Education
Vietnamese are most well-educated, with a literacy rate of over 95%. As for university and college training alone, there are in total about 412 universities, colleges and junior colleges throughout the country, attracting nearly million students each academic year.
Although having not 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).
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 very cheap in comparison with the said first-tier hotels. 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. The high-class is often preferred by individual foreigners.
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 busy from Hanoi to HCMC and vice versa. Actually, for local travels, Vietnam Airlines, Jestar Pacific, Vietjet Air, SkyViet, Vietstar Airlines and Hai Au (Albatros) are the six operating players. All these airlines use French or American 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. It is expected that from 2016 onwards, Vietnam shall have another type of public transport, tramways (including skytrain and subway) to be put into use in two major cities, Hanoi and HCMC.
Media and Communications
The international communications system (telephone, telefax and telex) and internet infrastructure (broad band, optical cable, Wi-Fi) have been frequently upgraded so as to respond the increasing market demand. Also, electronic communications including Wi-Fi spot are quite common, standard and at reasonable cost, even Wi-Fi-free areas in Vietnam, especially in urban and industrial areas.
English-language newspapers, including online versions, are well available in Vietnam at present. The Vietnam News Agency publishes daily the English-language Vietnam News newspaper. In addition, there are a number of 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. A number of other business magazines, published in neighboring countries, are also available.
The official Voice and Television of Vietnam broadcast news in English and other widely-used language, for instance, French. TV and Radio programs broadcast by foreign stations such as CNN, BCC, Australia Network, TV5, DW, Russia-1, NHK, KBS, etc. are also available.