One October afternoon in Hanoi, a business university briefly became the whole world. Foreign Trade University (FTU) marked International Day 2026 on October 2, drawing nearly 700 Vietnamese and international students into a campus-wide celebration covering 18 countries.
The format was hands-on rather than watch-from-the-sidelines. Afternoon sessions ran traditional games, national costumes, performances and interactive booths, before an evening programme shifted to traditional dress and international food. Crucially, the students built the event themselves: mixed Vietnamese-international teams came up with the ideas, staffed the country booths, chose costumes, cooked, and performed. That structure turned the festival into a cross-cultural teamwork exercise as much as a party.
For visitors to Hanoi, one detail stands out. International students got to try tò he — the Vietnamese folk craft of shaping colourful rice dough into tiny figurines, usually drawn from village life and folklore. Local artisans demonstrated the technique, and students moulded their own keepsakes on the spot. Tò he sessions do pop up at Hanoi craft villages and cultural workshops, so it's an experience travellers can seek out beyond campus too.
University president Associate Professor Dr Phạm Thu Hương framed the day as more than a festival. It sits inside FTU's push to 'internationalise at home' through a 'Campus in Campus' model — the idea that if not every student can travel abroad, the university can bring the world to them in daily campus life.
Why should a traveller care? Because events like this signal how international Hanoi's student scene has become, and they're a reminder that the city's best cultural exchanges often happen off the tourist trail — in university districts, craft workshops and neighbourhood festivals. If you're in Hanoi in early October, it's worth checking whether FTU's International Day is open to the public; at minimum, the city's thriving international student community makes for good food streets, language cafés and budget-friendly neighbourhoods to explore.
