September 2026: New Campuses and Curriculum Reform Across South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam

This month's APAC roundup spans new campuses and new rules. Fairmont has opened its first international campus in Hanoi, and Jeju's twenty-year bet on an "English Education City" is finally paying off. At the same time, governments across the region are rewriting the rules: Thailand has banned competitive exams for under-sixes and is rethinking how to support its smallest rural schools, Vietnam has set a new national school calendar, and South Korea is shifting its focus from growing international student numbers to safeguarding quality.

Thaiger: Thailand bans competitive exams, rankings for children under six

Thailand's Education Ministry has directed state and private schools nationwide to stop using competitive exams, pass-fail systems or rankings for children under six, instructing the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Office of the Private Education Commission to ensure compliance. The Ministry is also developing a national early-childhood curriculum framework with input from paediatricians and mental health experts, with officials saying the shift towards development-based assessment is intended to ease pressure on young learners and reduce parents' spending on early tutoring.

Seoul Economic Daily: JDC Science Park Generates a Third of Jeju's Output

Jeju's English Education City, one of the Jeju Free International City Development Center's five core projects, has attracted nearly 2 trillion won in investment since 2007 and now hosts four international schools, including North London Collegiate School Jeju and Branksome Hall Asia, running at 71.9 per cent average occupancy with over 4,100 pupils enrolled. JDC estimates the hub has saved Korean families around 1.58 trillion won in overseas study spending, with a fifth school, St Johnsbury Fulton Science Academy, targeting an opening in 2028, though JDC is being cautious about further additions given a shrinking school-age population.

Vietnam.vn: Fairmont launches international school in Hanoi

Fairmont International School Vietnam has officially opened in Hanoi's Tran Duy Hung urban area, the sixth Fairmont campus worldwide and the first outside the United States, offering a full Grade 1 to Grade 12 programme. Built on more than 70 years of experience from the original Fairmont Schools in California and run in partnership with International Schools Partnership, the school also offers pathway options aligned with Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training requirements for families who want that flexibility.

ICEF Monitor: After years of growth, Korea faces the challenge of better integrating and retaining international students

South Korea hit its target of 300,000 international students two years early, with the latest figures putting the number at 314,400 as of February 2026, over a third of them from Vietnam. The Ministry of Education is now shifting focus from growth to quality, planning sanctions for universities that fail to screen international applicants properly and a revamp of its internationalisation certification programme, alongside continued concern over Korean-language proficiency and student retention.

Vietnam News (Ministry of Education and Training): Opening ceremony for new school year, inauguration of border schools to be held together

Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training will hold a joint nationwide opening ceremony for the 2026-27 school year on 5 September, combined for the first time with inauguration ceremonies for new boarding schools in border communes. The event follows the Ministry's newly issued academic year schedule framework, which fixes the national opening date annually and allows pupils in Grades 1, 9 and 12 to start up to two weeks early, giving international and local schools alike a clearer calendar to plan around.

Thaiger: Thailand to cut 30,000 civil service jobs, and small schools are next in line

Thailand's Cabinet has approved a plan to shrink the civil service by 15 per cent over the next eight years, cutting more than 30,000 posts, and the Education Ministry is now working out what that means for its many small rural schools. Rather than closing or merging them outright, minister Prasert Chanthararuangthong says the approach will be shared management and shared resources between schools of different sizes, building on the country's 20 education "sandbox" provinces where larger schools already support smaller ones nearby.