Purpose

This study focuses on Vietnamese international students who returned from their overseas doctoral education to home universities in Vietnam (henceforth Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees). The purpose is to explore the experience of these returnees “doing research” (i.e. being research active) when resuming a lecturing role at a Vietnamese regional university. In the context of research now receiving heightened attention in both the wider global higher education (HE) discourse and the Vietnamese HE sector, this study is timely and provides valuable insights.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 76 Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees from varied disciplinary backgrounds completed a questionnaire on their research motivation and their perceived constraints doing research. Eighteen subsequently took part in semi-structured interviews. The study draws on the notion of human agency from the sociocultural perspective to understand the coping strategies of the Vietnamese overseas-educated returnees in response to the challenges they encountered.

Findings

The results show that the returnees' motivations to conduct research varied, fuelled by passion, but constrained by multiple factors. Time constraints, heavy teaching loads, familial roles and lack of specialized equipment are key inhibiting factors in re-engaging in research for these returnees. Addressing them necessitated a great deal of readaptation, renegotiation and agentive resilience on the part of the returnees in employing different coping strategies to pursue research.

Practical implications

The paper argues for a subtle understanding of the returnees' experience of re-engaging in research that is both complex and contextual. Implications are drawn for research development in the regional Vietnamese HE context and perhaps in other similar settings.

Originality/value

There is little empirical knowledge about how Vietnamese returned graduates – university lecturers – continue doing research after their return. Also underexplored in global discourse is research on foreign-educated returnees doing research, while they are an important source of human resources. The present study, therefore, fills these research gaps.

中文翻译：

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越南留学归国者在本土大学环境下做研究的应对策略

目的

本研究的重点是从海外博士教育返回越南本土大学的越南国际学生（以下简称越南海外培训的海归）。目的是探索这些海归在越南地方大学恢复讲师职务时“做研究”（即积极研究）的经验。在目前在更广泛的全球高等教育 (HE) 讨论和越南高等教育领域都受到高度关注的研究背景下，这项研究是及时的，并提供了宝贵的见解。

设计/方法/方法

总共有 76 名来自不同学科背景的越南海外培训海归完成了一份关于他们的研究动机和他们在研究中所感知的限制的问卷。十八个人随后参加了半结构化访谈。该研究从社会文化的角度借鉴了人类能动性的概念，以了解越南海外教育海归在应对他们遇到的挑战时的应对策略。

发现

结果表明，海归进行研究的动机各不相同，受热情推动，但受多种因素制约。时间限制、沉重的教学负担、家庭角色和缺乏专业设备是这些海归重新从事研究的关键抑制因素。解决这些问题需要返回者在采用不同的应对策略进行研究时进行大量的重新适应、重新谈判和代理弹性。

实际影响

这篇论文主张对海归重新从事复杂和背景研究的经历有一个微妙的理解。对越南地区高等教育背景下以及可能在其他类似环境中的研究发展产生了影响。

原创性/价值

关于越南归国毕业生——大学讲师——回国后如何继续研究的经验知识很少。同样在全球话语中未被充分探索的还有对外国教育海归进行研究的研究，而他们是人力资源的重要来源。因此，本研究填补了这些研究空白。