Embedding 21st-Century Competencies into Higher Education: Insights from Vietnamese Lecturers’ Perspectives and Pedagogical Strategies

The integration of 21st-century skills, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity (the 4Cs) is pivotal in contemporary higher education to prepare students for a rapidly evolving global landscape. Despite widespread theoretical emphasis, empirical insights into how these competencies are implemented in Vietnamese universities remain limited. This study aims to explore the extent of 4Cs integration in Vietnamese higher education and to identify lecturers' opinions on the instructional strategies used and the barriers encountered. To address this aim, a cross-sectional quantitative study using an adapted, validated survey was distributed electronically across multiple institutions in four major Vietnamese cities, employing a multi-stage institutional sampling approach. A total of 140 valid lecturer responses met the inclusion criteria, reflecting the accessible population during the data collection window. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, standard deviations) and internal-consistency estimates in SPSS 26. Descriptive analyses indicate widespread integration of the 4Cs, with lecturers most consistently employing structured collaboration and creativity strategies (e.g., group activities and granting student autonomy in resource selection). Conversely, project-based learning, collaborative online tasks, and the use of graphic organizers were reported as less consistently applied. Patterned differences across strategies highlight instructional and institutional barriers, including inadequate technological infrastructure, rigid curricula, and limited professional development opportunities. The results extend the existing literature by providing context-specific evidence on practice patterns and constraints, emphasizing the need for targeted institutional support to enable comprehensive implementation of the 4Cs. Implications include policy measures to enhance infrastructure, greater curriculum flexibility, and sustained professional learning to strengthen lecturers' capacity to embed 21st-century skills in teaching and learning.