Deutsche Schule Ho Chi Minh Stadt (IGS)

In Brief

Small school. Around 200 students total, K-12. About 30 teachers, most German-speaking. That's the whole vibe.

It's the only fully accredited German school in Vietnam. Backed by the German Federal Foreign Office and ZfA. Holds the "Exzellente Deutsche Auslandsschule" mark. IB Diploma at the top end (in the bilingual GIB format).

If your kids speak German or you want them to, this is essentially the only serious option in the city. If they don't, it's not the school for you — German is the main language of instruction.

Just moved into a brand-new purpose-built campus at 253 Luong Dinh Cua in Thu Duc (September 2025). Old villa campus is gone. The new site is the headline change parents are talking about.

What people actually say. The tone from parents is warm but specific. According to one parent, "it is a boutique school with high standards" and the new leadership is "very committed and eager to advance the school." Another long-term parent said her two children, both with additional needs, were in "a safe and caring environment" where the child was the focus. The recurring words are small, caring, personal.

The honest trade-offs to flag for your friend: - Tiny cohorts. Year groups can be very small. Great for attention, harder for friendship-group churn or competitive sport. - Limited co-curricular and sports breadth compared to the big American/British schools (SSIS, BIS, ISHCMC). It's a school, not a campus city. - English-as-Additional-Language support isn't a strong public feature. Kids who don't have German will struggle. - One historical wrinkle: the school lost a Vietnamese labour dispute in 2018 (improperly terminated a long-serving local hire, ordered to pay ~$87k). Old story, but it's the only public dent on the record and worth knowing if your friend is a stickler.

Bottom line for the friend: if the family is German-speaking or committed to the German-track + IB pathway, IGS is the obvious choice and the feedback is genuinely positive — small, attentive, properly accredited. If they want a bigger English-medium international experience with deep sports and ECAs, look elsewhere in District 2/7.