The Chinese Confucian educational system was used until around 1954 when Vietnam was divided.  At this point, South Vietnam used the United States' system, while the North had mass education and trained with a basis on theories by Karl Marx and Vladmir Lenin.  The purpose of the North's system was to train people for existence in a Communist society.

In 1975, Vietnam was reunified and the Communist system spread throughout the country.  In spite of this, education and training in technology is considered to be as important as that of teaching Communist ideals.

Before 1954, literacy was very poor, but after revamping the educational system, literacy is now at 94% with people 15 and over.   Almost all children receive primary education, which is free and compulsory for the first five years, but less than half of those children go on to receive the secondary education.  The reason for this is because adequate facilities are not to be found, especially in the mountainous areas.

Higher education, as can be seen, is not common in Vietnam.  In 1995, only 5% of college-age people were expected to get higher education, but there are some major universities to be found in the larger cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hue to name a  few.