Rugby School Hanoi Opens as Vietnam's First Great Nine Campus

Rugby School Hanoi has opened its doors to its first pre-preparatory pupils this month at a purpose-built campus in Ciputra, the diplomatically active township on the northern fringe of the city, according to Tes, marking Vietnam's first encounter with any school in the Great Nine grouping of England's oldest independent institutions.

The school is the ninth in Rugby School Global and the group's fifth international location, joining campuses in Thailand, Japan, Nigeria and Dubai. The Ciputra opening is phased: the current intake covers Early Years to Year 2, with full prep and senior provision planned from September 2027. Senior students will follow the British curriculum through IGCSE before completing the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in Years 12 and 13. An optional German academic stream, supported by Germany's Central Agency for Schools Abroad, is embedded from the outset, a feature unusual in the region and one that signals an interest in multilingual families rather than a single expat nationality.

A market growing fast

Vietnam's international school sector has expanded sharply in recent years. The number of schools nationally has grown from 292 in 2020 to 362 by 2026, a 24 percent increase, while teacher numbers have risen from roughly 11,000 to more than 15,000 over the same period. Ciputra is Hanoi's most established catchment for foreign-passport families, clustered around compound estates near West Lake, and has hosted British-curriculum operators for more than a decade. Both segments of demand, expatriate families on corporate or diplomatic postings and the growing pool of affluent Vietnamese families seeking an English-medium education, are active in the precinct.

Rugby is not the only prestigious British school to have made its Hanoi debut this September. Uppingham School, founded in 1584, welcomed its founding students to a 4.7-hectare campus at Ecopark in Hung Yen Province on 7 September. The near-simultaneous opening of two schools drawn from England's top tier of independent education in the same regional market represents a notable shift in how elite British operators are reading Vietnam's demand curve.

Partnership and purpose

The Hanoi campus is being developed in partnership with Khai Sang Corporation. Dr Neil Hampton, CEO of Rugby School Global, described the school's aim as cultivating "young people of character, integrity and compassion, preparing them not only for academic distinction but for lives of meaning, responsibility and service." The school's founding philosophy, which Rugby calls "Whole Person Whole Point," has been adapted across each of its international campuses since the group began its overseas expansion.

No founding-year tuition fees have been published. Boarding, the defining feature of Rugby's UK campus, is not part of the Hanoi offering during the initial phases. Full prep and senior provision, subject to Vietnamese licencing timelines, is expected in September 2027.