Speaker
Description
This study examines student motivations and expectations for attending collaborative transnational universities (TNUs) in Vietnam. Using a constructivist grounded theory methodology, the researchers seek to find out factors influencing and motivating students to attend a collaborative TNU in Vietnam. To strengthen the credibility of the emerging theory through theoretical sampling, data were collected through in-depth, face-to-face, one-on-one interviews with 49 undergraduate and graduate students from three TNUs located in the two main regions of Vietnam: The North and the South. Findings reveal that student motivations are shaped by overlapping macro-level forces and individual aspirations related to employability, globalization and global culture, English language acquisition, future outcomes, faculty engagement, and active teaching. The study contributes an empirically grounded model of student motivation that informs policy, institutional practice, and future research on transnational higher education in emerging contexts.
Keywords: Vietnam, transnational university, student motivation, student expectations, grounded theory
Biography
Ngoc Lan Thi Dang, Ph.D.
Ngoc Lan Thi Dang, Ph.D., is currently Director of the Language Center and Foundation Year of the Vietnamese-German University (VGU). Dr. Dang is also the Country Director of the Women’s Empowerment and Voice (WEAV) Scholarship Program, which aims to transform lives through education empowerment, shaping a brighter future for low socioeconomic and disadvantaged girls and women in Vietnam, particularly in the Mekong Delta. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Management and Human Resource Development at the University of Sydney in Australia and her doctoral degree in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University (MSU) in the United States. Her research interests are in gender equality, women and leadership in academia, transcultural women’s leadership, female faculty and students in STEM, and transnational higher education.
Dr. Dang can be reached by:
• ResearchGate: Ngoc Lan Thi Dang;
• Google Scholar: Ngoc Lan Thi Dang; or
• ORCID: Ngoc Lan Thi Dang (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4274-1707)
| Affiliate type | University |
|---|