Sustainable Development Policies, Student Engagement, and Training Quality in Vietnamese Universities
Abstract:
This study examines how sustainable development policies in Vietnamese universities influence Student Engagement and perceived training quality. Using survey data from 275 undergraduates and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the research develops a structural model linking five policy dimensions—academic support, faculty development, infrastructure development, student activities, and sustainability integration—to Student Engagement and training quality. The empirical results indicate that sustainability-oriented policies significantly enhance Student Engagement, which, in turn, is positively associated with higher perceived training quality; among the policy dimensions, sustainability integration exhibits the strongest effect. The model explains 63.1% of the variance in Student Engagement and 52.7% of the variance in training quality, suggesting substantial explanatory power. The study recommends that universities treat sustainable development as a core operational principle embedded in governance, curriculum, and student affairs, rather than as a symbolic commitment, in order to improve students’ learning experiences and training outcomes. Despite growing policy interest in sustainability education, the mechanisms through which institutional policies translate into Student Engagement and measurable training quality outcomes remain underexplored in the Vietnamese higher education context—a gap this study addresses.
