Abstract

Little has been discussed on transnational education policy and management in developing countries. This may lead to challenges for government policy-makers and educational leadership regarding strategic partnership and organizational operation in some growing markets with significant differences in socio-economic environments—for example, in so-called “socialist-oriented market economies” such as Vietnam. This paper draws upon documentation analysis on pronouncements by key international and Vietnamese agencies on skill demands, skill shortages, and skill strategies in East Asian developing countries in relation to Vietnamese national development planning and higher education reformation. It discusses internationalization and human-resource development in the Vietnamese context to suggest an interesting unanimity between a communist government and pro-market Washington-based agencies on international cooperation in response to skill-workforce demand for sustainable national productivity and economic development. This finding seems unexpected, but it is, indeed, the case in Vietnam. Significant in this finding is the implication for other developing countries of moving from policy to practice for the successful transnational management of higher education in other emerging regional markets.