Literature Review on Applying Kaizen in University and Lessons for Vietnamese Universities

Abstract

The rapid changes of the higher education system for world integration are requiring universities to manage the quality of training more effectively. The applications of Kaizen in higher education are reported by a lot of case studies in the literature as a good solution for continuous quality improvement. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and analyze lessons from previous studies on Kaizen application at universities, then, evaluate whether Kaizen can be a useful methodology to improve the quality of education in Vietnam Universities and how Vietnam Universities can apply Kaizen effectively. Results of research show that applying Kaizen in Vietnamese Universities is good solution for continuous quality improvement in both university management level and course management level, but it’s a difficulties process that requires a lot of effort from stakeholders: Universities managers, faculty systems and staff, students and organizations related to school activities. Finally, basing on previous experiences, some lessons for Vietnamese Universities was proposed for applying Kaizen more effectively.