Academic staff development is vital in any educational institutions for their quality assurance and capacity for competition. A World Bank paper commented that ‘a high quality and well-motivated teaching staff and a supportive professional culture are essential in building excellence’ (World Bank, 1993). The purpose of staff development is to further improve job performance, enhance the quality of work environment and foster personal growth and development. Through staff development activities, teachers can acquire knowledge about educational issues and problems, develop and utilize new or improved skills or work ethics and methods, clarify work-related attitudes and values, derive greater satisfaction from work with learners, and develop more stimulation and supportive relationships with their colleagues (Boyel, 2004). In the context of increasing competition with numerous centers of foreign languages in the area, the Center for Foreign Languages of Can Tho University in Vietnam has determined staff development as their top priority. The current study has been undertaken with 69 teachers of English. An online survey was administered to assess the teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the professional development activities and their level of satisfaction to the programs. After three years of implementation, these programs of academic staff development have gained initial positive results. There is an increasing number of teachers who have gained necessary language competency and teaching qualifications. Through practical and effective activities such as developing teaching materials, mentoring, and peer observations, teachers have taken up opportunities for further academic growth. Current practices from ‘good lesson demonstration’ to regular sections of sharing teaching ideas are effective and can be applied in any other foreign language centers. From the current practices there are important implications. Educational stakeholders should provide adequate staff development policies and programs for academic staff in the educational management process. Teacher evaluation together with teacher professional development activities can be carried out at the same time to enhance teachers’ academic performance.