I cannot add Academies to our Viva Leaning app

Question

When I open Viva Learning in Teams, I have the admin page, and I can see one Academy that I published earlier, but I cannot add any new ones. I am an admin in the portal, and I also have a Viva Learning license.

It does look like I can unpublish the existing Academy, so some permissions are there.

How do I add additional Academies?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi @Erickson, Darren, 

Thank you very much for reaching out regarding your ability to add additional Academies in Viva Learning. I appreciate the clear details you provided especially that you can still see the Admin tab, view the previously published Academy, and unpublish it. 

I'd like to provide the following information: 

A - Recommended next steps  

Please follow the steps below:

Step 1 - Confirm license & role 

• Ensure the affected account has Viva Learning (premium) or Viva Suite assigned. 
• Verify the account is a Knowledge admin or Knowledge manager (or a Microsoft 365 admin). 

Step 2 - Verify Feature access delegation 

• In Viva Learning > Admin tab > Manage Feature Access, open Learning path and Featured set > Edit feature access. 
• Add the Microsoft 365 Group (or Mail-enabled Security Group) that includes your account to both features and save. 
• Allow some time for the changes to propagate. 

More info here: Provider Permissions | Microsoft Learn 

Step 3 - Create the new Academy 

• Go to Admin > Manage academies > Create new academy. 
• Enter the name/description, upload logo and background, choose Open (everyone) or Restricted (specific groups), then Save. 
• Add Featured set (up to 6 items per set) and map your Learning paths, then Publish when ready. 

Additionally, you might: 

• Sign out/in or try Teams on the web/new Teams if the button still doesn’t appear right away. 
• Permission and provider changes can take up to ~2 hours to show up in the Viva Learning UI. 

For your references: Microsoft’s guidance on managing/creating Academies is here: Manage academies in Viva Learning. You can also review the Viva Learning setup overview (roles/licensing) here: Set up Microsoft Viva Learning in the Teams admin center. 

B - Contact Support 

If the issue persists even after these steps, it may stem from a deeper system-level cause. In this case, I recommend submitting a support request to Microsoft Support through the "Contact support" in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. They’ll be able to access system-level information to investigate the issue thoroughly and provide assistance. At the very least, they can offer the most effective workaround to ensure your experience remains smooth and secure.      

We kindly ask for your understanding that, as moderators, we do not have access to the administrative tools or permissions required to investigate or modify these configurations. We also do not have the capability to initiate remote sessions for direct assistance. Our role is to guide users to the appropriate resources and support channels.     

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out.   

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

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Answer 2

To add additional academies in Viva Learning, the following conditions and steps must be met in the tenant:

1. Confirm licensing and role
   • A premium Viva Learning or Viva Suite license is required to create and manage academies.
   • Only Microsoft 365 admins, knowledge admins, or knowledge managers (or users with delegated feature access) can create academies.
   • If the existing academy was created earlier under different permissions or licensing, verify that the current account still meets these requirements.
2. Check delegated feature access
   • Global admins or knowledge admins can delegate access to academy-related features via Manage Feature Access.
   • For a user to manage academies, the Microsoft 365 group they belong to must be added for both Learning paths and Featured set features; only then does that group also get access to Academies.
   • If only partial delegation exists, the user might see academies but not be able to create new ones.
   Steps (for a global/knowledge admin):
   1. Go to Viva Learning → Admin tab.
   2. Open Manage Feature Access.
   3. For Learning path and Featured set, select Edit feature access and ensure the correct Microsoft 365 group is added.
   4. Save changes and allow some time for them to take effect.
3. Create a new academy Once the correct license and permissions are in place:
   1. In Viva Learning, go to the Admin tab.
   2. Select Manage academies.
   3. Select Create new academy.
   4. Enter name and description.
   5. Upload an academy logo and background image.
   6. Define access:
      • Open Academy – available to all users.
      • Restricted Academy – select specific learner groups.
   7. Select Save.
4. Configure and publish the academy
   • Add sections/subsections and learning paths as needed.
   • When ready, select Publish to enable the academy for the selected users.

If the Create new academy option is missing even though the account is an admin with a Viva Learning/Viva Suite license, an existing global or knowledge admin should verify feature-level access as above, or adjust roles so the account is explicitly a knowledge admin/manager.

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References:

• Manage academies in Viva Learning
• Microsoft Copilot Academy
• Manage Catalog Access in Viva Learning
• Manage feature-level access in Viva Learning
• Provider Permissions
• Manage content sources for Viva Learning