Stockholm university
Stockholm Center for Global Asia

Educational Inequality in Vietnam: Stories of struggle and success, with Nhu Truong

Seminar

Date: Wednesday 19 November 2025

Time: 14.00 – 15.30

Location: C312, Stockholm Center for Global Asia, Stockholm University

Join us for a seminar featuring Nhu Truong. She will talk about "Educational Inequality in Vietnam: Stories of struggle and success".

Educational Inequality in Vietnam: Stories of struggle and success with Nhu Truong Photo: Unknown
Educational Inequality in Vietnam: Stories of struggle and success with Nhu Truong Photo: Unknown

Please register at latest by November, 18 2025.

Over the past three decades, Vietnam has undergone remarkable economic growth, shifting from one of the world’s poorest countries to a middle-income country. Despite these gains, persistent social and economic inequalities continue to shape the opportunities available to many Vietnamese children, particularly those from rural areas or ethnic minority communities. At the same time, in the educational context, recent trends reported by the international large-scale assessment PISA have highlighted the impressive performance of Vietnamese students compared to many other countries. The question remains: what lies behind this paradox of high achievement in the face of persistent challenges? This seminar discusses the concept of academic resilience - the ways in which young people navigate and overcome adversity to pursue their educational paths. Drawing on students’ lived experiences and broader social contexts, the discussion reflects on both the struggles and achievements that illustrate how resilience, social and cultural norms, and aspiration intersect in contemporary Vietnam.

 

Nhu Truong is a Doctoral candidate at the Department of Teaching and Learning at Stockholm University. Her research interests centred around educational inequities, social justice, gender issues, student mobility in Vietnam and Sweden. Her ongoing PhD project is about academic resilience–exploring how socioeconomically disadvantaged students overcome adversities to achieve academic success. Nhu is also currently part of IMMPACT Project–In/exclusion and Materialities in Mathematics and Physics enactments– funded by Swedish Research Council. She holds a Master degree in Sociology and Social Research at Trento University; was a visiting scholar at Department of Education (University of Oxford), and Department of Teacher Education and School Research (University of Oslo); and also worked at UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand). 
 

Recent publications
Truong, N., & Triventi, M. (2025). How do adverse family characteristics and shock events shape children’s educational outcomes in Vietnam?–Evidence from Young Lives surveys. International Journal of Educational Development.

Valero, P., Österling, L., Truong, N., Danielsson, A., Nunes, B., & Berge, M. (2025). First-year university students’ mathematics capital and identities. The Mathematics Enthusiast, 22(3).

TIME: Wednesday 19 November 2025, 14.00-15.30

VENUE: C312, Stockholm Center for Global Asia, Stockholm University

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Source: SCGA

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