General Country Information

Capital City: Hanoi

Population: 84 402 966

Percentage of population: 60% are below 35 years old

Official language(s) : Vietnamese

Organisation of Vietnamese higher education

Education is an important part of the society. It is a major preoccupation of government and is a highly valued and respected activity in Vietnamese society. The Vietnam education and training sector is large, present in almost every village and touches virtually every family. There are almost 18 million pupils and students in the entire education system and over 0.5 million teachers and instructors.

The Vietnamese education system is composed of five years of elementary school, seven at secondary level and finally, three to eight years of tertiary education.

Higher education in Vietnam includes two levels of instruction:
- Graduate degrees: Cao đắng(3 years) and Daih hoc (4 to 5 years)
- Postgraduate degrees: Thac sy, a Master's degree of 2 years and Tiên sy, a PhD lasting from
2 to 4 years.

Number of students in higher education:
- 1997-1998: 662 600
- 2003-2004 : 1 032 440

In 2003, approximately 910 000 students were enrolled in a public university, whereas 120 000 chose a higher education institution.

In 2004, there were 214 universities and higher education institutions in Vietnam:
- 87 universities (of which 17 private and 3 semi-private)
- 127 higher education institutions (of which 4 private and 3 semi-private)

Vietnamese public universities

As the country began a series of educational reforms in the 1990's, Vietnam developed multi-disciplinary universities, by gathering together a number of pre-existing faculties.

The first multi-disciplinary universities, such as Hanoi National University, were created in December 1993, whereas regional universities such as Hué, Thai Nguyen and Da Nang were set up in 1994 and Ho Chi Minh City National University in 1995. Though universities have grouped together several educational departments, it seems they have kept a certain independence.

For example, two faculties of Ho Chi Minh City National University have split into separate entities.

In a Vietnamese public university, tuition fees cost up to 1 800 000 VND/year, which is equivalent to approximately 95 €.

Vietnamese private universities

In theory, the designation "private university" is forbidden in Vietnam. Officially, the government calls such an institution "university founded by the people", but it seems the term "private" is more and more used.

When foreign universities wish to implement campuses or programmes in Vietnam, they need first to obtain the double authorisation from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as well as the Ministry of Higher Education.

The number of applicants for public universities being higher than the number of places, private universities are seen as a good alternative. However, tuition fees are much higher than in public universities: from 150 to 4000€, for example for an MBA.

Study abroad

Demand for studying abroad is constantly increasing and in 2004 there were around 38 500 Vietnamese students studying outside of their country. Among them, 5000 received a scholarship from the Vietnamese government.

Due to demographic reasons and increasing domestic wealth, the number of students enrolling abroad is expected to increase considerably in the coming years.

Sources: CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

Vietnamese Ministry of Education

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

British Council http://www.britishcouncil.org/vietnam-educationuk-country-partnership-market-info.htm