The journey from a distance-free classroom to the Top 10 strongest brands in Vietnam

(Dan Tri) - Vinschool has just made an exception when it entered the Top 10 Strongest Brands in Vietnam in 2025 as ranked by Brand Finance, becoming the only educational brand present in the playground that is the strength of financial and technology giants.

According to the latest report by Brand Finance - a prestigious global brand valuation organization, Vinschool Education System has been included in the Top 10 strongest brands in Vietnam in 2025. This is a list that often records the presence of large enterprises in the fields of finance, banking and technology.

With a brand strength index (BSI) score of 88.4/100, Vinschool has become one of the few educational brands highly appreciated for its reputation and brand value in the market.

From the first kindergarten established in 2013, the 12-year journey of reaching out with the philosophy of "taking students as the center" has helped Vinschool build an educational brand recognized by society, appearing in the Brand Finance rankings this year.

On September 5, 2014, the first opening ceremony of Vinschool Inter-level School took place, marking the birth of a non-public inter-level education model: strictly following international standards, by Vietnamese people and for Vietnamese students. Do Anh Minh (born 2008) was also present that day, as a first grader.

Minh is now in grade 12, part of the elite group of Vinschool students. Although there are many options when transferring to another level, Minh shared: “I am so familiar with this place that I cannot imagine going to another school.”

Since first grade, Minh has always been an excellent student. After finishing primary and secondary school, Minh achieved perfect scores in math and science in the Cambridge Checkpoint assessment test.

In the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exams held in June last year, Minh achieved A*A* grades in science, A in maths and A in business studies.

This March, Minh won first prize in the history competition for excellent students at the Hai Ba Trung - Hoan Kiem cluster level, and also won second prize in the Road to Olympia - week 3, month 3, quarter 3, year 25.

The combination of Do Anh Minh's excellent performance in the Cambridge exam and his excellent performance in history partly demonstrates the educational orientation that Vinschool has consistently pursued over the past 12 years: nurturing a young generation that is both capable of international integration and knowledgeable and proud of Vietnamese knowledge and culture.

In the 2024-2025 school year, nearly 80% of Vinschool grade 12 students did not choose to study abroad but instead enrolled in domestic universities. Of these, more than 60% were admitted to top public schools such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Foreign Trade University, National Economics University, Diplomatic Academy, National University, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Law... The rest were admitted to international universities such as VinUni, Fulbright, RMIT, British University Vietnam.

Although most Vinschool students do not use their graduation exam scores to apply for university admission, the school still achieved nearly 400 out of 1,307 students who took the exam with a score of 9-10. At the same time, Vinschool students have continuously been ranked among the top in the world and top in Vietnam in ESL and math in the IGCSE exam.

The above figures reflect the reality contrary to long-standing prejudices: studying according to international standards can still meet domestic exams well, becoming a global citizen does not mean losing one's roots and using English as a second language does not mean being weak in Vietnamese.

While a traditional classroom is designed with a podium so that the teacher has an ideal physical position to help students see their teacher clearly, in this school, the teacher needs to move down to be able to see the students more clearly. This classroom design is part of hundreds of small links closely linked together to form an educational ecosystem that serves the philosophy of “Pupil-Centered”.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Dung, Director of Program and Education Quality Assurance of Vinschool, said that student-centeredness is a familiar and popular concept, but to go beyond the slogan to actually put it into action is not easy.

At Vinschool, teachers do not teach according to textbooks but according to output standards (also known as competency-based learning) - that is, aiming to help each student achieve specific competencies and qualities clearly defined for each subject and level of study. Textbooks are just one of many learning materials used.

This approach embodies the “student-centered” philosophy. Instead of teaching the same content to everyone, teachers design learning activities that suit each student’s pace and learning style, helping them not only meet output standards but also maximize their individual potential.

To realize this model, Vinschool has built an integrated program between the output standards of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and international output standards. The program not only ensures compatibility with national requirements, but also helps students develop self-study capacity, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and the necessary qualities of citizens in the digital age.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Dung said that the school has devoted much effort to integrating with the Cambridge international program for 4 subjects: math, science, information technology, and English. In particular, instead of learning technical math - that is, memorizing math formulas and then applying them to assignments in the traditional way, Vinschool students learn how to think - that is, find different ways to solve a math problem through trial and error.

Similarly, with science, Vinschool students learn how to think and work like scientists. They are guided to ask questions about the natural world, and then apply age-appropriate scientific research methods to find answers, instead of just memorizing theory to solve exercises.

The most elaborate is the design of the Vietnamese language and literature program, how to teach students to learn Vietnamese and literature - that is, learn in Vietnamese - but still meet the output standards of language thinking according to international standards. That is a problem that has never been solved before.

“It took us a long time to design the Vietnamese language and literature program, but it was a worthy investment. Vinschool is not only proud of being a pioneer in teaching ESL and AI to students from 5 years old, but also proud of having the specialty of teaching literature - learning literature in the most unique way ever,” said Ms. Pham Thi Hien - Literature Coordinator at Vinschool.

No longer confined to textbooks, Vinschool students develop their language skills through exposure to a corpus that balances literary and informational texts and is diverse in genre. They read short stories, poems, essays, commentaries, reports, infographics, film subtitles, stage scripts, podcasts, speeches, etc. - that is, all forms of texts and linguistic products with expressive and aesthetic functions.

From these rich materials, students are trained in language perception, develop logical thinking and know how to use language as an effective means of expression in study as well as in life.

That is also the output standard of the literature subject that the school implements, serving the consistent educational philosophy: Taking students as the center.

At Vinschool, teaching does not start from a sample lesson plan, but from the knowledge acquisition capacity of each student in the class. Therefore, during 10 years of teaching, Ms. Vu Thi Lan Phuong - Head of Grade 1, Vinschool The Harmony Primary School - has never reused old lesson plans. "Each student has a different foundation and learning speed, so the old lesson plan, no matter how well-prepared, is no longer suitable," she shared.

The student-centered approach requires teachers at Vinschool to work at a higher intensity than in the traditional model. But when asked if she would like to go back to the old way of teaching, Ms. Lan Phuong said: “No. Rewriting lesson plans every year and having to give personalized feedback on each test makes my job more profound and I am happier when I see students improve.”

A key difference at Vinschool is that teachers not only grade but also practice assessments to support student progress. In particular, they are not allowed to use duplicate comments on students’ tests. Before each comment, teachers always ask themselves: “Does this feedback help students understand where they are and how to move forward?”

For the Vietnamese subject in grade 1 - the stage when students begin to form basic reading comprehension skills, Ms. Lan Phuong often has to divide the class into three groups: already able to read - recognizing words - slow to approach language. However, she affirmed: "The most difficult thing is not designing three different activities, but keeping the slow group from feeling weak. Group 3 children are usually very few, sometimes only 2-3 children in a class. The common weakness is lisping. When children read wrong, the usual reaction of other children is to burst out laughing. At this time, children can easily fall into a bad, embarrassed feeling if the teacher does not promptly encourage and motivate them."

Not only in Vietnamese, English at Vinschool is also organized according to the moving class model. When it comes to English class, students do not study in a fixed class, but move to classes corresponding to their level - called "English stages".

This approach is also the core for English to truly become a second language at Vinschool, as the majority of graduates achieve high scores in international standardized certification exams such as IELTS, SAT, AP, opening the door to top universities in Vietnam and the world.

What Vinschool is doing shows that, in an era of great change, education is no longer simply about imparting knowledge but must also inspire and build core values ​​for future generations.

From the removed podium to the position of “Top 10 strongest brands in Vietnam”, Vinschool not only reshapes the way of teaching and learning, but also contributes to shaping the future of Vietnamese education - confident, humane and globally integrated.

Content: Truong Thinh, Dao Nhan

November 6, 2025 - 08:00

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/hanh-trinh-tu-lop-hoc-khong-khoang-cach-den-top-10-thuong-hieu-manh-nhat-viet-nam-20251105221428923.htm