Recently leaders in many Asian countries have advocated for student-centred reform agendas. However, bringing about pedagogical change is not simply a technical issue of implementing practices designed elsewhere but is a more substantive issue concerned with local cultural values and context. Researchers have claimed that to sustain the reform, the initiative needs to be modified integrating local values in a hybrid manner. The present study, involving two lecturers and 100 university students in Vietnam, used third generation of activity theory, to document how the lecturers created bridging and hybrid strategies that combined both traditional teaching practices and novel student-centred practices. These hybrid practices helped students improve their learning outcomes, especially enhance their complex knowledge. Implications for University providers were discussed.