The world is coming to DNU.

Do you need to travel thousands of kilometers to study in an international environment? Probably not, because the world is starting to come to Dai Nam University (DNU).

In 2025, more than 200 Indian students came to Vietnam, choosing Dai Nam University to study medicine entirely in English.

Students from India and Bhutan choose DNU to study medicine in English.

In 2026, DNU will continue to welcome 200 medical students from India and Bhutan for their second cohort of studies. Also this year, 100 Chinese students will come to Dai Nam University to study programs taught in Vietnamese.

Besides international students studying long-term, DNU also welcomes Japanese and American students to Vietnam for internships, creating more opportunities for Dai Nam University students to meet, interact, and work with friends from different cultures.

Thus, there will be approximately 500 international students studying alongside Vietnamese students on the DNU campus. However, the important thing is not the number 500. The crucial question is, what will Vietnamese students gain from this change?

LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS NOT JUST IN THE CLASSROOM.

Imagine the life of a DNU student: mornings spent in lectures, afternoons playing sports, going to the gym, or joining clubs with international friends. Evenings returning to the dormitory, perhaps living in the same area, sharing daily life and conversations with friends from India, Bhutan, China, Japan, and more.

Making more international friends means more opportunities for foreign languages and intercultural communication to become a part of university life.

You help an Indian friend with a few Vietnamese sentences, and that friend corrects you on how to speak English more naturally. You learn a few Chinese phrases from a Chinese friend. In internship and international exchange programs, Dai Nam University students can also chat, work, and share experiences with friends from Japan and the United States.

Then, sharing a meal together, they talk about family, hometown, music, food, lifestyle, and what each person believes is important. Foreign languages are no longer just a subject but become a part of daily life. Culture is no longer confined to books. You begin to understand that someone from another country may think, communicate, and perceive things very differently from you. Learning to live with differences is also a skill for young people in the 21st century.

INTERNATIONALIZATION IS NOT JUST FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS

A marketing student could work with a Chinese friend to learn about consumer behavior in both countries. An e-commerce student could consider a cross-border sales project. A logistics student could begin to understand the flow of goods between Vietnam, China, and India. A tourism student could immediately make international friends to understand what foreign tourists truly need. A language student would have an additional environment to practice. Students in information technology, engineering, finance, banking, or communications could learn how to work with people who are different from them in language and culture.

Not all students are naturally endowed with those advantages. Opportunities only become capabilities when students proactively step outside their familiar group.

Therefore, what DNU needs to do is not just bring international students onto the same campus, but also create as many opportunities as possible for Vietnamese and international students to live, study, play, and work together. That is what meaningful internationalization is all about.

AT THE END OF YOUR UNIVERSITY JOURNEY, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TAKE WITH YOU WHEN YOU LEAVE THE CAMPUS?

A diploma?

DNU wants more than that: a real job, a usable foreign language, the ability to use AI, real-world business projects and experiences, friends from many countries, and the ability to communicate and work with people different from themselves.

And most importantly, the ability to learn independently, adapt, and stand on one's own two feet in a world that is changing every day.

To step out into the world, sometimes you don't necessarily have to go far. Because the world is coming to DNU.

That is also the spirit of the changes that DNU is pursuing: REAL COMPETENCE - A SOLID LIFE.

500 international students don't make DNU an international university. But when Vietnamese and international students truly study together, live together, understand each other's languages and cultures, and do meaningful things together, a truly international university environment begins to take shape.

And sometimes, to begin venturing out into the world, you don't necessarily have to go very far.

Because the world is coming to DNU.