Education

Vietnamese are most well-educated, with a literacy rate of over 98.85% for people aged 15 and older. Nationally, about 21.8 million pupils representing about 91.7% of the population of secondary school age are currently attending school. As for higher education alone, there are in total about 460 universities, colleges and junior colleges throughout the country, attracting more than two million students each academic year, basically meeting the needs of regional and local structures, expanding access to higher education for people in remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas. Vietnam sets a goal that by 2025, the whole country will have at least 270 students per 10,000 people; by 2030, the proportion of university students in the age group of 18 to 24 will reach 35% of the total population, and the proportion of international students studying in Vietnam’s higher education programs will reach 2%.

For general education, despite not having a State school for foreigners in Vietnam, foreign diplomatic and economic institutions have set up schools for their staff’s children. Recently, expatriates in Hanoi can enroll their children aged 4 to 15 years old at the United Nations International School (UNIS), meantime the same in HCMC can join the International School Ho Chi Minh City (ISH). For post-secondary education, there are RMIT International University Vietnam and Swinburne University Vietnam, which are Australian technology universities operating in Vietnam on a national scale; Fulbright University Vietnam, an independent university with 100% foreign investment under the sponsorship of the US Government, operating not for profit, headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City; the first private international universities in Vietnam according to foreign standards such as British University in Hung Yen Province and Greenwich University on a national scale with British standards, VinUni University in Hanoi and Saigon International University in Ho Chi Minh City with American standards, Vietnam-Germany University in Binh Duong Province with German standards; International University, which is a public university, a member of Ho Chi Minh City National University, is oriented according to the programs of prestigious partner universities in the US, UK, New Zealand, Australia; etc.

Accommodation

The quality and availability of international hotels has increased dramatically in recent years in Vietnam. Five and four-star international hotels are well abundant in Hanoi, Da Nang and HCMC. Besides, mini hotels are plentiful, easy to find and cheaper. For recent years, the current supply has been outstripping the demand.

In addition to hotels, housing space is now easy to find in big urban areas, especially Hanoi and HCMC. Many high-class and international standard residential buildings are now open for rent, with much lower prices compared to few years ago. Local standard housing space is also abundant, mainly from individual landlords, with cheaper prices.

International and Local Travel

International flights are daily available from Hanoi and HCMC. Vietnam Airlines, and other domestic and foreign airlines have booking offices in both cities. Local flights are also daily from Hanoi to HCMC and vice versa. Actually, for local travels, Vietnam Airlines ranked 11th in the world’s top premium airlines by AirlineRatings.com in 2024, Pacific Airlines, Vietjet Air winning two awards, “Best Low-Cost Airline” and “Best Low-Cost Airline with Inflight Service” (recognizing the value of inflight service) by AirlineRatings.com in 2024, VASCO, Vietstar Airlines, Hai Au (Albatros) Aviation, Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines are the eight operating players; in addition, Sun Air and Kite Air has applied for establishment. All these airlines use French, American or Brazilian made aircrafts.

By land travel, buses and trains are very common for local transportation of passengers around towns/cities and for inter-province trips including from Hanoi to HCMC and vice versa. Metered-radio taxis are available in the major cities and at Noi Bai (Hanoi) and Tan Son Nhat (HCMC) airports. Car hire is relatively cheap and for shorter journeys cyclos (pedal driven transport) can be hired. As from 2021 onwards, Vietnam shall have another type of public transport, tramways (including skytrain and subway) to be gradually put into use in two major cities, Hanoi and HCMC. The North-South 350 km/h high-speed railway project, which is expected to create a lever to promote economic and social development of the whole country, is expected to be submitted by the Ministry of Transport to the National Assembly at the end of this year and strives to start construction in 2030.

Media and Communications

The international communications system (telephone, telefax and telex) and internet infrastructure (broad band, optical cable, Wi-Fi) have been frequently upgraded to respond the increasing market demand. Also, electronic communications including Wi-Fi hotspots are quite common, standard and at reasonable cost, including free Wi-Fi areas, especially in urban and industrial areas.

English-language newspapers including online-versions are now available in Vietnam. The Vietnam News Agency publishes daily the English-language Vietnam News newspaper and French-language Le Courier du Vietnam newspaper. In addition, there are several local newspapers and magazines in English language being published in Vietnam, which include the weekly Vietnam Investment Review newspaper, the weekly Vietnam Economic News Magazine, the monthly Vietnam Economic Times Magazine, etc. Some other business magazines, published in neighbouring countries, are also available.

The official Voice and Television of Vietnam broadcast news in English and other widely used languages, for instance, French, Russian and Chinese. TV and Radio programs broadcast by foreign stations such as CNN, BBC, Australia Network, TV5, DW, Russia-1, NHK, KBS, etc. are also available.