Let’s get a glimpse into the education of Vietnam and talk about the top 10 universities of Vietnam. State-run the education system in Vietnam and all public and private universities work under the ministries of education and training. Education there is divided into five parts starting from preschool, primary school, secondary school, high school, and higher education. Twelve years of education is considered formal in which five years are dedicated to primary education, four for intermediate and three for secondary education. Mostly institute works on a half-day basis for the students. Vietnam government’s main goal to achieve is to improve people’s knowledge generally, training as a human resource, and cultivating talent.

 The education system is very competitive in Vietnam. Secondary schools are the main issues for students because there are some special schools known as specialized high schools and to get in those, one should need a high entrance test score. These schools offer additional courses which are considered prestigious. Entrance to any university in Vietnam is determined by a test (National High School Graduation Examination) NHSGE, for getting admission to an institute of high regard you must get a high score on the entrance test. Vietnam’s government is trying to expand its education system and is contributing more than 6% of its GDP to education.

There are many universities in Vietnam but only two of them are public, in this article we will talk about the top 10 universities in Vietnam. The ranking is based on their availability and locals’ students’ feedback with help from the official website of universities.

1. Vietnam National University (VNU)

Vietnam has two national universities and VNU is one of them. Vietnam national university has seen many changes in its time and had undergone various development phases. On 16th May 1906, first, it was established as the University of Indochina, in November 1945, it was recognized as a university of Vietnam and then in 1956 June, the University of Hanoi, and lastly University of Hanoi and some other leading university were amalgamated and Vietnam national university was made.

The largest research center in Vietnam is in VNU and also the major center for higher education. VNU holds a respected place in the education system of Vietnam and works according to special regulations issued by the prime minister of Vietnam. VNU reports directly to the office of the Prime minister and works in the field of academic programs, scientific research, planning, finance, technological development, personnel organization, and international relations. Vietnam national university’s main task is to produce high-quality human resource talents for organizations and industries of the country.

Vietnam national university in Hanoi is famous for its high-quality education and because of that, it is a prestigious university in Vietnam. Every year more than 5000 bachelors, 2400 masters, and 200 doctorates cleared the university degree in various programs in technology, economics, social sciences, natural sciences, education, humanities, and foreign studies.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) was established in 1956 and Vietnam’s first multidiscipline technical university. For country building and development purposes, the Hanoi university of science and technology is the center for engineers. When the university was established the whole effort from the management was dedicated to renovating laboratories, developing classrooms, and buying new equipment. On the other hand, they put their time into the development of technical and managerial staff to prepare them for opening thus making it the center for high-quality human resources.

During its starting days, the Hanoi university of science and technology got helped internationally from universities, people, and the government of the Soviet Union through lesson planning, orientation, and development programs for staff. Its new campus construction was started in 1960 and it was based on soviet’s design. HUST still has the largest area in Vietnam compared to other universities.

Professor, engineer, and academician Tran daiNghia was the first president of HUST and manager of the Vietnamese defense program. HUST aimed to improve the technology and quality of research. In accordance with the world’s development, HUST is also evolving and becoming a center of investors for domestic and foreign technology, business, and finance.  In its 60 years, HUST is constantly evolving its management, leadership programs, lecturers, modern facilities, and research activities.

3. Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

HUTECH is the leading private university in Vietnam since 1995 when it was established. In its 25-year journey, Ho Chi Minh university of technology has achieved growth and crossed many milestones in the field of academics and research. The university has dedicated its time to the development of the campus to ensure high-quality learning and teaching. HUTECH is refining its space according to the needs of students. This university has started as a small urban campus and now changed into a facility with a satellite campus and a research institute with a hi-tech facility. Their classrooms and laboratories have state-of-the-art technologies and infrastructures and for support, they have libraries, canteens, gyms, indoor and outdoor sports facilities.

At present HUTECH has 12 facilities, 13 departments, and 7 institutes. With 1559 teaching staff and 226 non-teaching staff, a total of 1785 staff members are working providing 45 bachelors, 11 masters, and 2 doctorate programs in various fields. Apart from domestic courses, joint programs through foreign universities collaboration from France, Japan, South Korea, UK, Malaysia, and other countries. Their aim is to equip their students with specialized subject knowledge and practical skills.

4. Can Tho University

CTU is the higher education university in Mekong Delta and a scientific, cultural, and technical center for Vietnam. Can Tho University was established in 1966 and enrolled more than 41000 bachelor’s, 2400 masters with the help of around 1100 teaching staff. At present this university in Vietnam deals in more than 99 undergraduates, 48 masters, and 19 doctorate programs. From a small center, this university has changed into a multidisciplinary university. Every year many international students join CTU on internship programs from countries like France, Belgium, Japan, and many others.

Can Tho University of Vietnam’s main aim is to support regional, national, social, and economic development through training, scientific research, and technology. CTU also takes part in scientific and technological projects to provide active solutions for the problems faced by the country. Because of its cooperation in science and cultural issues, this university has achieved many accomplishments and help in easing the life of people, result in gaining prestige nationally and internationally. With the support from many international organizations and universities, this university’s capabilities in both academic and specializations courses have upgraded. The laboratories, materials, and equipment have also been added to the campus.   

5. University of Danang

University of Danang, UD is a university in Vietnam covering the central and western areas of Vietnam and serving as the multi-disciplinary and one of the three regional centers for technology, scientific research, training, and international cooperation in Vietnam. University has more than 2400 teaching staff and more than 52000 students including 400 international students. This university was established in 1994 and claimed to be the first regional university in Vietnam to reach national standards. It also claims the title of the first green university in central Vietnam.  The University of Danang is continuously improving its coordination with foreign universities and governments which helps them to achieve the milestone of securing international funding of more than 5 million USD.

6. University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

As the name suggests this university of Vietnam is the leading research and teaching institute in Vietnam in the field of Economics, law, and business. Since its establishment in 1976, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City was known for its reputation in the teaching field and gained 1st rank among public universities under the government pilot project on restructuring university governance. UEH is bent on providing a competitive environment to its students to enhance the economical, educational, and cultural aspects of the region.

This university has more than 13 campuses and around 800 staff in 15 different schools. University houses more than 100000 books in its library. Including part-time and full-time students, more than 30000 students are studying in around 42 bachelors, 17 masters, and 11 doctorate programs. Their program’s main aim is to provide employment options to students which results in the fact that in many private and government sectors main positions are held by students of this university.

UEH is ranked one among the top 1000 top business schools in the world. A global network of universities of economics Ho Chi Minh city is extended to 70 countries for research and academics collaboration. Key academic partners of UEH are New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and the US. This university provides 5 programs (Management, Banking, Finance, International Business, and Accounting) in English since 2016. 

7. Duy Tan University

Located in Da Nang on the Pacific Ocean, this university of Vietnam helps in making the city a metropolis. Founded in 1994 by the decree of the Prime Minister of Vietnam, this university is the largest private multi-disciplinary university in central Vietnam. In its journey of 24 years with its great efforts, Duy Tan University has made great progress in education and training. With 70000 students in different undergraduate programs and 2600 students in bachelor’s and master’s programs and 1400 students in various vocational programs, this university is one of the busy places in Vietnam.

The academic programs range from business management, information technology, tourism, electrical engineering, foreign languages, civil engineering, medicine, architecture, pharmacology, journalism and literature, international relations, culture, economics, and law. 45000 students passed in different undergraduate and graduate programs. Around 90% of students got a job in 6 months.

This university is a partner of many big universities across the world working on its slogan “Partnering with Giants”. Its partner universities include Carnegie Mellon University one of the top four American universities, Pennsylvania State University one of the top 50 universities in business management, California State University one of the top American public university in civil engineering. Since 2017 Duy Tan University offered on-site study abroad programs in four disciples business administration, hotel management, finance management, and IT. This is the key strategy to enhance the education quality to adapt requirements of society.    

8. Hanoi National University of Education

Located in the capital city of Hanoi, HNUE is the fourth university in the country to get admissions in 1950. At present, it is one of the largest universities with a student’s strength of 4500. A broad range of academic courses is conducted here with the year divided into two semesters. This university is a nonprofit organization for higher education. This university provides various facilities to its students other than academic support like a library, housing, exchange programs, etc.  

9. Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

Founded in 1995 by the decree of the prime minister of Vietnam by merging of universities but was officially launched in 1996. Since 2001, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, VNUHCM has its regulations and operations. Vietnam national university Ho Chi Minh City is a qualified and advanced center for science, technology education, and research. This institute plays a major role in the national education system of Vietnam and provides support for the developmental needs of the country. Currently, seven members are working under VNUHCM university of science, university of technology, university of social sciences, university of humanities, a university in information technology, university of economics and law, university of environment and resources.

VNUHCM has units dedicated to the sole purpose of training, scientific research, and technology transfer. Their main aim is to interact and assist to generate system power. University’s main campus is in Linh Trung Ward. They are working on a project to convert the campus of the university into a city full of modern amenities. With more than 5300 staff VNUHCM is constantly improving its training content, human resource, infrastructure, and international integration.

10. Hue university

Initially, this university’s name was the University of Hue and was established in 1957, after the independence of Vietnam in 1975, all the universities were reestablished and this university becomes Hue university. This university of Vietnam conducts training and research in the fields of science and technology and train students in the same field. This university also serves the purpose of development in the central and western regions of Vietnam.

HU has 8 members universities of education, university of science, university of medicine, university of law, university of arts, university of agriculture, university of economics, university of foreign languages. Apart from these 3 schools’ schools of hospitality, school of physical education and international school are working under Hue university.

Universities in Vietnam are providing degree courses in English languages to provide you the better job opportunities both in Vietnam and other countries. Also studying in English will give you a good opportunity to continue your study in foreign countries like Europe,  U.S.,  and Australia. The top 10 universities of Vietnam we discuss in this article are based on their ranking on local websites and by the reviews and suggestions of people. If you are willing to pursue your studies in Vietnam go through the particular university website thoroughly before making the decision to confirm about your course and language in which you will prefer the studies. We hope that our hard work will help you in getting an understanding of the universities and education in Vietnam.