USAID Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER)

SCOPE OF WORK

Annual faculty evaluation system

I. BACKGROUND

The Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER) is a five-year initiative to help strengthen Vietnam's leading public universities. The project activities are funded by USAID to support targeted reforms to improve institutional leadership and administrative capacity, improve teaching practices to enhance student learning outcomes, elevate university research capacity to international standards, network Vietnamese researchers to maximize access to global knowledge, enable university graduates to better engage with the labor market, and help university faculty to leverage their research for innovation.

To achieve these objectives, PHER activities focus on four pillars:          

1. Governance: This pillar supports the building and strengthening of institutional performance management systems based on agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) supported by a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) that provides consistent, reliable data for decision making and for accreditation of institutions and programs. This includes the establishment of a robust internal quality assurance (IQA) system at each of the target universities. Improved governance will help the leadership of public universities in Vietnam to make better informed decisions as they exercise greater autonomy and focus on academic quality. 
2. Teaching & Learning: This pillar supports the growing of faculty professional development opportunities through the establishment of formalized Centers for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) as well as supporting the work of less formal, more specialized faculty-driven affinity groups through Faculty Academies on Excellence in Teaching (FACET). The goals are to support expansion of faculty capacity to design state-of-the-art courses, digitize curricula, support the development of priority online courses and programs, improve student learning assessment techniques, and develop graduate students in the teaching profession. This pillar will also support technical assistance to help prepare faculty and administration for international accreditation reviews of academic programs and institutions. The objective is for improved teaching and learning at Vietnam’s public universities to increase learning outcomes, enhance recognition of high-quality academic programs, and improve the employability of graduates.
   
   3.  Research & Innovation: This pillar supports the enhancing of research capacity so that the scientific outputs of public universities in Vietnam meet international standards, increase knowledge sharing among specialists, grow the number of publications in recognized journals, and align research activities to the social and economic needs of the country.  This will take place through faculty exchanges, visiting scholar programs, research conferences, webinars, workshops, and short course training on research methodologies and academic specialties. The key vehicle for this pillar is the establishment of Vietnam International Academic Networks (VIAN) to help scientists across Vietnam to connect more readily with fellow experts from around the world. The objective is for VIAN activity to lead to greater knowledge sharing, broader promotion of research taking place in Vietnam, and enhanced opportunities for joint research and publications with partners abroad.
   
   4.  University-Industry Linkages: This pillar supports student career exploration and workforce preparation, alumni outreach and networking, industry input on curricula, and technical assistance to support strategies for the commercialization of research outputs.  The objective of this pillar is to facilitate talent distribution across industries in Vietnam, increase alumni connections, and ensure that institutions develop commercialization strategies and frameworks for research outputs. 

The PHER project also seeks deeper exploration of policy areas vital to the improvement of Vietnamese public higher education by supporting analytical work on the areas of technology and digitization, as well as gender equity. These cross-cutting policy areas are essential to success across the four pillars and to support the long-term sustainability of higher education reforms in Vietnam. 

PHERfocuses on reforms at three major Vietnamese public universities and their member universities and respective institutes and academic programs:

• Vietnam National University-Hanoi (VNU-HN),
• Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), and
• The University of Danang (UD).          

II. OBJECTIVE OF ASSIGNMENT

PHER seeks one Vietnamese consultant to provide technical assistance to key leaders and staff from these two universities to review and document their existing faculty evaluation system, then develop and propose an annual faculty evaluation that is based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

This assignment is for strengthening human resource management, especially focusing on faculty evaluation at the following two universities – Da Nang University of Science and Technology and University of Science – Vietnam National University.

The work of this assignment is to be conducted mainly in Vietnamese language, but all summary reporting is required in English. All activities should ensure equitable treatment irrespective of gender, disability or ethnic background.

III. TIME AND LOCATION

The timing is negotiable but the work is expected to commence in early April 2023. Twenty (20) working days are planned for both face-to-face and online working sessions over the period April-September 2023. The expert will undertake at least two in-person visits with the relevant staff at Da Nang University of Technology (Da Nang) and two visits to University of Science, Vietnam National University (Hanoi).

IV. TASKS, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE AND LEVEL OF EFFORT

Tasks	Deliverables	Level of efforts	Tentative timeline
I.  To develop guidelines and sets of KPIs to assess faculty performance (this may require some virtual meetings to discuss and revise the draft sets of KPIs following input/feedback from universities)
1.To propose an action plan on how KPIs are developed following respective backgrounds of the universities	Working session/ meetings with university leaders/ administrators (half day meeting with each uni)	6 days (including initial meetings) x 2 universities	2nd week of April     April – May 2023
2. To develop a set of KPIs for the performance of faculty 2.1. Develop criteria for evaluating teaching activities Criteria from student course evaluations Develop a set of student survey questions: Depending on the type and size of the class (general classes, specialized classes, subject projects, internships, dissertation/ thesis, ...) Develop a set of survey questions for graduate students (masters and PhD students) 2.2. Develop criteria for evaluating research results of faculty 2.3. Develop criteria for evaluating the students’ service provided by the faculty 2.4. Build peer review evaluation 2.5. Develop criteria for evaluating faculty from leaders/managers (Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, etc.)	One full set of KPIs
3. Developing criteria for assessing the attitude of faculty following the teaching duties, research tasks and academic service duties performed.
II. Develop a set of KPIs for faculty with other specific responsibilities (management roles e.g. deans, department chairs, etc.)     For University of Science-VNU, a set of KPI for technicians and researchers is specifically required.	Full set(s) of KPIs for faculty with additional management responsibilities
III. Conduct training workshops on how proposed sets of KPIs can be applied	Workshop in Hanoi and Danang	2 days x 2 universities	One workshop conducted  at each university in June
IV. Support universities to pilot sets of KPIs	Hands-on guidance to universities leaders/ administrators in charge of KPIs.	2 days x 2 universities	One visit to each university in July – August
V. Activity report	Final report submitted to the Project management team		By late August

Notes:

In cooperation with the PHER focal point persons at both Da Nang University of Science and Technology and University of Science, VNUHN a record of the participants must be kept at every workshop and a roster of the names reported to PHER.

Reporting:

In addition to the final report, an interim report after each trip on progress with regard to activities and outputs should be presented to the PHER managers.

The number, schedules, and topics of workshops and mentoring sessions should be recorded. A list of participants should be provided as an annex to each report.

The interim reports should analyze both factors that contribute to and factors that inhibit progress regarding the implementation of activities and expected outputs.

The final report should specifically analyze the achievement of objectives, and include lessons learned and recommendations - in addition to the other areas specified in the template provided by PHER.

V. BUDGET (working time)

20 days

VI. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING

The consultant will work under the direction of the PHER team.

VII. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Essential:

• holds a doctorate level of education and experience working in Vietnamese universities
• has expertise and experience in the field or practice of human resources management, especially regarding the development and implementation of faculty and staff evaluation including KPIs in the context of Vietnamese university
• able to plan and deliver a program of work to support the two universities strengthening their systems of faculty and staff evaluation that will include the addition and integration of  KPIs and related application methodologies
• has the skills to not only to assess the current situation in faculty evaluation practices, but also be able to drive the implementation of activities in collaboration with key persons at the two universities and PHER
• able to prepare and deliver effective interactive workshops on faculty and staff evaluation
• able to demonstrate active listening and effective mentoring skills with people at different levels in the university hierarchy
• successful past experience delivering similar interventions in human resources management and a willingness to shore this experience in building a plan together with the two universities
• can commit to  20 days spread over the period April–September 2023 to visit the two universities for the purposes of this assignment
• is fully bi-lingual in English and Vietnamese and will not rely on any interpreter or translator

VIII. APPLICATION

The application documents include:

• A letter of motivation
• CV with three references
• A technical proposal
• Financial proposal, indicating the expected consultancy fee
• Application documents should be sent to [email protected] by 17:00 April 21, 2023 with email title as: Consultant to develop KPI guidelines + Full name

ANNEX – PHER PROJECT OVERVIEW

Organization: PHER
Location:
Application deadline: 2023-04-21
Send application to: [email protected]