Uppingham Hung Yen Welcomes Founding Students at Vietnam's Newest British Campus

Uppingham School Hung Yen held its orientation day on 7 September, welcoming founding students and families to the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year at a 4.7-hectare campus in Ecopark, the private township in Hung Yen Province roughly 30 kilometres south-east of central Hanoi, according to the school's announcement.

The campus is Uppingham's first in Asia and its second international location overall, following Uppingham Cairo, which opened in Egypt in 2024. The school was developed in partnership with Viet Capital Education, the education subsidiary of Viet Capital Asset Management, which has described the Hung Yen investment as the beginning of a longer commitment to establishing what it calls "world-class campuses that unite holistic learning, nature, community and opportunity" in Vietnam. The curriculum follows the UK national programme, progressing through iGCSEs and A Levels.

Built for an affluent-local catchment

Ecopark is not a diplomatic enclave. The township was developed primarily for Vietnam's upper-middle and affluent-local residential market, which means the school's long-term enrollment model depends more heavily on Vietnamese families than the compound estates of central Hanoi do. At 2,000 pupils at capacity, that dependency is structural, not incidental. It puts Uppingham Hung Yen in the same position as many other British-heritage operators across Southeast Asia: betting on affluent local demand to sustain enrollment once the founding expat cohort matures.

Uppingham Vietnam's founding headmistress joined a panel discussion at the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference earlier in 2026, before the school had formally opened its doors. It is an unusual platform for an incoming leader, and suggests that the UK independent school sector is treating Vietnam's regulatory and commercial environment as a case study worth scrutinising at a senior level.

A strategic opening

The partnership was announced in November 2025, shortly after the UK and Vietnam formalised a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. British Ambassador Iain Frew attended the signing, noting that "education has always been central to this partnership." Uppingham headmaster Dr Richard Maloney described the move as bringing the school's "heritage of academic and personal development to Vietnam, a country that deeply values learning."

Campus facilities include a sports complex, performing arts centre, advanced laboratories and a modern library. No tuition figures for the founding year have been formally published. Rugby School Hanoi, the other major British school to open in northern Vietnam this month, launched its own pre-preparatory intake in Ciputra this week, adding a second prestigious British brand to the Hanoi market in the space of days.