Survey dataset on student perceptions and experiences of quality assurance in Vietnamese universities

This paper presents a dataset from a survey of student perceptions and experiences of quality assurance in Vietnamese higher education institutions. Data were collected from July to September 2020 using the online survey via Google Forms. The survey was sent to students via their email and social media, and there were 1323 valid responses. The data collection instrument was developed based on an international survey administered by UNESCO. The survey was designed to elicit data with respect to students’ views on institutional quality policy and model, quality assurance procedures and tools, and student survey. The dataset serves as an insightful reference for institutional practitioners and policymakers in quality assurance to revise internal quality assurance policies and instruments to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Moreover, the dataset could be of interest to other educational researchers who can use it to investigate students’ understanding and viewpoints on quality assurance.


a b s t r a c t
This paper presents a dataset from a survey of student perceptions and experiences of quality assurance in Vietnamese higher education institutions. Data were collected from July to September 2020 using the online survey via Google Forms. The survey was sent to students via their email and social media, and there were 1323 valid responses. The data collection instrument was developed based on an international survey administered by UNESCO. The survey was designed to elicit data with respect to students' views on institutional quality policy and model, quality assurance procedures and tools, and student survey. The dataset serves as an insightful reference for institutional practitioners and policymakers in quality assurance to revise internal quality assurance policies and instruments to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Moreover, the dataset could be of interest to other educational researchers who can use it to investigate students' understanding and viewpoints on quality assurance.

Value of the Data
• The data enable researchers interested in higher education quality assurance to gain insights of students' perceptions and experiences on quality assurance policy and implementation as well as verify the research's findings. • The dataset offers valuable resources for policymakers, institutional leaders, educational managers and quality assurance specialists to make policies on quality enhancement for their programmes and institutions. • The dataset helps contribute to knowledge management related to quality assurance procedures and instruments from students' viewpoints.

Data Description
Quality assurance plays an important part in everyday activities and development strategies of all the higher education institutions. To ensure and enhance the quality of teaching, learning, research and management, universities collect feedback from stakeholders including students, lecturers, support staff, alumni and employers. They have substantial influence in the effectiveness of the university's functioning by participating in decision-making units and procedure related to quality assurance [ 1 , 2 ]. Among these stakeholders, students are considered the most influential internal stakeholders [3] . They have been perceived as more and more significant in the legitimacy of quality assurance processes. Specifically, they are involved in evaluations and in revisions of the learning outcomes as well as providing critical feedback on academic and non-academic support services [ 1 , 4 ]. Moreover, students can participate in quality assurance activities by giving feedback on the courses or programmes they have taken, helping to develop the curricula, participating in institution decision-making processes, or by speaking on behalf of students in a variety of ways, such as through a student union or other representative bodies [5] .
In Vietnam, the national education system has been influenced by China, France, the Soviet Union and the United States [6] . In the 2019-2020 academic year, Vietnam had 237 universities with over 1.7 million students [7] . Quality assurance was officially introduced to the higher education sector in 2003. Initial achievements of quality assurance implementation (for example, institutional and programme accreditation, the development of the internal quality assurance system) have been observed in many universities. Particularly, student engagement in quality assurance processes has also been reported [ 8 , 9 ]. However, their role is only limited to the evaluation of courses, the most popular activity in most of the Vietnamese universities [10] . A survey containing 60 close-ended questions were developed to convey Vietnamese students' perceptions and experiences on quality assurance in their universities. After three months of administration via Google Forms, the survey obtained 1323 valid responses. The associated dataset is presented in 11 tables below. Additionally, demographic characteristics of the respondents are presented in Table 12 . Moreover, a copy of the survey can be found in the supplementary material.
The current dataset will be helpful for researchers, policymakers, educational managers and quality assurance specialists in the field. First, the data enable researcher to gain insights of students' viewpoints on quality assurance as well as verify the research's results as data sharing is a practice that helps improve research integrity and transparency through enabling reproduction and peers' validation of the study's findings [11] . Second, the data will be beneficial to policymakers, institutional leaders, educational managers and quality assurance specialists to make decisions on quality assurance for their institutions and programmes. Data sharing offers valuable resources for scientific research and evidence-based policymaking, especially in developing countries, where scientific investments are limited and the quality of higher education is contentious [12] . Third, this dataset will contribute to knowledge management in the field of quality assurance. It is important to note that knowledge management is a vital aspect that datasets in social sciences and humanities should contribute to [13] .

Experimental Design, Materials and Methods
The survey questionnaire was developed based on an international research project on internal quality assurance supported by UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) in 2015-2016 [14] . Specifically, the back translation was used to translate the items from English into Vietnamese to ensure the reliability. The questionnaire was adjusted through discussing with five experts in quality assurance in Vietnam and pilot test with 76 students. The pilot test showed that the constructs achieved reliability when the Cronbach's Alpha values were greater than 0.8. In the official survey, the reliability of the questionnaire was again measured using Cronbach's Alpha value. Among 10 surveyed aspects, the Cronbach's Alpha value of each aspect was above 0.8 ( Table 13 ), indicating a good level of reliability.
The questionnaire, which was adapted for the use in the context of Vietnam, consists of four parts and 60 close-ended questions. The first part includes four questions referring to personal information of respondents: year of study, gender, age and city of studying ( Table 1 ). The second part having 29 questions focuses on quality policy and quality assurance model. This part is divided into six sub-sections including importance of education quality and quality policy, quality     Providing accountability to the government and society assurance handbook, institutional quality assurance body, purposes of quality assurance, and focus level of quality assurance ( Table 2 -Table 6 ). The third part consisting of 21 questions refers to procedure and tools of quality assurance. This part is divided into three sub-sections including quality assurance instruments and processes, student support services, and instruments and processes for graduate employability ( Table 7 -Table 9 ). The final part containing 10 questions highlights survey and evaluation. This part is divided in two sub-section including frequency of participating in evaluations and changes from evaluation results, ( Table 10, Table 11 ). A Google Form was created to add questions in Vietnamese from the developed survey. To maximise the diversity of respondents, the researchers selected students studying in five cities representing all main regions of Vietnam including Thai Nguyen (northeastern part), Hanoi (capital city), Vinh (north central coast), Hue (near south central coast) and Ho Chi Minh City (southeastern part). The total population of this study was over one million students. Convenience      sampling was used to select students from universities located in these cities. Specifically, the questionnaire was shared among the students in these cities with the help of their university's managers, teachers, student advisors, and their friends as well as through social networks. The informed consent was provided to potential participants in the email directly sent to them (or forwarded to them). From July to September 2020, the questionnaire received 1471 responses. Unreliable data was eliminated by scanning responses for identical responses, missing more than a third of the scale/sub-scale, and missing more than two items of personal information. After that, an adjustment was made to remove outliers. The number of valid responses remained at 1323. Because of the convenience sampling procedures, this dataset does not represent the entire population of students currently studying at higher education institutions in Vietnam. The detail of the survey questionnaire and the responses are provided in the supplementary files.

Ethics Statements
Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Informed consent was obtained from respondents prior to completion of the online survey.

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data Availability
Survey dataset on student perceptions and experiences of quality assurance in Vietnamese universities (Original data) (Mendeley Data).