VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the big economic difficulties, Vietnamese families still allocate big budgets for their children’s study. This has made the educational service sector so lucrative that everyone wants a share in it.

Though the new academic year will only start in August 2013, Vinschool in Vincom Village, a nursery school, had been full by June 2013 with the first 300 students enrolled. Meanwhile, Vinschool in Times City has been scheduled to open at the end of the year, but the seats here have been nearly full reserved.

Vinschool is the fifth brand, the one in the educational sector, of the powerful Vingroup, well known as a big guy in the real estate sector.

The powerful laymen

According to Vingroup, it would not only develop nursery schools. Primary, secondary and high schools would be built in 2014 and 2015.

If everything goes smoothly, Vinschool would begin enrolling children for pre-school education from 2013-2014, while the enrolment of students for primary, secondary schools from 2014-2015, and for high schools from 2015-2016.

In June 2013, FPT, known as the Vietnamese leading technology group, announced it has completed the enrolment of students for its newly set up boarding high school.

In its first academic year, FPT received 400 applications from the students in Hanoi and neighboring localities, though the school only has 150 seats.

Prior to that, in 2011, SSG, a multi-filed group began pouring money into the educational service sector when establishing the international school chain Wellspring, where students follow Cambridge curriculum in both Vietnamese and English.

Vingroup, FPT and SSG are all the “new comers” in the educational sector, but they are all the big guys in other business fields with the powerful financial capability. Therefore, they could be the redoubtable rivals to any existing in Vietnam.

The schools for the rich

The big investors target the students from well off families when offering perfect learning conditions and set up sky high tuitions.

Vinschool has promised that the students of the school would enjoy the time at the school in a fresh atmosphere with greenery. Vinschool is located in one of the best ecological urban areas in Vietnam – Vincom Village.

The tuition here is VND3.7 million a month.

Meanwhile, FPT High School, which promises the intensive English and information technology teaching, sets up the tuition of VND8 million a month on average.

SSG’s Wellspring, located in Gia Lam district in Hanoi, built with the investment capital of VND338 billion, began operation in 2011 already, gathering 3,000 students. The school has modern classrooms, a swimming pool, football playing field, basketball field, indoors sports complex, standard laboratories and libraries.

Of course, the tuitions set up by the schools are also very high, VND93 million per annum for primary school students, VND107 million for secondary school, and VND123.4 million for high school students.

SSG now gears up for its new project – Wellspring Saigon with the estimated investment capital of VND400 billion.

Analysts believe that with their great power, the conglomerates could be the big rivals to the foreign invested enterprises which now run 20 school and 34 pre-school education establishments, each of which has the investment capital of $2.8 million.

Doanh Nhan