Survey about Vietnam university lifestyle

Research Methods

We conducted both the quantitative and qualitative researches to Vietnamese

university students to research their trend and insight.

Quantitative research

university students in HCM

and Hanoi

Home Visits・

Individual interview

1000

Students

15

Students

30

Students

Interview couples on the

street

30

Students

Diary study (things to eat/things

to buy)

Vietnamese University Student’s"Living"

Living Environment of University Students

Family home/

live with relatives

47%

Room mate/

student dorm/live

alone 53%

Rent a room, 66%

Student dorm, 17%

Apartment, 6%

Room mates, 61%

Live alone, 18%

Brother/Sisters,

17%

Others, 4%

Home environment Housing types

(except family home)

Students who live with

（except family home）

Living Environment of University Students

Housing cost of student dorm is about 300,000 VND/person.

Housing cost of sharing apartment is from 1M VND/person.

4 people/room

1,500,000 VND/person

8 people/room

350,000 VND/person

2 people/room

1,750,000 VND/person

1 person/room

2,000,000 VND/person

4 people/room

1,500,000 VND/person

Characteristics of VN University Student’s housing

(Living with roommates)

Characteristics of VN University Student’s housing

(Living with roommates)

Sleep on a mattress on the

floor, no bed.

When a friend visits, chat on

the mattress. This mattress

is for two people to sleep.

Shared kitchen. Many students

use portable stove.

Place to study is on folding table.

The diffusion of smartphone and

PC is high.

Characteristics of VN University Student’s housing (Living

in student dorm)

Characteristics of VN University Student’s Housing (Living

in student dorm)

There is no kitchen, so a

corner of a room is

temporary kitchen. Rice

cooker is only kitchen

appliance there.

No hot water is available.

Shared washer machines

are available for a fee, but it

is common to do the

laundry by hand.

There is private space only on the bed. Huge

animal stuffs occupies the space.

8 people/room. Plain and simple except bed

and desk.

Characteristics of University Student’s Housing:

Little Privacy

They basically have a personal space only on the bed in both shared

room, and student dorm.

Characteristics of University Student’s housing:

The modest sink/basin area

Kitchen is shared. They do laundry and dishes in bath room. They

do laundry with plastic water tub. They cook at shared kitchen or in

their room with portable stove.

The percentage of students who own PC and smartphone is pretty high, and for

anytime use, every single room has been equipped internet. Internet is necessary

for killing time, communication, and study.

Characteristics of University Student’s housing:

Internet usage is essential

Things there are where university students in Japan live, but not in Vietnam.

Things there are where university students in Vietnam live, but not in Japan.

Air

conditioner

Washer

machine TV Closet Microwave

Electric fan

Plastic water

tub

Portable

Closet Wet mop Animal stuff

Characteristics of University Student’s housing:

Difference between Vietnam and Japan

Vietnamese University Student’s"Food/Drink"

Diet of University Students

Typical cost of food/drink for students who live without family is between 2M~3M VND. The percentage

of eating out for breakfast is high, and they tend to try to save money by cook themselves. In the case

of students who live in family home, they do not need to pay any when they eat out with family, so

spending is less. (But they eat a good meal.)

52%

81%88%

48%

19%12%

Breakfast Lunch Dinner

Live with family

Eat at home

Eat outside

37%

63%73%

63%

37%27%

Live without family

Eat outside

Cook and eat at home

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Example of Diet of University Students: Weekdays

Male

7:30: Banh Mi(10K) 11:20: Buy Instant noodle at

Ministop(20K)

17:20: Buy POKARI

SWEAT at Ministop(9k)

19:55: Chicken set meal at

local diner(31K)

Female

6:30: Milk(6K) 12:00: Noodle with soup

at dining room near by

school(25K)

17:00: Cook instant noodle

herself at home(8k)

Diet with a focus on Vietnamese food. Students try to eat modest meals as much cost as

around 50,000 VND/day on weekdays.

20:30: Milk(6K)

Example of Diet of University Students: Weekends

Male (Day of dating)

9:40: Noodle with

crab(25K)9:40: Soy milk(15K) 12:00: Korean Ice

cream(80K)13:00: Chicken hotpot

（180K-2people）19:00: Beef soup(Cook by

himself)

Diet on weekends is sumptuous. Many students eat ice cream and go to café. In case of

students live with family, some parents pay all cost of food and drink students spend.

Female

7:00:Eating out(23K) 12:00: Vietnamese

restaurant(100K)

9:30: Soy milk with family 14:00: Snack. Buy at

Big C

19:00: Dinner with a

friend（200K)20:00: Pudding at

convenience store.

Characteristics of University Student‘s diet

Most foods they eat are Vietnamese Noodle・Noodle・Noodle

Students especially who live without family eat

noodles very often both home and outside.

They often eat instant noodles, but also often

eat noodles without any toppings or with only

chill sauce.

Some cases that many people eat hotpot

together have been seen, but 80%~90% of

meals students have are Vietnamese. Some

exceptions on weekdays are steak for lunch.

Eating Japanese foods are really rare case.

Characteristics of University Student‘s diet

Snacks for nutrition and filling Use of reasonable and youth-

oriented CafeReasonable and good atmosphere

cafe such as Highlands, The Coffee

house and Koi is popular. Biggest cafe

chain, Trung Nguye, tends to be

avoided? Students who live with family

prefer cafe chain, others prefer local

café.

Many students drink milk as light meal

and supplemental nutrition drink. Some

students also eat fruits between main

meals.

Cool students drink Budweiser?

Cases that especially wealthy students

drink western beer such as Budweiser

and Heineken are often seen. These

kind of beers are double cost of local

beers, but make students feel superior.

University Student’s Cooking Environment

(Students who live without family)

Kitchen is shared. It is often the case that there is not refrigerator. There is no

space to stock, so students have limited kitchen appliances.

Chicken stewed

Soup with tofe and

green onionNoodle with napa

cabbage and chervil

Noodle with vegetables and egg

Rice with boiled egg and winter

melon soup

University Student’s Cooking Environment

(Students who live without family): Ingeniousness of cooking

There is a case that kitchen is shared and there is not refrigerator, so students use limited

kitchen appliances to make ingeniously many kind of foods.

Chicken stewed

Soup with tofe and

green onionNoodle with napa

cabbage and chervil

Noodle with vegetables and egg

Rice with boiled egg and winter

melon soup

University Student’s Cooking Environment

(Students who live without family): Ingeniousness of cooking

There is a case that kitchen is shared and there is not refrigerator, so students use limited

kitchen appliances to make ingeniously many kind of foods.

Everything cooked by rice cooker

Vietnamese University Student’s"Fashion"

Fashion of University Students

Frequency of purchasing cloths is not low, but spending is not high; half students spend

less than 300,000 VND. It is cheap to spend money on per product.

21%

32%

17%

9%

4% 4%

9%

Spending for cloths/month

21%18%

11%13%

35%

2%

Frequency of buying cloths

Characteristics of University Student‘s fashion

Attach importance to cost

Low brand recognition（Use of fake） Use of reasonable fashion brand

Shoes＞Bag

Bag they bring is usually knapsack because of

convenience. It is often case that female students bring

non-brand pouch. On the other hand, as they start caring

about fashion, it is often case that they wear sports shoes

such as Nike.

Reasonable local fashion brands such as Yame and Juno

have dramatically been increased. These brands are

getting popular among fashionable students. Fast fashion

is most fashionable.

Since brand recognition is

low and they attach

importance to design, some

of them use many fake

products without knowing it

is actually fake.

They attach importance to cost more than anything. It is

mainstream to buy at the local market or store, but also use

of online store has increased. As they start caring about

fashion, they try to differentiate against others by design of

products rather than brand of products.

37%

17%

5%

Cost

Design

Brand

What do you attach importance to in regard to fashion?

Fashion of University Students: Normal

• Tops (200K)

• T-shirts (100K)

• Jeans (320K)

• Sandals: Adidas?(180K)

It is often case that guys wear sandals.

Adidas sandals are fake.

• T-shirts (50K)

• Jacket (200K)

• Jeans (170K)

• Sandals (110K)

All are purchased from local stores or

market. Jacket is necessary for sunburn

prevention.

Mix and match outfit with cheap cloths purchased from local store, market, and

supermarket.

• T-shirts (40K)

• Shorts (150K)

• Shoes (250K)

• Watch: Casio (500K)

All of them are purchased from local store

and flea market. Casio watch is not G-

shock.

Fashion of University Students: Fashionable

• Tops: Tu by CATU (Local) (300K)

• Shorts: Forever 21 (400K)

• Shoes: Adidas (1,500K)

• Watch: CK (1500K)

Mix and match outfit with fast fashion

brand and oversea purchase. She wears

revealing cloths.

• Tops: baby doll (170K)

• Bottoms: ZARA (200K)

She buys online at low cost and expands

collection of brand products.

A part of wealthy university students (top 10%) mix and match with fast fashion brand and

local fashion brand.

• Tops: Jan shop (Local) (180K)

• Pants: Fusionism (Local）(380K)

• Shoes: Nike (1,900K)

He gets more fashionable with favorite

Nike shoes.

Student’s Fashion Sensitivity

Students have an interest in fashion, but only a part of them spend certain amount on it.

Interest in fashion

Spending

This type of students wear fast

fashion cloths such as ZARA,

and accessories bought by

oversea purchase. They know

they are fashionable. Girls come

from rich family.

This type of students have an

interest in fashion, but they

don’t have enough money.

Brand recognition is low even

though a desire to learn is high.

They choose unique fashion

products. In regard to

cosmetics, quantity is more

important than quality. They like

SNS and internet.

This type of students

mix and match in their

own way, but interest

in fashion is low. They

choose and buy cheap

products from local

market, and store.

Non existence

Vietnamese University Student’s"Dating"

First Meeting Somebody University Students Date with

It is common that first meeting with somebody students date with is at school,

but about 30% of them meet on the internet or SNS.

Q：Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend? （N＝1001)

36%

56%

8%

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Yes, I have a girlfriend/boyfriend

No, I don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend

I refuse to answer

54%

20%

10% 11% 9% 7% 5% 2% 2% 3%

First meeting with somebody you date with

Student’s Date Plan: Japan

10:00 Meet up at Shibuya

12:00 Lunch at Italian

restaurant

13:30 Theater

16:00 Window-shopping

19:00 Dinner at Japanese bar

restaurant

22:00 Dismiss in Shibuya

Cost/day：About 2M

VND

Student’s Date Plan: Vietnam

11:30 Pick up at girl friend’s

home

12:00 Lunch at the local street food

13:00 Café in 1st district

15:00 Theater

20:00 Take a walk/Dinner

22:00 Drop off at girl friend’s home

Cost/day:50,000 – 200,000 VND

Characteristics of University Student‘s Dating

22%20%

12%

10% 9%

6% 5%4% 3% 3% 3% 3%

Where do you often go on a date？

Theater + Café is classic date plan.

Cost of date is 50,000-20,000 VND. Date plan

includes non-cost activities such as “take a walk,”

and “park.”

Who you are with is more important than what

you do.

Guys pick up and drop off their girl friend. Guys

pay 70% of all cost.

Messaging: several hours/day

Difference of Gift for Girl Friend between Vietnam and Japan

Feelings expressed through price

PRADA wallet

Feeling is more important than price.

Daniel Wellington watch

Disney resort hotel

stay

Animal stuffs Flower bouquet

Handmade

photo album

Cost is about 100,000 VND

Interview Student’s Couples on the Street

• Dating period: 2months

• Went to same high school

• Dating 3-4times/week

• Usual dating plan: Theater

• Anniversary: Trip to Vung tau

• Dating period: 5months

• Went to same high school

• Dating 1-2times/week

• Usual dating plan: Drink milk

tea and take a walk

• Wear matching colors when

dating

• Because they can only meet

2 times a week, they

message each other on

Facebook for five hours

everyday

• Dating period: 2months

• Go to same university

• Meet everyday

• Usual dating plan: watch

movie and take a walk

• Go to see her everyday even

though he has a part time job

Vietnamese University Student’s"Digital life"

Student‘s Smartphone: Almost all of the Students have

29%27%

9% 9%

6% 6%3% 4% 4%

3%2%

6%

What company’s smartphone do you have?

Yes, I do, 93%

No, I don't, 7%

Do you have a smartphone?

Q. What company’s smartphone do you have? (N=1001)

93% of students have smartphone. About 30% of them are iPhone users.

Student‘s Smartphone：Background Image

It is the often case that background image is girls picture since guys who

have a girl friend use her picture and girls use their selfie pictures as

background image.

Student’s Use of DigitalStudents spends a lot of time on Social network. App usage are “Facebook”,

“Games”, “Camera360”, “Tflat dictionary”, and “Grab/Uber”.

98%

58%

35%

12%5% 3% 2% 2% 1% % 1%

SNS students often use

Different Apps Used by Students between Japan and Vietnam:

Communication Apps

LINE is for communication. Instagram is for

posting daily life and self-expression. Facebook

is for things without hindrance.

Because of too many connections, the

service is too tiresome.

Condition of anonymity make you rest

assured that you can post whatever.

Tool for showing off everyday life.

All communications are along with LINE.

The rate of use of FB and Zalo is high. FB is for

communication, collecting, and spreading

information.

Information hub all students use.

Communication tool for close

relationships.

Belatedly there is trend signs in Vietnam.

Different Apps Used by Students between Japan and Vietnam: Lifestyle

Apps

Shopping

Can be use to buy ticket as well as

fashion items.

News

Able to receive a wide array of news.

Handy

A scheduling app used to organize part

time jobs and activities.

Study buddy

You can ask any type of questions.

ShoppingUsed to buy and sell fashion items.

Popular among fashionable students

News

The center for all types of information

among students

Handy

A cheap ride sharing app popular among

students for transportation

Study buddy

Dictionary app that is a must have for

students.

Analysis about digital life: Is the decline of Facebook possible?

6%

17%19%

13% 12%

7%

26%

Less than1 hour

1-2 hours2-3 hours3-4 hours4-5 hours5-6 hours 6 hours

Frequency of Facebook use/day

26%21% 21%

17%15%

Severaltimes/day

Once/day Severaltimes/week

Irregular I rarely use

Frequency of instagram use

Increase, 22%

Increase a little bit, 33%

Same, 22%

Decrease a little bit, 14%

Decrease, 8%

Changes of Facebook use (compared to 1 year ago)

In terms of Facebook use, there has been no signs of decline so far. The reasons of “too many connections”

have been a factor of Facebooks decline in other countries. However, that is currently not the case in

Vietnam. In addition, instagram use is quite low.

Half of all the

students use

All students use

How to use Facebook: Example of Sophomore Heavy User

② Photo Album filled with selfies

③ 3800 friends（most of them are

unknown）

④ Post & share 3~6times/day

① Constantly updated ”enhanced

profile pictures”

❶

❷

❸❹

Example of heavy user (10% of all the students post more than 4-5times/day)

How to use Facebook: What do Students Post/Share?

Use for self-expression as well as sharing for bookmarking contents

Cool selfiesPsychological

tests

Favorite celebritiesUseful informationBeautiful daily life

InfluencerFoodsInspirational

quotes

Feel-good videosTransformation app

Analysis about digital life: What type of contents do they react

to?

Even though most students use Facebook, not all of them post and share. Students who frequently

post and share, use these features to share their feelings as well as bookmarking their contents.

3%

64%

14%11%

3%5%

I don't post Less than once Once 2-3 times 4-5 times 6 times

Frequency of posting on Facebook/day

29% 46% 20%

Share contents as bookmarking contents

Strongly agree AgreeNeither agree or disagree DisagreeStrongly disagree

12% 34% 41% 11%

Express feelings on Facebook

Strongly agree AgreeNeither agree or disagree DisagreeStrongly disagree

Receive & dispatch contents (33%)Receive contents (67%)

Vietnamese University Student’s"Club activity"

Difference of Club Activity between Vietnam and Japan

Place to meet

new friendsPlace for

hobbies

Living the life

Extra creditForge new

connection

Improve skills

Popular Club

FutsalTennis

Most prominent type of club

at universities. If joined, you

can be popular and have a

fun college life.

It is easy to learn and make

new friends. Getting

popular among females as

well.

There are many students belong to academic clubs in Vietnam. One of the

reasons these clubs are popular is that you can get points and chance to

receive scholarships.

Popular Club

FutsalTennis

Most prominent type of club

at universities. If joined, you

can be popular and have a

fun college life.

It is easy to learn and make

new friends. Getting

popular among females as

well.

LanguageVolunteer

Many students join and

support rural area and

elderly. Good memories in

school days with social

contribution.

Language club is popular

since that would be useful

for job hunting and also

give extra credits.

There are many students belong to academic clubs in Vietnam. One of the

reasons these clubs are popular is that you can get points and chance to

receive scholarships.

Examples of Students who belong to clubs

Banking University Senior / Housing: Student dormitory(8 people)

Income: ３M VND / Spending: ２.７M VND

• Financial club Vice President

• 60 members

• Learn financial and investment knowledge as club activities every week.

• Plan and manage finance-related event held once a year. Work for

attraction of sponsors and end up getting funded 20M VND + scholarships

(total about 200M VND).

FTU Junior / Housing: Apartment (Live with father)

Income: 5M VND / Spending: 5M VND

• Social work Club

• 80 members

• Activities: Play games, dance and sing together with poor children. Give

away cloths and books collected thorough Facebook.

• It is attractive to meet many new people and to create values. If joined, that

can be selling point when applying scholarship and job hunting.

Vietnamese University Student’s"Part time job"

Student’s Part Time Job

30%

20% 19%22%

6%

3%1%

Lessthan1M

VND

1 -1.5MVND

1.5 -2M

VND

2 - 4MVND

4 - 6MVND

Morethan6M

VND

Others

Part time job monthly wage

Q. Do you do a part-time job? N=1001

44%

27%

17%13%

10% 9% 7% 6% 5% 4%

19%

Part time job students currently do or used to do

Part time job students currently do and used to do the most is restaurant/café, but wage of restaurant/café is low, on

average 15,000 VND/hour. In terms of tutor, wage is high, on average 80,000 VND/hour, so it is popular for students

who go to smart universities or have language skill. There are cases that they use agency or website, but also there

are some cases that they find a job through word of mouth.

Examples of Interesting Part Time Job

• Freelance Japanese tutor

• Income: 6M VND/month

• Teach Japanese to four

students（27 years old, 30

years old, 3３years old）

Japanese tutor for working

adults with high language

skill

Cooperation with old sister

in Chine to sell products on

Facebook

• Online Facebook shop

• Sales: 6M VND/month

• Old sister who live in China

purchase products there and

she sell them on FB. She

designs a part of products.

All-the-time translator for

Japanese and Vietnamese

couple.

• Translator

• Wage 2M/month

• +100,000VND/hour

• Translator for male Japanese

and female Vietnamese

couple. She go with them

when dating.

Untraditional/interesting part time jobs usually have a higher salary. To have more

choices for your job depends on whether you have connections.

Vietnamese University Student’s"Household accounts"

Student’s Income and Spending

Live with family Live without family

Rent 0 VND 800,000 VND

Food/Beverage 1,800,000 VND 2,500,000 VND

Fashion 320,000 VND 300,000 VND

Entertainment 300,000 VND 230,000 VND

Trip 130,000 VND 190,000 VND

Health/Beauty 210,000 VND 170,000 VND

Extra classes 520,000 VND 430,000 VND

Others 500,000 VND 300,000 VND

Total 3,780,000 VND 4,920,000 VND

Half of all the spending is spending for food/beverage. Absolute cost of other

spending is low.

Difference of Income and Spending between Vietnam and Japan

Vietnam

（Live without family）Japan

（Live without family）

Rent 800,000 VND 14,000,000 VND

Food/Beverage 2,500,000 VND 10,000,000 VND

Fashion 300,000 VND 3,000,000 VND

Entertainment 230,000 VND 2,000,000 VND

Trip 190,000 VND 2,000,000 VND

Health/Beauty 170,000 VND 800,000 VND

Extra classes 430,000 VND 0 VND

Others 300,000 VND 3,000,000 VND

Total 4,920,000 VND 34,800,000 VND

Difference of Income and Spending between Vietnam and Japan

16%

51%

6%

5%

4%

3%

9%

6%

Vietnam (live without family)

Rent Food/beverages Fashion Entertainment

Travel Health/Beauty Extra classes Others

40%

29%

9%

6%

6%

2% 0%

9%

Japan (live without family)

Rent Food/beverages Fashion Entertainment Travel Health/Beauty Extra classes

Vietnamese University Student’s"Persona"

Student Persona: Conservative Female Student

Lives a frugal lifestyle while being satisfied with her current situation. Although love to put

in constant effort, lacks action because of her dislike of change. Spends her spare time

on Facebook.

• Live in apartment 4people/room（Rent: 1M VND)

• Spending/month: 4 M VND

• Smartphone: Cheap Samsung

• Part time job: No（Used to do, but quit quickly）• Fashion: Don’t have any brand products

• App: Facebook, YouTube, Zalo

• Travel experience: Vung Tau

• All information circulated lies in Facebook. Dislikes things that have “costs”

• How to spend weekdays

• Morning: Classes

• Afternoon: HW/nap at home

• Facebook, YouTube

• How to spend weekends

• Nap/Facebook

• Hang out with roommates

• Shop at local market/supermarket.

Student Persona: Steady & Hard Work Male Student

A well rounded personality that focuses solely on school club activities and studying,

rarely plays around. Takes good care of his sister. Lives a frugal life, even though his

family is from a privileged background.

• Live with younger sister (Rent: 1.5M VND)

• Spending/month: 4.5M VND (low spending of food & beverage, live a simple and plain

life)

• Smartphone: Samsung (Galaxy)

• Part time job: Tutor

• Fashion: Nike sports shoes

• App: Facebook, Grab, Google Translation, Game

• Travel experience: Have no experience of traveling abroad, but experience of domestic

travel for volunteer activities.

• Facebook use is mostly messenger and has a lot of connection

• How to spend weekdays

• Morning: Classes

• Afternoon: Club activities/HW/Tutor

• Evening: Game/study English

• How to spend weekends

• Nap/Facebook

• Watch Free movie/Premier league TV

• Have a meal/take a walk with sister

Student Persona: Fashionable StudentA living-the-life girl type that has the ability in making her own privileged lifestyle. Her

family comes from a rich background, thus she has a lot of beneficial experiences and

opportunities. Her parents are very influential.

• Live with family

• Spending/month: 6M VND(When buying expensive products, parents pay for it)

• Smartphone: iPhone 6

• Part time job: English tutor

• Fashion: ZARA, Adidas

• App: Facebook, Instagram

• Can speak in English

• Travel experience: Have experience of traveling abroad such as Southeast Asia (with family)

• Understands the differences between Vietnam and other countries. (Also patriotic)

• How to spend weekdays

• Morning: Classes

• Afternoon: Hang out with friends at Café/do part

time job

• Evening: HW (Project)

• Watch YouTube, read books to get information

• How to spend weekends

• Lunch with family

• Boyfriend come to pick up & go on a date

• Cafe＞Cinema

Thank you very much