NIC and Canva to advance digital skills in education

NIC and Canva sign strategic partnership to advance digital and AI skills in education. Photo: NIC

Under the partnership, the NIC becomes Canva’s key partner in Vietnam for digital workforce development in education. The cooperation focuses on three priorities: practical and effective use of digital creativity, design thinking and AI in education; expanding free access to modern digital tools for teachers and students nationwide regardless of location; and establishing a public-private cooperation framework for future programmes aligned with Vietnam’s digital workforce development strategy.

“We see this as the starting point for a broad, practical and long-term programme that can have a meaningful impact on Vietnam’s digital workforce, particularly teachers and students,” said Do Tien Thinh, deputy director of the NIC.

He said digital transformation in education should create more creative and personalised approaches to teaching and learning while expanding access to knowledge.

“Ultimately, the goal of applying AI in education is for technology to help teachers teach better and learners learn better,” Thinh said. “That is the spirit that the NIC and Canva Education hope to promote through this partnership.”

Lam Trung Quan, country director of Canva Vietnam, said AI has already begun entering Vietnamese classrooms, with 64 per cent of teachers reporting that they use AI in teaching. At the same time, 71 per cent said their schools still lack adequate digital infrastructure and tools, while 60 per cent of teachers who have yet to use AI cited insufficient skills as a key barrier.

“This means the question is how we can enable teachers to use AI simply and effectively,” he said. “We see enormous potential in the market and a clear responsibility for Canva to take a more proactive role in supporting Vietnam and contributing to the country’s digital transformation and digital creativity in education."

Photo: NIC

Following the signing, NIC will work with Canva on communications and connectivity efforts to make free Canva for Education accounts available to schools, teachers and students from kindergarten through upper secondary education nationwide. The partnership will also support a training programme for 30,000 teachers, equipping educators with practical technology and AI skills to innovate their teaching methods.

In September and October, the two sides will organise six national webinars for education administrators and school leaders, introducing Canva and exploring ways to use AI to support innovative and creative teaching methods. The programme is also designed to promote design thinking and digital creativity among key decision-makers in schools.

Another major initiative is the Canva Creative Challenge 2026, a creative competition for K-12 students at primary, lower secondary and upper secondary levels. The competition is expected to be launched in September 2026 across northern, central and southern Vietnam, with the national final scheduled for January 2027. The programme aims to engage around 3,000 students nationwide, helping them develop essential design skills, foster creativity and strengthen digital capabilities.

Canva will also be integrated into NIC’s existing STEM ecosystem and training programmes, further expanding opportunities for students and educators to access digital creativity and AI tools.

“The most meaningful thing is that Canva is not entering Vietnamese education through some distant or abstract concept. It is happening naturally, through teachers who want to make their lessons more engaging, students who want to present their ideas more vividly, and countless small but very real moments in the classroom,” Quan said. “If Canva can help create more of those moments in classrooms across Vietnam, I believe that would be something truly meaningful."

RE:ACT challenge aims to turn youth ideas into community impact Young innovators across Vietnam can receive up to $15,000, expert mentoring, and real-world testing opportunities through a new youth innovation challenge launched in Hanoi.

NIC and Thermo Fisher advance shared tech infrastructure The National Innovation Centre (NIC) and Thermo Fisher Scientific held a forum on advancing Vietnam's semiconductor, AI, and innovation ambitions on August 13.

Vietnam-Japan cooperation moves towards results-driven innovation From semiconductor workforce development and the establishment of innovation spaces to concrete technology projects, Vietnam-Japan cooperation is shifting towards deeper collaboration and tangible outcomes.