The growing participation and strong performance of Vietnamese technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in the 2026 UI GreenMetric World University Rankings demonstrate that green transformation is moving from commitment and policy orientation to concrete action at the institutional level.
In 2026, eleven Vietnamese TVET colleges, with technical support from Viet Nam-Germany development cooperation, are stepping up their efforts to go green. The number of Vietnamese TVET colleges participating in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings increased from three in 2025 to eleven in 2026. Their strong results show that this growing commitment is increasingly being translated into concrete action at the institutional level.
Figure 1. UI GreenMetric rankings of the 11 Vietnamese TVET colleges compared with TVET institutions worldwide
The 2026 UI GreenMetric World University Rankings included 2,016 educational institutions from 110 countries. The 11 Vietnamese TVET colleges ranked between 635th and 1,492nd globally. More importantly, when compared with 156 TVET institutions worldwide, the Vietnamese colleges achieved higher average scores in six of the seven assessment categories.
Figure 2. Average performance across the seven UI GreenMetric categories
Their strongest result was in Energy and Climate Change, where the average score of the 11 Vietnamese colleges was 29.8% higher than the global TVET average. The assessment also covers infrastructure, waste, water, transportation, education and research, and governance and digital transformation.
These results reflect more than participation in an international ranking. They show the colleges’ efforts to improve their infrastructure and training facilities, use energy and resources more efficiently, strengthen waste and water management, integrate sustainability into education and training, and improve institutional governance and digitalisation.
Nine of the 11 colleges have been supported by Viet Nam-Germany development cooperation projects in TVET over the past decade in their just, green and digital transformation. Two additional colleges joined the Community of Practice for Green TVET in 2025 and received capacity building and technical support to develop greening action plans based on the UI GreenMetric dimensions.
For the colleges, UI GreenMetric is not simply about achieving a ranking. It provides a practical way to understand their current performance, identify gaps, and decide where further improvements are needed. In this way, green transformation becomes a continuous process rather than a one-time initiative.
The message is clear: Vietnamese TVET colleges are not only talking about green transformation, but they are also increasingly putting it into practice and demonstrating measurable progress. As more colleges join the journey, their experience can help make green skills and sustainable practices part of everyday vocational education across Viet Nam.
