Outbound Mobility and Transnational Education Linked to Ho Chi Minh City (2002–2025): A Bibliometric and Policy Analysis
Keywords:
International student mobility; transnational education; bibliometric analysis; Ho Chi Minh City; VietnamAbstract
This paper examines outbound student mobility and transnational education (TNE) linked to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam’s largest higher-education hub. The revised manuscript adopts a mixed-method design that combines a bibliometric mapping of Web of Science records (n = 6,455; 2002–2025) with a focused documentary review of Vietnam/HCMC-relevant studies (n = 12) and a policy-institutional corpus (n = 8 documents, comprising two Ministry of Education and Training sources and six university disclosures). Following a PRISMA-informed screening logic, the study clarifies its search scope, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and document quality checks. The results show four durable knowledge clusters—student mobility, cross-border provision, quality assurance, and graduate outcomes—with a marked post-2020 shift toward educational quality and employability. At the local level, HCMC’s outbound mobility rose to 35,000 students by 2023, although the city’s share of the national total declined as outbound growth dispersed across Vietnam. HCMC also hosts a diverse TNE portfolio of approximately 89 programs, accounting for about 23% of the national total. Synthesizing the global and local evidence, the paper proposes a localized quality-assurance framework centered on transparent partner accreditation, clear credit recognition, assessment integrity, work-integrated learning, and responsible public reporting.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.4.30
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