Quality assurance in pharmacy education: Accreditation outcomes of Vietnamese Bpharm programs under the national accreditation framework.

BACKGROUND

Program accreditation is central to quality assurance in higher education. However, evidence on accreditation outcomes under Vietnam's first national program accreditation framework remains limited, particularly regarding criterion-specific quality gaps in pharmacy education. Identifying these gaps is needed to prioritize quality improvement and inform implementation of the revised framework, which places greater emphasis on outcome-based education (OBE) and continuous quality improvement.

OBJECTIVE

To examine accreditation outcomes of Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) programs in Vietnam and identify strengths and weaknesses in OBE implementation.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study analyzed official external evaluation reports of 32 nationally accredited BPharm programs. Performance was examined at program, standard, and criterion levels. Public (n = 10) and private (n = 22) institutions were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test with effect size r.

RESULTS

All 32 programs met accreditation requirements (≥80% of criteria rated ≥4), yet 62.5% had mean scores below 4.0. The highest non-achievement rates were observed for assessment methods (Criterion 5.3, 84.4%), constructive alignment (Criterion 3.2, 78.1%), program learning outcomes (Criterion 1.2, 50.0%), and course syllabi (Criterion 2.2, 46.9%). Public institutions scored moderately higher than private institutions (r = 0.44-0.46) on three criteria concerning assessment methods and academic staff; differences for the remaining 47 criteria were not evident.

CONCLUSION

Vietnam's framework established a quality assurance baseline, but substantial OBE-related gaps remain despite accreditation. These findings identify priorities for continuous quality improvement and highlight the importance of examining criterion-level performance when accreditation systems seek to move from minimum compliance toward outcome-based quality enhancement.