Perceptions of Faculty Members on the Leadership Capacity of their Students at Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate faculty members' perceptions of their students' leadership capacity and evaluate the correlation between students' university experiences with their leadership capacity. A questionnaire survey was disseminated to 266 faculty members from five of the member universities of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The empirical results indicated that most faculty members held moderate fairly high opinion of their students' leadership capacity, and that the personal attributes of faculty members and the experience gained by students while attending university both had a statistically significant impact on students' leadership capacity. The findings of this study carry both theoretical and practical implications for Vietnamese higher education. The suggestions inferred for university administrators and policymakers are also discussed. Contribution/Originality: This is one of very few studies investigating faculty members' perceptions of their students' leadership capacity in Vietnamese higher education institutions. Its primary contribution comes from the findings on the development of leadership programs, which was confirmed as the main responsibility of universities. 1. INTRODUCTION Higher education students in Vietnam account for a small but significant proportion of the population recognized as a prestigious elite. However, students with a high level of education do not seem to meet the manpower needs for development in Vietnam: businesses complain of the shortage of skilled, especially management, personnel (Pham & Fry, 2004; Tran, 2013). Developing students' competencies to meet employers needs is a huge challenge for Vietnamese universities, and such curriculum objectives as problem-solving, teamwork, multimedia communication, and leadership capacities are becoming an urgent issue. Therefore, an empirical investigation into the quality of university education and student outcomes is now crucial to appropriately training the personnel demanded and supporting development in Vietnam. Guthrie and Jones (2012) showed that universities play a critical role in developing students' leadership capacity, which is one of the most important outcomes in higher education (Komives, Dugan, Owen, Slack, & Wagner, 2011). Moreover, Kouzes and Posner (2013) emphasized the importance of equipping all students with leadership skills because an ever-changing world relies on leaders prepared to face future challenges. However,

Creating an Immersive Virtual Reality Game Space for Multiuser, Synchronous Co-Located Collaboration: Design Considerations and Influencing Factors

“…Part 1 of the questionnaire featured basic information about the participants, including their personality, collaborative competence, and VR readiness (see Appendix A). Collaborative competence measured participants' communication skills, teamwork ability, leadership, and collaboration experiences; these items were modified from the scales designed by Radziej et al [57] and Duong [58].…”

Creating an Immersive Virtual-Reality Space for Multiuser Synchronous Co-Located Collaboration: Design Considerations and Influencing Factors

“…Part 1 of the questionnaire featured basic information about the participants, including their personality, collaborative competence, and VR readiness (see Appendix A). Collaborative competence measured participants' communication skills, teamwork ability, leadership, and collaboration experiences; these items were modified from the scales designed by Radziej et al [56] and Duong [57]. Moreover, Cronbach's alpha coefficients for personality, collaborative competence, and VR readiness were 0.728, 0.944, and 0.809, respectively, which are considered acceptable in nonclinical applications owing to the small number of scale items.…”