International School Ho Chi Minh City (ISHCMC)

The short version

The short version

ISHCMC opened in 1993 as the International Grammar School in District 3 — Ho Chi Minh City’s first international school — and became Vietnam’s first IB World School, authorised for the Diploma Programme in 1998.

Today it teaches the full IB continuum (PYP, MYP, DP) to roughly 1,500 students from over 60 nationalities across a primary campus in An Phu and a secondary campus in Thao Dien, both in Thu Duc City. It has been part of the for-profit Cognita group since 2011 and is accredited by CIS and NEASC.↗↗

For a relocating family, the practical summary is this: ISHCMC is the pure-IB answer in HCMC — the only school in the city where a child can travel the full PYP-to-DP continuum on one ticket, with inclusive admissions and an all-inclusive fee model.

The trade-offs are the city’s highest listed tuition (approaching VND 1 billion in the Diploma years) and a capital-fee structure — the ADF or the Certificate of Entitlement — that you need to model before signing anything.

What the school is

The pioneer, now inside a global group

The milestones are the school’s identity: founded 1993, renamed and moved to District 2 in 1997, IB Diploma authorisation in 1998, first IB graduating class in 2000, CIS accreditation (as ECIS) in 1999 and NEASC accreditation in 2008.

It joined the Cognita Schools Group in 2011 — a UK-headquartered for-profit operator that also runs the International School of Saigon Pearl and ISHCMC American Academy in Vietnam.↗

The two-campus structure is recent and deliberate: the Primary Campus at 28 Vo Truong Toan Street, An Phu (Early Years to Grade 5) and a Secondary Campus at 1 Xuan Thuy Street, Thao Dien (Grades 6–12), opened in 2017/18 with a 350-seat theatre, rooftop sports field and NBA-size basketball court.

The school reports 700-plus primary and 800-plus secondary students.↗↗

Like every foreign-invested school teaching a foreign programme in Vietnam, ISHCMC operates under Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, which caps Vietnamese-citizen enrolment at just under 50% of the roll. Its 60-plus nationality community exists inside that legal frame — relevant if you are a Vietnamese-passport family competing for quota places.↗

Academics in practice

The full continuum, three exit pathways

ISHCMC is one of only two schools in HCMC offering all three IB programmes, which means no curriculum break at age 11 or 16 — a real advantage for families who know they want the Diploma but dislike mid-school transitions.

In Grades 11–12 students choose between three pathways: the ISHCMC High School Diploma, IB Courses (selected IBDP subjects plus the High School Diploma), or the full IB Diploma, across 34-plus course options and 15 languages with a self-taught option.↗↗

School and operator publications report a consistent IB average of 34 points against a global average around 30, a 98% pass rate for the Class of 2025, 98% of graduates accepted to top-choice universities, and a 57% bilingual-diploma rate against 23% globally.

Marketing materials cite USD 56 million in scholarships for the Class of 2025 and 2,080 offers for the Class of 2026. These are school-published figures — ask for the underlying cohort data, but the multi-year 34-point average is at least consistent across sources.↗↗

Two positioning notes: the school describes itself as inclusive and non-selective — unusual for a school posting a 34-point IB average, and worth probing (is the average high because of support, or because weaker candidates are guided to the Courses pathway?). It was also named a 2025 Apple Distinguished School.↗

Admissions and cost

The ADF-versus-COE choice, decoded

For 2026/27, annual tuition runs VND 287.4 million (age 2, half day) through VND 702.4 million (Grades 1–2) and VND 769.6 million (Grade 5) to VND 987.8 million (Grades 11–12) — the highest listed tuition in the city — plus a VND 25 million one-time admission fee.

The 2025/26 range was VND 681.9–959 million, a rise of about 3%.↗↗

On top of tuition, entry to Grades 1–12 requires choosing one of two capital charges: an Annual Development Fee of VND 67.5 million per year, or a one-time Certificate of Entitlement of VND 337.5 million — exactly five years of ADF.

The breakeven is therefore simple arithmetic: if you expect to stay five years or more, the COE costs less in nominal terms; shorter postings favour the ADF.

What we could not confirm from current documents is whether the COE is refundable or transferable on leaving — historically it behaved like a debenture, and you should get the current terms in writing before paying it.↗

The fee model has one genuinely family-friendly feature: tuition is all-inclusive, covering uniforms, field trips and individual devices — items most HCMC schools bill separately. Sibling discounts apply for non-corporate payers (20% on tuition for a third child, 35% for a fourth, applied to the youngest).

Model the true cost as tuition + ADF/COE amortised + admission fee, and compare like-for-like with BIS’s tuition + registration fee.↗↗

The family experience

Two campuses in the Thao Dien orbit

Both campuses sit in Thu Duc City’s expat core — the primary in An Phu, the secondary about 5 km away in Thao Dien — surrounded by the city’s densest concentration of international schools, cafés and family services.

Families with children on both campuses should map the two-site drop-off; families living across the river should test the morning commute, which is the single most-reported quality-of-life variable in HCMC school life. The school year runs August to June.↗

Community texture reflects the IB continuum: a strongly international, mobile parent body, heavy co-curricular programming (95-plus activities, a performing-arts academy), and a school culture that leans into wellbeing and mindfulness alongside results.

Families arriving from exam-driven British systems should ask how the inquiry-based PYP/MYP years prepare children for external assessment — the Diploma is the first high-stakes exam an ISHCMC lifer meets.

Take these to the school

Questions that move beyond the tour script