Vietnam has surpassed China to become South Korea's largest source of international students for the first time, with 96,834 Vietnamese students accounting for 31.5% of the country's record 307,464 foreign students in 2026.

Nguyen Phuong Anh, Le Ngoc Phuong Nhi, and Ha Vu Huyen Linh attended high school together, graduated with honors in medicine from Hanoi Medical University, and recently gained admission to the university’s prestigious medical residency program.

Two years after his 80-year-old father took him to a high school entrance exam, Nguyen Xuan Toan has won first prize and topped Hanoi's citywide English competition.

Truong Thanh Xuan, Vietnam's only female contestant at the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad, has won a scholarship covering full tuition and providing VND15 million (US$570) per month.

After winning world championship gold and receiving Vietnam's First-Class Labour Order, 18-year-old martial artist Hoang Trung Nguyen has chosen to study physical education, hoping to inspire the next generation of athletes.

Loc Anh Duc (Huu Nghi T78 School) has outperformed students from many of Hanoi's top high schools to become the top scorer in the city's 2026 Informatics competition for excellent students, achieving a perfect score of 20 out of 20.

Dam Phuong Chi, a Business Chinese major, has graduated with honors from Foreign Trade University (FTU) with a GPA of 3.7/4.0. During her four years at university, she won four Chinese-language competitions.

All four Vietnamese students won medals at the 2026 Al-Fergani International Physics Olympiad, securing one gold, two silvers and one bronze to place Vietnam fourth overall among 15 participating countries and territories.

At age 48, with two sons currently doctoral candidates abroad, Nguyen Thi Yen became a university freshman to fulfill a dream harbored for many years.

After three years of exhausting factory work in Japan, Hoang Viet Anh returned to Vietnam determined to give education another chance. 

From centuries-old manuscripts in Son La to classrooms in Vietnam's northern mountains, five Hanoi high school students are using AI to help preserve the traditional script of the ethnic Thai community and bring it into the digital age.

Once harboring ambitions to study in the UK or the US, Khoa Vu changed his perspective after accompanying his elder sister to Tsinghua University.

More Vietnamese students are considering universities in China and Singapore as alternatives to traditional destinations such as the US, UK, Australia and Canada, driven by costs, proximity and the growing standing of Asian institutions.

All 10 Vietnamese students competing at the 2026 International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics won medals, taking six golds and four silvers at the largest edition of the competition to date.

Although he did not study at Hanoi Medical University, Vu Hong Duc surpassed thousands of candidates to rank among the top four in the university's medical residency  exam.

With a GPA of 3.98 out of 4, Nguyen Thanh Binh was named the graduating valedictorian of the Advanced Program in International Economics at Foreign Trade University (FTU) in 2026.

1. For Thang Ga Lo and Vang Thi Mai, university meant leaving a remote La Hu community for Hanoi and navigating challenges they had never faced before. They finished four years later as joint top graduates.

As a young Hmong boy facing the risk of dropping out, Tho Ba Xa was taken in and raised by officers and soldiers at the Nam Can Border Guard Station.

Vo Gia Thinh in Dak Lak, has become a double valedictorian at the HCMC University of Technology after topping both the comprehensive admission assessment and the university's competency assessment exam.