USAID Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER)

 SCOPE OF WORK

for National Consultant(s) to develop and launch two academic courses
for Vietnam National University Hanoi (VNU)

I. BACKGROUND

The Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER) is an 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 leverage their research for innovation.

To achieve these objectives, PHER activities focus on:     

• 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 make better informed decisions as they exercise greater autonomy and focus on academic quality. 
• Teaching & Learning: This pillar supports the 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.
• Research & Innovation: This pillar supports the enhancement 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 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.

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 supporting the long-term sustainability of higher education reforms in Vietnam.

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

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

II. OBJECTIVE OF ASSIGNMENT

Blended learning is the fusion of technology-mediated and online instruction with traditional, face-to-face classroom teaching. It is intended to offer a wide range of learning modalities and methods to ensure greater student accessibility to educational material and respond to a broad range of learning styles.

As such, PHER aims to support universities in growing their capacity to deliver courses online. PHER therefore seeks a national consultant(s) to support VNU in creating, producing, and delivering two high-quality online courses. The goal of such support is to ensure the quality of online course development to maximize student learning. 

PHER seeks a national consultant or a team of consultants to provide technical assistance to VNUHN to develop 02 online academic courses. The consultant(s) will provide hands-on coaching sessions for technical staff and faculty members who are in charge of developing online academic courses. These courses must be developed in alignment with the universities’ learning management systems (LMSs), aiming to improve the quality of online education at VNU.

The work of this assignment is to be conducted in Vietnamese, 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 work is expected to commence in March 2024 and conclude no later than October 2024.  The work will be conducted both in-person at VNU Hanoi and online through mutually agreed video conferencing software.

IV. TASKS, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE and LEVEL OF EFFORT

 

#	Tasks	Deliverables
1	Analyze and evaluate the VNU Learning Management System (LMS) and authorize consultant access for course development.	01 brief on VNU LMS functionality for the development and launch of two (02) new online courses at VNU
2	Develop coaching packages (customize for VNU and compatible with its LMS)	01 coaching package to support VNU faculty and staff in developing the online courses. This package should include an agenda, clear learning outcomes for participants, course development guidelines, quality assurance parameters, and other relevant resource materials (articles, technical manuals, etc.)
3	Deliver onsite and online coaching sessions for VNU to develop beta version of 02 online courses	02 beta versions of 02 online courses
4	Assist VNU in beta testing the online courses with analytical reflection on its operation and proposed updates to generate alpha versions	02 alpha versions of 02 online courses
5	Assist VNU in alpha testing the 02 online courses with analytical reflection on its operation and proposed updates to generate the final versions of 02 online courses	02 fully operational online courses on VNU LMS
6	Support VNU faculty and staff to help them prepare for demonstrations of finalized online courses to VNU academic leaders	01 demonstration of 02 new online courses to VNU officials and invited member university representatives
7	Complete the final summary report	01 final report, including (A) all prior deliverables 1-6, (B) analysis of experience in course development at VNU, including lessons learned, and (C) recommendations for future course development and delivery.

 

Notes:

The final report should include all resource materials, agendas, and reports, along with analysis of objectives, lessons learned, and recommendations.

V. BUDGET (working time)

The USAID PHER grant will allocate a budget agreed with the consultant(s) to support the implementation of the activities and deliverables per the SOW above.

VI. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING

The consultant will work in collaboration with VNU but under the direction of the PHER team.

VII. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• holds a master’s degree in relevant field
• has at least five years’ experience in developing online courses and professional development training
• has expertise in course creation software, learning enhancement tools, and/or LMS used for online/blended courses

Preferred:

• holds a doctoral degree in a relevant field
• is familiar with the LMS in use at VNU Hanoi

VIII. APPLICATION

The application documents include:

• A letter of motivation
• CV(s) with three references
• A technical proposal responding to the objectives and deliverables of this assignment
• Financial proposal, indicating the expected daily rate or consultancy fee

Application documents should be sent to [email protected] titled “Online course development for VNU” by February 28, 2024.

All applications will be carefully considered, but only short-listed applicants will be contacted.                  

Organization: IVI
Location:
Application deadline: 2024-02-28
Send application to: [email protected]