Gütersloh, 11/20/2019

Great Rush For Slots In The Udacity Technology Scholarship Program

More than 45,000 people from 180 countries applied for the 15,000 slots in the “Udacity Technology Scholarship Program”  – The recipients start today with the “Challenge Course.” The scholarships are the first part of a global Bertelsmann initiative over the next three years.

Last year, the number of applicants for the first Udacity scholarship initiative, the “Udacity Data Science Scholarship Program,” already far exceeded the number of available slots. The first phase of Bertelsmann’s “Udacity Technology Scholarship Program,” which launched this year, saw a further significant increase in the number of applicants. Anyone interested, from all over the world, had until November 6 to apply for one of 15,000 Udacity scholarships in the fields of Cloud Computing, Data and Artificial Intelligence – and more than 45,000 people from 180 countries took advantage of the opportunity. Of these, 41 percent were in the field of artificial intelligence, 39 percent in data and 20 percent in cloud computing. Most applications came from India, followed by Nigeria and the U.S.

“I am delighted with the great interest and strong demand that the first application phase of the Udacity Technology Scholarship initiative has triggered. Following last year’s success, we expanded the Bertelsmann scholarship program to include the fields of Cloud and Artificial Intelligence in addition to Data. Through this initiative, we want to give as many people as possible access to the best and latest tech expertise. The high number of applicants confirms that more and more people have recognized the importance of acquiring the necessary skills in these leading-edge technologies,” says Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe. “Not least because there are so many employees among the applicants, this initiative also contributes to our aspiration that Bertelsmann should develop into the world’s technologically leading media, services and education company. I wish all scholarship holders every success in their Udacity studies, and look forward to continuing the 50,000 scholarship program next year.”

Immanuel Hermreck, Executive Vice President Human Resources, also commented on the high level of response: “I am particularly pleased that more than 2,300 Bertelsmann colleagues around the world took the opportunity to submit applications for this major education initiative. This sustained interest confirms that the topics offered are seen as important not only from the company’s point of view, but also in the eyes of our employees, in preparing as best as possible for the challenging tasks of tomorrow’s world of work.”

‘Challenge Course’ starts today

During the application phase of the “Udacity Technology Scholarship Program,” participants could choose one of three main topics: Cloud, i.e. applications related to Internet-based IT infrastructures, Data, i.e. applications related to the analysis and interpretation of large amounts of data, or Artificial Intelligence, i.e. applications related to machine learning and intelligent algorithms.

At the end of the application period, a total of 15,000 participants were selected from the more than 45,000 applications received for the three focus topics, and informed last week about their participation in the scholarship program. From today, they will start with their respective three-and-a-half month “Challenge Course.” The top graduates of this course will then receive a scholarship for a full-fledged Udacity Nanodegree as a Cloud DevOps Engineer, Data Analyst, or in area Deep Learning.

The Challenge Course beginning today is the first part of a global initiative. Over the next three years, Bertelsmann will fund approximately 50,000 tech scholarships  in the fields of Cloud, Data and Artificial Intelligence, representing an investment of several million euros. Information on the contents of this year’s “Udacity Technology Scholarship Program” is available on the Bertelsmann University website.