Financial knowledge of Vietnamese students: Current situation and Issue

Abstract

Financial knowledge is an important component of financial literacy for every person. Financial
literacy helps people have a better life by making relevant financial decisions. To measure the financial
knowledge of Vietnamese students, this study conducted a random online survey of 4,140 samples
at universities across the country in 2021, with 11 questions divided into 3 levels of knowledge (basic,
medium and advanced). The descriptive statistics show that Vietnamese students have very weak financial
knowledge, in which, even students are studying finance-banking or economics. The results also show that
financial knowledge is not uniform in different school years, regions and majors. In the context that Vietnam
is implementing a comprehensive financial strategy, there is an urgent need to systematically develop a
National Financial Education Strategy, to provide early education by many different channels and methods
for students as well as for the youth in Vietnam.