Australian International School Saigon vs European International School Ho Chi Minh City
🇻🇳 Ho Chi Minh City · Side-by-side comparison on verifiable public data.
Reviewed by Priscilla Han
Which should you choose?
Both run IB, so the difference is inspection rating, boarding, and fees rather than the curriculum itself; Australian International School Saigon offers boarding while the other is day-only. The choice comes down to target curriculum, whether you need boarding, and budget — verify fees against each school's own figures.
Neither Australian International School Saigon nor European International School Ho Chi Minh City sits in a market with a public inspectorate, so both are assessed on verifiable accreditation, curriculum authorisation, and published data rather than an official quality rating. One practical difference: Australian International School Saigon offers boarding while the other is day-only — decisive for families who need a residential option. Verify current fees against each school's own figures (see the table below).
Key Facts
| Australian International School Saigon | European International School Ho Chi Minh City | |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | IB / British | IB |
| Ages | 18 months-18 years | 2-18 |
| Languages of instruction | English | English |
| Annual fees | VND 295,600,000-860,700,000 / year (2025/26) | 291,200,000-817,900,000 VND/year (2025/2026) |
| Enrollment | — | 735 |
| Boarding | Yes | Day only |
| Accreditations | CIS, IB, Cambridge International, NEASC | Council of International Schools (CIS), International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO), Accrediting Commission for Schools (ACS WASC) |
Strengths
- ✓Recognised accreditation stack: CIS, IB (PYP + DP), Cambridge International and NEASC.
- ✓Coherent international pathway from IB PYP through Cambridge IGCSE to the IB Diploma.
- ✓Only international school in HCMC offering secondary boarding (Years 7-13), per the school.
- ✓Documented compulsory EAL programme supporting non-native English speakers.
- ✓Backed by Inspired Education Group, a global operator of 120+ premium schools.
- ✓Full IB continuum (PYP, MYP, DP) — uncommon completeness for the Vietnam market
- ✓Full CIS accreditation plus IB World School authorization (and referenced ACS WASC accreditation)
- ✓Published 2025 IB Diploma results: average 35 points and a 100% pass rate
- ✓Multilingual provision including a bilingual IBDP and German/French/Spanish/Korean/Vietnamese options
- ✓Backed by the global Inspired Education Group, with a highly international community (40+ nationalities)
Trade-offs
- !No independent graded inspection report (Vietnam lacks a domestic graded inspectorate), so external quality is membership-based, not rated.
- !'Australian' branding can mislead — it teaches IB/Cambridge, not the Australian state curriculum.
- !No IB Middle Years Programme; the middle years rely on Cambridge instead of a continuous IB continuum.
- !AIS-specific enrolment figures are not published, limiting size/community transparency.
- !No independent graded inspection of teaching, pastoral care or wellbeing (no domestic inspectorate in Vietnam)
- !Premium fee level (up to ~817.9M VND/year), placing it at the higher end of the local market
- !Boutique single-campus scale limits breadth of cohort, facilities and senior-school subject options versus the largest HCMC schools
- !Founding-year and some pastoral/operational details are not independently documented
Best Fit For
- • Families wanting an IB Diploma exit with a Cambridge IGCSE middle-school route.
- • Secondary families needing boarding within Ho Chi Minh City.
- • Non-native English speakers who would benefit from a structured EAL programme.
- • Early-years and primary families seeking an IB PYP start (Thao Dien or Thu Thiem).
- • Internationally mobile families wanting an unbroken IB pathway from toddler to Grade 12
- • Families seeking a small, boutique-scale community over a large campus
- • Multilingual households interested in a bilingual IBDP or additional-language provision
- • Expatriate families based in or near the Thao Dien district of Ho Chi Minh City
University Placement
School-reported · not independently verified
School-reported, unverified: a 2025 IB Diploma average of 34.5 (above the global average of ~30), 100% IGCSE/IBDP pass rates, 77% earning a Bilingual IB Diploma, and a 100% university acceptance rate.
School-reported, unverified: the school states students gain IB scores above the global average and that a high share attend their first-choice university, citing Inspired-wide figures; no independent verification of named university destinations is available.
More Comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose Australian International School Saigon or European International School Ho Chi Minh City?
Australian International School Saigon is best for: Families wanting an IB Diploma exit with a Cambridge IGCSE middle-school route.. European International School Ho Chi Minh City is best for: Internationally mobile families wanting an unbroken IB pathway from toddler to Grade 12. The right choice depends on target curriculum, budget, and family priorities — the two are not linearly comparable.
How do fees compare between Australian International School Saigon and European International School Ho Chi Minh City?
Australian International School Saigon: VND 295,600,000-860,700,000 / year (2025/26). European International School Ho Chi Minh City: 291,200,000-817,900,000 VND/year (2025/2026). Verify against each school's own published fees; some figures are sourced from third-party aggregators.
What curricula do Australian International School Saigon and European International School Ho Chi Minh City offer?
Australian International School Saigon: IB, British. European International School Ho Chi Minh City: IB.
Do Australian International School Saigon or European International School Ho Chi Minh City offer boarding?
Australian International School Saigon: offers boarding. European International School Ho Chi Minh City: day school only.
Questions parents ask
This comparison is BrightKey's independent assessment using verifiable public data only. University-placement figures are school-reported and not independently verified. BrightKey takes no payments from schools. Our method →