, despite the involvement of various stakeholders in the supply chains including donors, government, households, financial institutions, and NGOs. Assessing the financial health and viability of these businesses require consideration of multiple risk factors. The paper offers strategies to address challenges at both the supplier and government levels to ensure financial sustainability of water and sanitation businesses in order to achieve universal water and sanitation access in Cambodia.

Social structures in the economics of international education : perspectives from Vietnamese tertiary students

Based on the findings from in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students studying at... more Based on the findings from in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students studying at Australian universities, this paper presents insights into the sociological influences that stem from international studentsʼ social networks, at home and abroad, and how they impact studentsʼ aspirations and behaviours. Informed by Bourdieuʼs (1986) social capital framework this paper argues that investment in human capital must take into account the role of social and cultural networks in influencing dispositions of students towards and hence their participation in international education. It critically challenges human capital theory for its assumptions of individualism and utilitarian function of education as economic goals. Understanding the sociological factors that influence international students will reveal how they engage with their learning, and present opportunities for universities to deliver programs that encourage students to participate in activities with local students and communities to improve their overseas educational experience. This paper presents a case for viewing social capital and human capital as mutual development of productive factors for human development in a globalised environment.

‘Value flows’ between talent and their networks: a case study of international graduates working in Vietnam’s emerging economy

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

Pre-service Teachers’ Self-initiated Use of Mobile Devices to Support Their Online Professional Learning Networking

Transforming Teacher Education with Mobile Technologies, 2020

This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) are using social media apps to support th... more This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) are using social media apps to support their self-initiated online professional learning networks (PLNs). It also explores PSTs’ perceived benefits and challenges of these mobile learning activities. The study used an international online survey fielded in two phases to explore these aims. In the first phase, the survey was compiled in English and disseminated in Australia and overseas. In the second phase, to widen the survey participation and gather more culturally diverse perspectives of PSTs’ practices, the survey was translated to Chinese and disseminated in China. This chapter focuses on the respondents from both surveys that reported using a mobile device for their PLN activities (n=335). A validated mobile pedagogical framework is used to analyse the data. Findings provide nuanced insights into this niche and evidently valuable mobile learning practice in initial teacher education

Early literacy in NSW public libraries: a survey of library staff involved in early literacy initiatives

Education, globalization, and citizenship: reflections of Vietnamese local school teachers and overseas-educated academics

Discourse, Oct 17, 2020

Drawing on two research projects that include Vietnamese overseas-educated academics and local sc... more Drawing on two research projects that include Vietnamese overseas-educated academics and local school teachers, the paper discusses these educators' reflections on citizenship, citizenship education and Vietnam's higher education reform in the context of globalization. Through the lens of Michel Foucault's knowledge/power and subjectivity, and taking on Arjun Appadurai's social imaginary, we illustrate the contested values of education and complex meanings of citizenship in a market-based economy with socialist ideologies, and their effects on educators' practices.

Encountering the Vietnamese Habitus

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter provides insights into what the Vietnamese habitus may look like – aspects of cultur... more This chapter provides insights into what the Vietnamese habitus may look like – aspects of cultural and social norms, political culture and educational values – through a series of historical experiences that shape contemporary Vietnamese society. Five characteristics of the Vietnamese habitus are considered and discussed in terms of the relationships between people, people and society, society and the State: personal relations that act as the moral foundation of the Vietnamese person, individualistic dispositions in Vietnamese society, nationalism and democratic centralism of Vietnam’s political system, economic pragmatism in everyday life and international influences on the development of Vietnam’s education system and tradition of studying abroad. The chapter foregrounds the Vietnamese habitus in the three ‘fields’ (economic, intellectual and civic) as formative conditions of the returnees’ motivations and expectations of their acquired overseas education and provides the sociocultural logic for returnees’ choice and actions in these fields, which will be discussed in depth in the next four chapters.

Applying the Sen-Bourdieu Framework

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter presents a systematic application of the Sen-Bourdieu conceptual framework of normat... more This chapter presents a systematic application of the Sen-Bourdieu conceptual framework of normative agency to gain insights into the benefits of acquired overseas education for Vietnamese international graduates in their work and community activities when they return home. The chapter describes the case study approach and use of a mixed-method model to address the methodological gap in conducting research about international education outcomes and benefits for returnees. This mixed-method approach embraced quantitative categories of outcomes in light of qualitative conditions to achieve these outcomes and allowed for an examination of the returnees’ perception of their self-worth in terms of their accomplishment and power relations with others. The quantitative outcomes resulting from the survey will be explained by the qualitative conditions required for achieving these outcomes, which are expressed in the interviews. Bourdieu’s notion of reflexive sociology was incorporated in the interview method and subsequent analysis to engage the returnees in reasoning their values and goals reflexively of their social environment and relationships. This was a methodological attempt to soften the tension between Bourdieu’s seemingly social determinism and Sen’s view that human beings are more or less free and responsible beings in various ways.

International Education: A Potentiality for Ethical Development

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter sketches the evolution of international education in terms of definition, approach a... more This chapter sketches the evolution of international education in terms of definition, approach and rationale from the late nineteenth century to current days. It notes the uneven terrain of international education practices that favour Western universities as sites of knowledge production and consumption. It discusses the research landscape of international education in relation to returning graduates and migrants, noting a marked absence in attending to graduates or returnees’ socioeconomic contributions to their home countries. The chapter offers Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach as a framework to view international education as a potentiality for ethical development. Anchored in pluralism, the capabilities approach could provide insights about conditions for people-centred development because it allows for evaluation to consider local voices and perspectives of those who live and work in the local communities rather than institutions from afar. In highlighting the potentiality of international education for ethical development, the chapter embraces the vision of education for international understanding and global citizenship – the core ideas of the international education movement when it began in the late nineteenth century and the global education goal of the United Nation 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4).

Dialogues between culture and politics

‘Civic’ Field: Negotiating the Ideals of Community, Citizenship and Community Work

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter examines returnees’ experience in the ‘civic’ field and focuses on voluntary communi... more This chapter examines returnees’ experience in the ‘civic’ field and focuses on voluntary community work. The chapter first presents a brief overview of the civic culture and functions of civil society organisations in Vietnam. Findings from the survey and interviews reveal returnees’ nuanced conceptions of community and civic actions that arbitrate between overseas-acquired ideals of community and civic ‘self’ and the Vietnamese tradition of communities as enclaves of extended families. Despite some returnees’ critique of the latter as limited in reach and impact, their choices and practices of community work were firmly situated in the Vietnamese habitus of personal networks of families and friends. For these returnees, citizenship and ability to use their overseas-acquired skills to help others were their achieved functionings. The chapter concludes with theoretical abstractions of the findings that reaffirm the workings of normative agency and situated freedom in the ‘profession...

The Sociological dimensions of human capital theory : re-imagining the ideology of international education

2 page(s

‘Professional’ Field: Skills, Income, Status and Foreign-Owned Firms

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter addresses the ‘professional’ field and focuses on the economies. The first section p... more This chapter addresses the ‘professional’ field and focuses on the economies. The first section presents a brief overview of Vietnam’s economic sectors, types of business enterprises, law and governance issues and the labour market demand and supply of workers’ skills as background contexts. The next section summarises the economic sectors and enterprises that survey respondents and interviewees worked in. Drawing on the survey and interview data, the following section discusses overseas-acquired skills, knowledge and attributes that were favourable for returnees in terms of employment opportunities. This is followed by accounts of returnees’ experiences in applying these skills, knowledge and attributes and how they mediated and negotiated the culture and social relations in the workplace. The last part of the empirical discussion draws on the survey results to present returnees’ achieved functionings in terms of job roles, income levels and job satisfaction. The concluding section...

Three-domain political participation framework

Conditionality of participatory agency in Belarus

International Graduates Returning to Vietnam

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more

Improving the contribution of returning students to SDGs

'Value flows' between talent and their networks: a case study of international graduates working in Vietnam's emerging economy

International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2021

This paper explores issues relating to talent management in Vietnam's emerging market economy, pa... more This paper explores issues relating to talent management in Vietnam's emerging market economy, particularly knowledge transfer, skills application, and linkage effects within and across firms. The paper offers the concept of 'value' to consider employees' knowledge, skills, and attributes, and 'value flows' as the deployment of these resources. This value-based approach to talent management is illustrated using qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese international graduates' and members of their employment networks. The focus on international graduates considers the Vietnamese government's policies of internationalisation of higher education as a strategic investment to improve the quality of human resources to meet the country's socioeconomic development needs for global integration. The paper offers some implications for policies and practices to develop and harness talent in emerging economies like Vietnam.

Financial Risks and Economic Viability of Water and Sanitation Businesses in Rural Cambodia: A Rapid Review

Journal of accounting and finance, Oct 12, 2023

This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group ... more This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group discussions with 26 private sector suppliers. The top risks encountered by water services providers were water pricing, lack of management skills, and high investment costs. The most impactful risk factors for their economic viability were water losses, construction delays, and high energy costs. Sanitation services suppliers faced risks of low demand, lack of capital, and household affordability. Limited loan access and household subsidies were risk factors affecting both groups. The paper highlights that financial risks are primarily borne by suppliers serving impoverished households in rural Cambodia, despite the involvement of various stakeholders in the supply chains including donors, government, households, financial institutions, and NGOs. Assessing the financial health and viability of these businesses require consideration of multiple risk factors. The paper offers strategies to address challenges at both the supplier and government levels to ensure financial sustainability of water and sanitation businesses in order to achieve universal water and sanitation access in Cambodia.

Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: A Case Study of Women Working in Rural Cambodia's WASH Sector

Journal of Business Diversity, 2024

This paper explores Cambodia's progress in gender equality over the last 25 years, focusing on it... more This paper explores Cambodia's progress in gender equality over the last 25 years, focusing on its adherence to international human rights treaties, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the implementation of the Neary Ratanak Strategic Plan. Despite advancements, challenges persist in women's empowerment. The study presents a case study of a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) development intervention to promote women's empowerment at the commune and village levels. It suggests key strategies to enhance gender equality, including providing training and awareness, promoting participation, offering job opportunities and financial support, facilitating decision-making roles, and enforcing laws related to women's rights. The findings underscore the importance of training and networking opportunities for female WASH suppliers, emphasizing the need for more training, education, and awareness. The paper concludes with implications for policy to enhance gender equality and women's empowerment in Cambodia, aligning with the Neary Ratanak V strategy's goals.

Financial Risks and Economic Viability of Water and Sanitation Businesses in Rural Cambodia: A Rapid Review

Journal of Accounting and Finance , 2024

This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group ... more This paper discusses the findings from a literature review, followed by a survey and focus group discussions with 26 private sector suppliers. The top risks encountered by water services providers were water pricing, lack of management skills, and high investment costs. The most impactful risk factors for their economic viability were water losses, construction delays, and high energy costs. Sanitation services suppliers faced risks of low demand, lack of capital, and household affordability. Limited loan access and household subsidies were risk factors affecting both groups. The paper highlights that financial risks are primarily borne by suppliers serving impoverished households in rural Cambodia, despite the involvement of various stakeholders in the supply chains including donors, government, households, financial institutions, and NGOs. Assessing the financial health and viability of these businesses require consideration of multiple risk factors. The paper offers strategies to address challenges at both the supplier and government levels to ensure financial sustainability of water and sanitation businesses in order to achieve universal water and sanitation access in Cambodia.

Social structures in the economics of international education : perspectives from Vietnamese tertiary students

Based on the findings from in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students studying at... more Based on the findings from in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students studying at Australian universities, this paper presents insights into the sociological influences that stem from international studentsʼ social networks, at home and abroad, and how they impact studentsʼ aspirations and behaviours. Informed by Bourdieuʼs (1986) social capital framework this paper argues that investment in human capital must take into account the role of social and cultural networks in influencing dispositions of students towards and hence their participation in international education. It critically challenges human capital theory for its assumptions of individualism and utilitarian function of education as economic goals. Understanding the sociological factors that influence international students will reveal how they engage with their learning, and present opportunities for universities to deliver programs that encourage students to participate in activities with local students and communities to improve their overseas educational experience. This paper presents a case for viewing social capital and human capital as mutual development of productive factors for human development in a globalised environment.

‘Value flows’ between talent and their networks: a case study of international graduates working in Vietnam’s emerging economy

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

Pre-service Teachers’ Self-initiated Use of Mobile Devices to Support Their Online Professional Learning Networking

Transforming Teacher Education with Mobile Technologies, 2020

This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) are using social media apps to support th... more This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) are using social media apps to support their self-initiated online professional learning networks (PLNs). It also explores PSTs’ perceived benefits and challenges of these mobile learning activities. The study used an international online survey fielded in two phases to explore these aims. In the first phase, the survey was compiled in English and disseminated in Australia and overseas. In the second phase, to widen the survey participation and gather more culturally diverse perspectives of PSTs’ practices, the survey was translated to Chinese and disseminated in China. This chapter focuses on the respondents from both surveys that reported using a mobile device for their PLN activities (n=335). A validated mobile pedagogical framework is used to analyse the data. Findings provide nuanced insights into this niche and evidently valuable mobile learning practice in initial teacher education

Early literacy in NSW public libraries: a survey of library staff involved in early literacy initiatives

Education, globalization, and citizenship: reflections of Vietnamese local school teachers and overseas-educated academics

Discourse, Oct 17, 2020

Drawing on two research projects that include Vietnamese overseas-educated academics and local sc... more Drawing on two research projects that include Vietnamese overseas-educated academics and local school teachers, the paper discusses these educators' reflections on citizenship, citizenship education and Vietnam's higher education reform in the context of globalization. Through the lens of Michel Foucault's knowledge/power and subjectivity, and taking on Arjun Appadurai's social imaginary, we illustrate the contested values of education and complex meanings of citizenship in a market-based economy with socialist ideologies, and their effects on educators' practices.

Encountering the Vietnamese Habitus

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter provides insights into what the Vietnamese habitus may look like – aspects of cultur... more This chapter provides insights into what the Vietnamese habitus may look like – aspects of cultural and social norms, political culture and educational values – through a series of historical experiences that shape contemporary Vietnamese society. Five characteristics of the Vietnamese habitus are considered and discussed in terms of the relationships between people, people and society, society and the State: personal relations that act as the moral foundation of the Vietnamese person, individualistic dispositions in Vietnamese society, nationalism and democratic centralism of Vietnam’s political system, economic pragmatism in everyday life and international influences on the development of Vietnam’s education system and tradition of studying abroad. The chapter foregrounds the Vietnamese habitus in the three ‘fields’ (economic, intellectual and civic) as formative conditions of the returnees’ motivations and expectations of their acquired overseas education and provides the sociocultural logic for returnees’ choice and actions in these fields, which will be discussed in depth in the next four chapters.

Applying the Sen-Bourdieu Framework

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter presents a systematic application of the Sen-Bourdieu conceptual framework of normat... more This chapter presents a systematic application of the Sen-Bourdieu conceptual framework of normative agency to gain insights into the benefits of acquired overseas education for Vietnamese international graduates in their work and community activities when they return home. The chapter describes the case study approach and use of a mixed-method model to address the methodological gap in conducting research about international education outcomes and benefits for returnees. This mixed-method approach embraced quantitative categories of outcomes in light of qualitative conditions to achieve these outcomes and allowed for an examination of the returnees’ perception of their self-worth in terms of their accomplishment and power relations with others. The quantitative outcomes resulting from the survey will be explained by the qualitative conditions required for achieving these outcomes, which are expressed in the interviews. Bourdieu’s notion of reflexive sociology was incorporated in the interview method and subsequent analysis to engage the returnees in reasoning their values and goals reflexively of their social environment and relationships. This was a methodological attempt to soften the tension between Bourdieu’s seemingly social determinism and Sen’s view that human beings are more or less free and responsible beings in various ways.

International Education: A Potentiality for Ethical Development

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter sketches the evolution of international education in terms of definition, approach a... more This chapter sketches the evolution of international education in terms of definition, approach and rationale from the late nineteenth century to current days. It notes the uneven terrain of international education practices that favour Western universities as sites of knowledge production and consumption. It discusses the research landscape of international education in relation to returning graduates and migrants, noting a marked absence in attending to graduates or returnees’ socioeconomic contributions to their home countries. The chapter offers Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach as a framework to view international education as a potentiality for ethical development. Anchored in pluralism, the capabilities approach could provide insights about conditions for people-centred development because it allows for evaluation to consider local voices and perspectives of those who live and work in the local communities rather than institutions from afar. In highlighting the potentiality of international education for ethical development, the chapter embraces the vision of education for international understanding and global citizenship – the core ideas of the international education movement when it began in the late nineteenth century and the global education goal of the United Nation 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4).

Dialogues between culture and politics

‘Civic’ Field: Negotiating the Ideals of Community, Citizenship and Community Work

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter examines returnees’ experience in the ‘civic’ field and focuses on voluntary communi... more This chapter examines returnees’ experience in the ‘civic’ field and focuses on voluntary community work. The chapter first presents a brief overview of the civic culture and functions of civil society organisations in Vietnam. Findings from the survey and interviews reveal returnees’ nuanced conceptions of community and civic actions that arbitrate between overseas-acquired ideals of community and civic ‘self’ and the Vietnamese tradition of communities as enclaves of extended families. Despite some returnees’ critique of the latter as limited in reach and impact, their choices and practices of community work were firmly situated in the Vietnamese habitus of personal networks of families and friends. For these returnees, citizenship and ability to use their overseas-acquired skills to help others were their achieved functionings. The chapter concludes with theoretical abstractions of the findings that reaffirm the workings of normative agency and situated freedom in the ‘profession...

The Sociological dimensions of human capital theory : re-imagining the ideology of international education

2 page(s

‘Professional’ Field: Skills, Income, Status and Foreign-Owned Firms

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

This chapter addresses the ‘professional’ field and focuses on the economies. The first section p... more This chapter addresses the ‘professional’ field and focuses on the economies. The first section presents a brief overview of Vietnam’s economic sectors, types of business enterprises, law and governance issues and the labour market demand and supply of workers’ skills as background contexts. The next section summarises the economic sectors and enterprises that survey respondents and interviewees worked in. Drawing on the survey and interview data, the following section discusses overseas-acquired skills, knowledge and attributes that were favourable for returnees in terms of employment opportunities. This is followed by accounts of returnees’ experiences in applying these skills, knowledge and attributes and how they mediated and negotiated the culture and social relations in the workplace. The last part of the empirical discussion draws on the survey results to present returnees’ achieved functionings in terms of job roles, income levels and job satisfaction. The concluding section...

Three-domain political participation framework

Conditionality of participatory agency in Belarus

International Graduates Returning to Vietnam

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2019

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more

Improving the contribution of returning students to SDGs

'Value flows' between talent and their networks: a case study of international graduates working in Vietnam's emerging economy

International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2021

This paper explores issues relating to talent management in Vietnam's emerging market economy, pa... more This paper explores issues relating to talent management in Vietnam's emerging market economy, particularly knowledge transfer, skills application, and linkage effects within and across firms. The paper offers the concept of 'value' to consider employees' knowledge, skills, and attributes, and 'value flows' as the deployment of these resources. This value-based approach to talent management is illustrated using qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese international graduates' and members of their employment networks. The focus on international graduates considers the Vietnamese government's policies of internationalisation of higher education as a strategic investment to improve the quality of human resources to meet the country's socioeconomic development needs for global integration. The paper offers some implications for policies and practices to develop and harness talent in emerging economies like Vietnam.

International students' aspirations to contribute to socioeconomic development in Vietnam

Aspirations of Vietnamese overseas-trained graduates in their homeland. , 2018

This chapter aims to understand the nature of Vietnamese international graduates’ aspirations to ... more This chapter aims to understand the nature of Vietnamese international graduates’ aspirations to contribute to socioeconomic development in Vietnam. The chapter analyses the Vietnamese overseas-educated returnees’ conception and development of aspirations for themselves and their local communities in their work and community work upon returning home. The returnees’ main aspiration is to acquire jobs and career advancement for personal economic returns rather than direct participation in community development activities. They aspire to work for foreign firms, particularly multinational corporations as these employers offer high remunerations and work conditions that utilise their overseas-acquired skills, particularly soft managerial skills and English language skills. They also desire to transfer discipline-specific knowledge acquired from “the West”, teaching and learning practices, and professional work practices that are steeped in Western organisational culture. These aspirations reflect interrelated dynamics that emphasise the returnees’ intention of taking vantage positions of their overseas-acquired skills and work-ready attributes. Many returnees perceive their contribution to Vietnam’s social development through the opportunities to improve technological, professional and ethical standards of Vietnamese business and educational environment. Insights into the aspirations of overseas-educated Vietnamese professional and intellectual workers highlight the importance of examining the impact of international education for production and development of knowledge and skills in the local contexts of developing nations.

International education and the challenges of social equity in Vietnam's transitional economy

Inequalities in study abroad and student mobility: Navigating challenges and future directions, 2020

This chapter explores the challenges of social equity in international education from Vietnam's p... more This chapter explores the challenges of social equity in international education from Vietnam's perspective. It looks at inequality in terms of access to studying abroad and graduates' participation in employment and community development when they return home and the implications for their contributions to Vietnam's development needs. Drawing on the results of a survey and interviews with 247 Vietnamese returning graduates, the chapter highlights three concerns. First, access to international education carry social advantages of wealth and academic privileges from the wider society. Provision of scholarship by the Vietnamese government, bilateral agencies, and host universities reproduce the privileged class by giving them access to international experiences. Second, acquired international education further the economic inequality because overseas-acquired knowledge and skills abroad provide returnees with positional advantage in the labour market. Third, returnees' lack of active engagement in community development activities limit the collective benefits of their acquired international education for social development. The chapter offers a rethinking of international education as a public good with collective benefits for students and their communities. It extends the economic underpinnings of Samuelson's (1954) "public goods" to a broader normative "public good" by including equity issues.

Worlding International Education

Handbook of World Theory, 2021

The idea of worlding international education is paradoxical for it assumes that international edu... more The idea of worlding international education is paradoxical for it assumes that international education is not already worldly. It could have such possibilities. This essay reflects on international education as fields of power for creating and legitimising knowledge as it has been, and with ideas to go forward. I propose “worlding” as the world meets the rest, a dialogical model that go beyond the assumptions of North-South cleavage of knowledge production and consumption, whereby knowledge does not essentialise a place or space, rather it engenders critical thoughts and activism by people for the world and in the world that they live. A dialogical model recognises different cultural and epistemological traditions of education as the common core values of ethics and formation of the self in relations with others. It does not subsume local interventions under a totalising theory of international education; but analyse specificities of power within the local that locate and extend their connections to the global as an assemblage of knowledge available for social actors to appropriate for varying purposes as they see valuable.

Citizenship and the Shifting Values of Vietnam's Higher Education: Perspectives of Vietnamese Overseas-educated Academics and University Leaders

Citizenship and the Shifting Values of Vietnam's Higher Education: Perspectives of Vietnamese Overseas-Educated Academics and University Leaders., 2020

This chapter explores perceptions and experiences of Vietnamese overseas-educated academics and u... more This chapter explores perceptions and experiences of Vietnamese overseas-educated academics and university leaders about higher education reform in Vietnam. Drawing on Gerard Delanty's (2001) concept of citizenship and Pierre Bourdieu's (1977, 1990) theory of practice, the chapter makes two propositions. First, university academics and leaders in this study hold contested values about citizenship and their role in Vietnam's higher education reform. Both academics and leaders align with the policy mission of education for economic participation, which emphasises contributions of graduates to vocational needs of a transitional economy. At the same time, they both follow the Vietnamese universities culture that value hierarchy of knowledge within existing social relations. Second, contested values lead to competing forms of technological and cultural citizenship, which may counter the momentum of reform. The academics nevertheless mediate modes of knowledge in accordance with cultural norms in order to enable changes in individual teaching practices. The chapter offers some broader implications about linking citizenship with higher education in the context of transitional economies such as Vietnam.

Chapter 3 Communication practices in Vietnamese non-government organisations as civic actions

Communication practices in Vietnamese non-government organisations as civic actions., 2022

This chapter offers insights into communication practices in Vietnamese non-government organisati... more This chapter offers insights into communication practices in Vietnamese non-government organisations as civic actions. Drawing from wider research on community work in Vietnam, two examples are discussed. The first involves a volunteer community worker implementing a new teaching program in a local community-based organisation. The second involves a national non-government organisation with an international counterpart in an incident of reputational risk management. Using Habermas' theory of communicative action, the chapter explores citizens' purpose and meaning making in communication practices within their NGOs and the broader contexts of everyday life. The chapter highlights that civic values are not always absent in authoritarian contexts like Vietnam; rather civic actions are contingent on people's political, cultural and social contexts. These contexts are conditions for communication within a community group and with the state, which in turn shape people's communication practices. To understand communication rationality that inform actors' decision and choice to engage in civic actions or 'activism', particularly in authoritarian settings, it is important to identify these conditions and explore how people respond to these conditions. This chapter contributes to the literature on Habermas' communication rationality and lifeworld and a fruitful way to understand 'activism' in different contexts.