NATIONAL AND REGIONAL PRIORITIES

In Vietnam,

On November 19, 2018, the National Assembly promulgated law no.34 / 2018 / QH14 which revises the legislative text on higher education no.08 / 2012 / QH13 voted in June 2012. This new law, which will come into force from July 1, 2019, makes major adjustments to the development policy of higher education, in particular with regard to the process of empowering HEIs [speech by Mr. Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Prime Minister, Conference on promotion of studies, talents and learning in Vietnamese HEIs and colleges, 23/5/2017, Hanoi].

This legislative revision is part of the continuity of the reform of higher education and research in Vietnam inaugurated by the resolution n ° 77 / NQ-CP of the Government, dated October 24, 2014, on the establishment of '' a pilot project to renovate the management mechanisms of public HEIs. To date, this resolution has enabled 23 public HEIs to become autonomous out of a total of 235 HEIs, of which 170 are public.

Article 32 relating to empowerment and accountability of Chapter 3 on the obligations and duties of HEIs of Law No. 34/2018 / QH14 specifies the conditions and fields of application of the HEI empowerment process :

• Organization of academic and scientific activities: definition and implementation of a quality policy and the quality policy assurance and monitoring system; opening of a new training course; student recruitment; construction of training programs; setting up of scientific and technological research activities; partnership relations in accordance with the provisions of the law.
• Institutional and staff organization: promulgation, implementation of internal regulations on the hierarchical and functional organization chart; job profiles and regimes; recruitment, use and dismissal of teachers, managers, administrative and technical staff; decision on the positions of directors and managers within it in accordance with the provisions of the law.
• Management of its own financial and infrastructure resources: promulgation and implementation of internal regulations on sources of income; diversification of financing resources; policies relating to tuition fees, scholarships and other policies consistent with the provisions of the law.

In Cambodia,

In its higher education governance and financing policy published on May 31, 2017, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Cambodia stresses that “governance and finances are fundamental elements for advancing the higher education and improve its quality. Without good governance in place, increased public funding dedicated to higher education and better financial management in HEIs, improving the quality of higher education to meet the needs of an economy and a society progress is hardly achievable ”. This approach is part of the Higher Education Policy in relation to the vision for 2030 in relation to the Action Plan for the reform of higher education in the medium term for 2014-2018, and the draft of the Sheet 2017-2030 Higher Education Roadmap.

This higher education governance and financing policy aims to define comprehensive and interdependent strategic reform measures to improve the governance and financing of higher education both at the level of the system and at the level of HEIs, in order to grant full institutional autonomy, ensure full responsibility for HEIs and define the framework for government financial support, especially for public HEIs. It also aims to have all 48 fully autonomous public HEIs by 2030.

Article 5, hazards 5.7.2 and 5.7.3, relating to the strategic orientations of the Higher Education Policy also insists on the need "to develop a plan to improve governance and management in the education sector. higher education ”and“ develop a plan for the creation of a 'model' HEI in Cambodia that operates autonomously and of high quality ”.

Regional thematic priority: ASEAN

The main objective of the project, which is to strengthen the capacity of partner HEIs to define and implement strategic planning in a context of empowerment, is complementary to the policy defined by ASEAN in terms of the quality of activities developed by HEIs. in the South-East Asia region: the process of empowering HEIs is indeed inseparable from their obligation of accountability to the stakeholders concerned by the activities they develop. The political will to empower HEIs driven by the two governments concerned therefore implies an obligation for HEIs to define and implement a quality policy and a system for ensuring and monitoring this quality policy.

Meeting all of these challenges presupposes for a HEI to define and manage a university governance that is necessarily innovative because it is associated with a strategic planning process likely to provide answers to many constraints: functional, technical, organizational, human, deadlines and costs. This approach should allow the HEI to identify foreseeable risks, difficulties and obstacles considered as limits to strengthening the quality of its activities; above all, it should enable it to put in place corrective and innovative measures as part of a continuous improvement process.

This explains why the PURSEA project is part of the priorities of both HEIs and the governments concerned in relation to reforms related to higher education and research.

GOALS

The general objective of the PURSEA project is to strengthen the governance capacity of partner HEIs through the definition and implementation of contextualized strategic planning to serve their development plan, and support for its implementation, in taking into account the political will to empower HEIs in partner countries.

The three specific objectives of the project aim to:

1. SO1: Develop the methods and tools necessary for improving the strategic development plans of partner HEIs, and the design of their operational action plans.
2. OS2: Implement a priority action plan in each partner HEI, its management system and support for change.
3. SO3: Develop the tools that will allow the pooling and dissemination of a regional supply of expertise in strategic planning and on the procedures for changing the governance and management of HEIs.

To achieve the first two specific objectives, it will first be a matter of basing yourself on objective data collected at the start of the project:

• Self-diagnosis of the degree of autonomy of universities: this component aims to determine, through self-diagnosis, the degree and characteristics of the autonomy of partner HEIs.
• Self-assessment of the institution's internal environment: this component makes it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of partner HEIs through a self-assessment of their internal environments, and to identify the distinctive skills (or core skills) in order to enrich their internal culture but also to develop their strategic plan.
• Analysis of the environment external to universities: this step deals with the analysis of the external environment and allows, based on the local, national and regional environment, to analyze the threats and opportunities.

These three components are in fact aimed at the overall analysis of the external and internal environment of the organization of partner HEIs. The articulation and coherence of these three components guarantee the construction and optimal support of the subsequent stages linked to strategic planning, and therefore to move from analysis to strategy, and from strategy to implementation of a dynamic allowing either to redefine or to consolidate the strategic plans of HEIs and operational action plans.

Developed over three years, the PURSEA project is part of a logic of transfer of expertise and appropriation with a vocation to contextualization, and therefore to co-construction in the service of a multi-year planning considered essential but of which the partner HEIs have so far no practice.

In this context, the PURSEA project sets objectives acceptable by, and realistic for, partner HEIs: beyond the definition and implementation of contextualized strategic planning in the service of their development plan, The trainings that punctuate the project are all opportunities for training executives involved in the governance of HEIs. Face-to-face and remote support for the actors involved in the project (project managers, internal teams, management teams) in itself constitutes in-depth continuing training.

The qualification of the different categories of personnel is a key factor in the success of the project. This is why 4 training modules relating to pre-identified needs have been programmed:

• 2 training modules in prospection and management of collaborative projects;
• 2 training modules for the development of a management team, the monitoring of strategic projects and the application of management tools.

In addition, there are 2 specific training modules that will be identified during the development of strategic planning.

The people to be trained are the target groups made up of management teams, project managers and internal project teams. All are asking for support for change.

The specificities and degree of autonomy of each partner institution should be kept in mind, while proposing a common methodology. By way of illustration, the University of Hanoi is already very committed to this development, and is part of a desire to share experiences and exchange good practices with other HEIs. As the project leader, this HEI will have the scientific coordination of the PURSEA project.