European International School Ho Chi Minh City vs Saigon South International School
🇻🇳 Ho Chi Minh City · Side-by-side comparison on verifiable public data.
Neither European International School Ho Chi Minh City nor Saigon South International School 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. On cost, Saigon South International School has the noticeably lower entry fee — a material difference for budget-conscious families. See the table below for the figures, and verify against each school's own published fees.
Key Facts
| European International School Ho Chi Minh City | Saigon South International School | |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | IB | American / IB |
| Ages | 2-18 | 3-18 (EC 3 - Grade 12) |
| Languages of instruction | English | English |
| Annual fees | 291,200,000-817,900,000 VND/year (2025/2026) | 2026-2027 annual tuition (VND, pay-in-installments): EC3-4 530,192,000; Kindergarten 603,200,000; Grades 1-5 730,808,000; Grades 6-8 782,687,000; Grades 9-10 832,426,000; Grades 11-12 924,546,000 (6% discount for full prepayment) |
| Enrollment | 735 | 1,550 |
| Boarding | Day only | Day only |
| Accreditations | Council of International Schools (CIS), International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO), Accrediting Commission for Schools (ACS WASC) | WASC, CIS |
Strengths
- ✓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)
- ✓Only school in Ho Chi Minh City offering both the IB Diploma Programme and Advanced Placement, per the school's own academics pages.
- ✓Full WASC accreditation combined with CIS membership and IB Diploma authorization — a deep, independently verifiable credential stack.
- ✓Long-established not-for-profit (founded 1997), so tuition is reinvested rather than distributed to owners.
- ✓Strong pastoral resourcing: eight counselors plus a dedicated school psychologist and per-division support services.
- ✓Full EC3-to-Grade-12 continuity on a large six-hectare campus with an experienced faculty averaging 17 years.
Trade-offs
- !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
- !No published IB average score or AP results, making academic outcomes hard to benchmark objectively.
- !No domestic graded inspection report exists for Vietnam, so external quality assurance relies entirely on accreditation cycles.
- !Among the higher-fee international schools in the city, with Grade 11-12 annual tuition exceeding VND 900 million.
- !Authorized for the IB Diploma only — families seeking a continuous IB PYP/MYP pathway will not find it here.
Best Fit For
- • 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
- • Families wanting both AP and IB Diploma options under one roof for the senior years.
- • Students seeking a US-style college-preparatory pathway to global universities.
- • Expatriate and internationally mobile families valuing WASC/CIS-accredited continuity from age 3.
- • Families prioritizing a not-for-profit school with strong counseling and wellbeing support.
University Placement
School-reported · not independently verified
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.
School-reported, unverified: SSIS states a '100% university acceptance' rate with a Class of 2026 acceptance list spanning universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Australia/New Zealand, and Asia.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Should I choose European International School Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon South International School?
European International School Ho Chi Minh City is best for: Internationally mobile families wanting an unbroken IB pathway from toddler to Grade 12. Saigon South International School is best for: Families wanting both AP and IB Diploma options under one roof for the senior years.. The right choice depends on target curriculum, budget, and family priorities — the two are not linearly comparable.
How do fees compare between European International School Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon South International School?
European International School Ho Chi Minh City: 291,200,000-817,900,000 VND/year (2025/2026). Saigon South International School: 2026-2027 annual tuition (VND, pay-in-installments): EC3-4 530,192,000; Kindergarten 603,200,000; Grades 1-5 730,808,000; Grades 6-8 782,687,000; Grades 9-10 832,426,000; Grades 11-12 924,546,000 (6% discount for full prepayment). Verify against each school's own published fees; some figures are sourced from third-party aggregators.
What curricula do European International School Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon South International School offer?
European International School Ho Chi Minh City: IB. Saigon South International School: American, IB.
Do European International School Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon South International School offer boarding?
European International School Ho Chi Minh City: day school only. Saigon South International School: 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 →