A r,s,t-spherical fuzzy decision-making model of university happiness: case study of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

Why campus happiness matters

For many people, university is remembered as a stressful race for grades, jobs, and prestige. But around the world, campuses are rethinking success in broader terms: are students and staff actually thriving? This article looks at one large Vietnamese university, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), and asks a deceptively simple question: what really drives happiness on campus, and how do those pieces influence each other? Using an advanced yet practical mapping approach, the authors reveal a network of seven connected areas of well-being and pinpoint the levers that seem to shape all the others.

The many pieces of a happy campus

The researchers start from an idea that happiness at university is more than a good mood or a high salary after graduation. Drawing on international frameworks, they define seven domains: physical health; mental and emotional balance; relationships and social life; a sense of self-fulfilment; career prospects; the quality of the campus environment; and financial security. Each domain is broken into concrete elements, such as sleep and diet, trust between people, pride in one’s work, clear career paths, green spaces, and the ability to handle sudden expenses. This structure is flexible enough to compare across cultures, but also tailored to pressures common in fast-growing Southeast Asian universities, such as crowded cities, family expectations, and tight budgets.

Turning fuzzy judgments into a causal map

Because happiness is hard to measure with simple numbers, the team invited 20 experienced insiders—lecturers, administrators, and support staff—to share their views on how these domains affect one another. Instead of forcing them to rate influences with rigid scales, the study let experts respond in everyday language like “weak” or “strong” and attached a degree of uncertainty to each judgment. A mathematical technique called r,s,t-spherical fuzzy DEMATEL then converted these nuanced opinions into a network map. In this map, arrows show which domains are seen as causes and which are mostly results; the thickness of the connections reflects how strongly experts believe one area pushes on another.

What really drives well-being at UEH

The network reveals a striking pattern. Financial security, physical health, and mental–emotional balance sit near the center as highly important outcomes, but they are not the main starting points of change. Instead, two less obvious areas—self-fulfilment and the campus environment—tend to act as upstream drivers. Within self-fulfilment, having a growth mindset, feeling that one’s work and studies are meaningful, and having hopeful plans for the future are especially powerful. In the financial domain, three ingredients dominate: having enough income for daily life, feeling prepared for sudden costs, and believing one’s long-term financial outlook is safe. On the physical side, simply being well-rested and paying attention to preventive health stand out. In social life, feeling that one belongs and can rely on fair, trusting relationships is more influential than the sheer size of one’s network.

Inside the engine of campus happiness

By zooming further in, the authors show how these ingredients combine. For example, a student or staff member who believes they can grow, sees meaning in their role, and trusts that their finances are on track is more likely to feel calm, motivated, and physically energised. Those inner states, in turn, support stronger relationships and better engagement with work or study. Meanwhile, a campus with green, inclusive spaces and smooth, low-hassle systems makes it easier for people to rest well, eat better, seek help early, and connect with others—all of which feed back into happiness. The study also checks how sensitive the results are to the technical settings of the fuzzy model and finds that the basic ranking of what matters most hardly changes, suggesting that the overall picture is robust.

What this means for universities

To a lay reader, the most important message is that campus happiness is not a mystery, nor is it just about offering yoga classes or raising pay. At UEH, the strongest levers appear to be solid financial support and planning, programs that build growth mindsets and future vision, and basic health and environment measures that keep people rested, nourished, and connected. Improving these areas is likely to ripple outward into emotional stability, better relationships, and stronger academic and career outcomes. Although the map reflects expert perceptions rather than hard proof of cause and effect, it offers a practical roadmap for university leaders in Vietnam and similar settings: invest first in financial security, personal development, and supportive spaces, and the rest of the happiness system is more likely to rise with it.

Citation: Trinh, T.A., Nhieu, NL. A r,s,t-spherical fuzzy decision-making model of university happiness: case study of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 13, 608 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06959-w

Keywords: university well-being, student happiness, financial security, Vietnam higher education, fuzzy decision-making