The main gate of the university on Thang Long Avenue, around 30 km from the center of Hanoi.
Hoa Lac serves multiple purposes: it's a talent training center, a technological transference center, an innovation center, a smart university urban area, and a center for public-private cooperation, education and research.
The HT1 and HT2 buildings have a floor area of 35,000 m2 and are equipped with accompanying modern technical infrastructures. They include some of the facility's largest and most-used auditoriums, which host a feast of education and research events. Other major university activities will also be conducted in these spaces.
Eight roads, water features and a bevy of transportation infrastructures allow 6,000 students and thousands of other staff, teachers and scientists to study, teach and work at the facility.
Students from the VNU University of Engineering and Technology study at a laboratory. Photo courtesy of VNU
VNU Hanoi director Le Quan said the 6,000 students studying at Hoa Lac this year hail from eight different schools and departments, along with the entire 10th grade class of the capital city's High School of Education Sciences.
Laboratories at the Hoa Lac facility are all equipped with the newest and most modern equipment for both students and researchers. This is one of the most significant factors contributing to the school being listed as one of Asia's top 100 schools. Advocates hope the facility will reach the top 500 globally by 2025.
Students read at the Library and Digital Knowledge Center. An employee in the background digitizes documents for the center using technology and applications developed by the center.
The center will eventually have four locations in Hoa Lac, while three of them are already in use. Over the past 10 years, the center has digitized over 316,000 courses, documents and books.
Students learn how to play golf at the school. Via Hoa Lac, VNU Hanoi is the first public university in Vietnam to make golf an official curriculum option for physical education subjects.
Phung Hoai Nam, who teaches Theory and Personal Sports, said the subject has been taught at VNU in Hanoi since 2021, but there has not been a proper venue for it until now. Since the second semester of last year, when such classes moved to the open-air spaces of Hoa Lac, hundreds of students have begun signing up for them.
Students at an archery class. The sport is one of the subjects expected to be a physical education option for students in the future.
Director Quan said diversifying physical education subjects, as well as opening up to other educational experiences, is part of the school's overall education plan.
Students at the University of Engineering and Technology live and study at VNU dorms. This year, over 700 first-year students live in the school's dorms, each room hosting eight people.
Bui Nguyen Gia Bao (2nd from R), from Thanh Hoa Province, said he initially felt a bit disappointed because he thought he would be studying in historic Hanoi's downtown area.
"But when I came to Hoa Lac, I've had some very exciting experiences, like walking at least 1-2 km around the school grounds every day," he said.
A cafeteria at the facility.
VNU in Hanoi has nine member universities, two schools and two departments operating under it, as well as six research institutions and other centers for education and research. There are around 40,000 students studying at the university in total.
The Hoa Lac facility's first phase of infrastructure construction is expected to be completed by 2025, allowing 15,000 students to study there.
