Press Release

Press Release | Gütersloh, 10/15/2020

Tens Of Thousands All Over The World Apply for Tech Scholarships in Bertelsmann’s Digital Initiative #50000Chances

  • Three-year digital initiative promotes digital upskilling in the fields of Cloud, Data and AI
  • Applications for current round are open until mid-November 2020

The scholarship initiative #50000Chances, under which Bertelsmann has promoted digital upskilling in emerging technologies worldwide since 2019, is experiencing a veritable run this year. Four weeks after applications opened, 36,700 people from 180 countries have already applied for the 15,000 scholarships being awarded in the second round. The application period runs for another four weeks, until November 16, 2020. Under the three-year program, Bertelsmann is giving away a total of 50,000 scholarships for Udacity courses in the fields of Cloud, Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The idea is to help anyone interested get fit for an increasingly digital employment market and reduce the shortage of skilled workers in this area.

The majority of the 36,700 applications received to date were for the courses in Artificial Intelligence (44 percent), followed by Data (34 percent) and Cloud Computing (22 percent). In geographical terms, most applications were sent in from India, Nigeria, the U.S., Germany, Egypt, and Pakistan. Nearly a quarter of all applicants are women. Half-way through the application period, more than a thousand applications have been received from Bertelsmann employees all over the world.

Last year, too, Bertelsmann’s Udacity Technology Scholarship Program under the heading #50000Chances met with an enormous response; but this time around, the number of applicants is even higher at the halfway mark. The media, services, and education company is once again promoting the scholarship program with an extensive image campaign, which reached more than 30 million people in the past few weeks alone. Interested parties have until November 16, 2020 to apply for a scholarship: www.udacity.com/bertelsmann-tech-scholarships  .

“We are very proud that our digital initiative is empowering people around the world to deepen their skills in forward-looking areas,” said Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO
Thomas Rabe. The latest applicant numbers attest to a high level of international interest in “being successful in the digital world and receiving appropriate training to develop tech solutions for future-proof businesses.”

Steven Moran, Chief Learning Officer at Bertelsmann, added: “The speed of technologization of business models has been further accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic. This acceleration is driven in particular by technologies such as Cloud, Data, and AI. So anyone who wants to be well-positioned for the working world of the future is well advised to continuously build and expand their skills in these areas.”

For Karin Schlautmann, Head of Bertelsmann Corporate Communications, the huge response to the scholarship initiative is due not least to the accompanying image campaign that Bertelsmann launched under the heading “You are the digital future”: “We show that digital continuing education is of great societal relevance, and that Bertelsmann is committed to advancing the transformation to digital. It is gratifying to see that our campaign is well received by so many people.”

The Udacity Challenge Courses offered under the #50000Chances initiative each run for three months and require three to five hours a week to complete. Interested parties can choose between three subject areas:

  • Cloud, i.e., applications for online-based IT infrastructures
  • Data, i.e., applications for the analysis and interpretation of large volumes of data
  • Artificial Intelligence, i.e., applications related to machine learning and intelligent algorithms

Studies indicate that there is already a considerable shortage of skilled workers in the fields of Cloud, Data, and AI. Supply of only a few hundred thousand qualified experts is contrasted against demand in the millions.

For more information: bertelsmann.com/50000chances  or under the hashtag #50000chances.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the broadcaster RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato, the Bertelsmann Printing Group, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company has 126,000 employees and generated revenues of €18.0 billion in the 2019 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world. Bertelsmann aims to be carbon-neutral by 2030

About Udacity
Udacity is a global lifelong learning platform connecting education to jobs and providing students with skills to advance careers. Its mission is to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future. Udacity Nanodegree® programs provide credentials earned through a series of online courses and projects in an array of subjects from self-driving cars and AI to data science and digital marketing. Udacity collaborates with more than 200 global employer-partners to close talent gaps. Its investors include Bertelsmann, Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures and Drive Capital. For more information, please visit www.udacity.com  .