VinUniversity wins Gold Award for Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development
April 24, 2026
Marking four years of impactful implementation of the “Khanh Hoa People Speak English” initiative, VinUniversity has been awarded the Gold Award in the category of “Excellence in Provision of Literacy & Education Award” at the 18th Global CSR & ESG Summit and Awards, held in Bangkok, Thailand.
This is one of the leading international awards recognizing excellence in social responsibility and sustainable development. This year’s summit, themed “AI, Energy & Transition: Resetting ESG in a New Economy”, highlighting the evolving landscape of sustainability as artificial intelligence, energy transition, and new economic models reshape how organizations create value and generate social impact.
Ms. Bui Thu Dung, Project Director, shared: “This recognition marks an important milestone in VinUniversity’s journey to advance education initiatives with meaningful social impact, while affirming VinUni’s capability in designing and implementing large-scale community projects.”
The “Khanh Hoa people speak English” project is a community-focused education initiative funded by Vingroup and designed and implemented by VinUniversity. The project aims to expand access to communicative English for residents across Khanh Hoa province. With a community-centered approach, it goes beyond language instruction to unlock communication capabilities, empowering individuals to build confidence in learning, work, and daily life, while contributing to the development of local tourism and service sectors.
From 2022 to 2026, the project has achieved significant scale and depth of impact. It has reached approximately 1 million residents, equivalent to 50% of the province’s population, with more than 600,000 direct beneficiaries. The initiative serves a wide range of participants, including students, public officials, armed forces personnel, small business owners, service workers, taxi and cyclo drivers, street vendors, coastal fishermen, as well as vulnerable groups and disadvantaged children.
A key strength of the project lies in its pioneering use of technology in community education. Through a learning management system (LMS), the EZ English mobile application, and the integration of artificial intelligence into communication activities , events, competitions, and English clubs, the project has established a scalable model for mass education while maintaining personalization and learning effectiveness.
To achieve broad reach and sustainable impact, the project was implemented on a foundation of multi-stakeholder collaboration, harnessing the combined strength of “Self-reliance – Supportive Force – Collective Force.” In its role as a connector and implementation lead, VinUniversity has worked closely with local authorities and social partners to develop a sustainable ecosystem. This approach has brought English learning beyond the classroom, turning it into a vibrant, community-wide learning movement.
Beyond its social impact, the project directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
Being recognized in the “Excellence in Provision of Literacy & Education Award” category not only affirms the value of a single initiative, but also highlights the potential of well-designed, effectively implemented community education models aligned with real-world development needs. Building on its success in Khanh Hoa, the model is now ready to be transferred and scaled to other localities in Vietnam and to countries with similar development contexts.
