Vietnam National University, Hanoi, was founded in 1906 and is a direct descendant of the colonial-era Universite de Indochinie.

Along with Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, it is "one of two leading multidisciplinary and multisectoral universities, tasked with producing highly qualified human resources for the rest of the country." They operate differently from the rest of Vietnam’s higher education, reporting directly to the prime minister, rather than to the education minister, and have greater autonomy.

Vietnam National University, Hanoi, took its current name and shape in 1993 with the merger of the University of Hanoi, the College of Foreign Languages and Hanoi National Union of Education. It is divided into 12 sub-sections called universities, plus two specialist schools for pupils with exceptional gifts in languages and the natural sciences.

It has the motto "Experience through Knowledge" and a vision that it is "expected to be one of the leading interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary research universities in the world, which can contribute to national industrialization and modernization."

The university is based across six campuses, the largest in Xuan Thuy.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology is Vietnam’s oldest and largest technical university having been founded in 1956. It was founded in buildings previously used by Indochina (now Vietnam National) University, and gave birth to the Universities of Civil Engineering and of Mining and Geology.

Five of its presidents have also been minister or deputy minister of education and/or science. Although it rebranded to the English name of Hanoi University of Science and Technology in 2010, it has still retained its Vietnamese name Dai Hoc Bach khoa Ha Noi, and the French Institut Polytechnique de Hanoi.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology

Describing itself as "a multidisciplinary research university in which scientific research is the main force" it declares a "commitment to human development, high-quality workforce training, scientific research, technological innovation and knowledge transfer that serves our country and global society."

Admission is highly competitive, with 33,000 students bidding for 6,680 places in June 2019. The strongest students benefit from the Elitech scheme, which includes the 5-year Excellent Engineer Training Programmes leading to a French CTI diploma.

The university has identified eight multidisciplinary research strengths including food technology, dynamic engineering and biotechnology and life sciences. It has eight National Key Laboratories and ranked second in the Nature Index for Vietnam for 2018-9.

The 14 research centers include the International Institute for Materials Science founded in 1992, which was incorporated into the university in 2004, and the Centre for Rubber Science and Technology formed in 2015.