IQA models: an introductory literature review and suggestions for developing an IQA model for Vietnamese higher education

Although widely discussed in quality assurance networks worldwide, internal quality assurance (IQA) is perhaps still an abstract concept, easy to discuss but difficult to develop. This article reviews IQA models issued at various levels and IQA studies for best practices. Based on the introductory review, this article also suggests an IQA model for Vietnamese higher education. The review indicates that IQA is part of a quality assurance framework and has been formalised in some countries, resulting in fulfilling accountability rather than the claimed improvement purposes. The challenges of Vietnamese quality assurance derive from the lack of appropriate assessment of institutional outcomes even though the IQA infrastructure has been established. The findings suggest that Vietnamese universities should focus more on measuring institutional effectiveness besides a formalised IQA structure. For Vietnam, this IQA model is suggested to complete one component of the Vietnam quality assurance framework, yet the implementation requires careful contextualisation.