Bertelsmann’s global Udacity Technology Scholarship Program sees nearly 50,000 applications from 190 countries following an extensive media campaign

Bertelsmann’s global Udacity Technology Scholarship Program sees nearly 50,000 applications from 190 countries following an extensive media campaign

• 15,000 Udacity scholarships in the fields of Cloud, Data, and Artificial Intelligence once again garner worldwide interest
• Extensive media campaign reaches more than 50 million people
• Bertelsmann’s “#50000Chances” initiative has awarded a total of 50,000 tech scholarships since 2019

(PRESS RELEASE) GÜTERSLOH, Germany, 15-Dec-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — Bertelsmann, a German private media, service sector and education conglomerate, has announced that it has received 47,300 applications from 190 countries for its globally available Udacity Technology Scholarship Program this year. The Scholarship Program, which closed for new applications on November 30, 2021, offers 15,000 scholarships for courses on the Udacity online education platform in the fields of Cloud, Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This means that the last round of scholarships in the Bertelsmann “#50000Chances” initiative, which was launched in 2019, will be awarded in the next few days. Bertelsmann had once again drawn attention to the initiative with an extensive global media campaign featuring TV, print, online, and social media ads and a dedicated landing page. Bertelsmann Chairman and CEO Thomas Rabe gave a testimonial for the campaign, which reached around 26 million people on social media alone and a total of just over 50 million people. The ad featuring Thomas Rabe was also shown on a large screen in New York’s bustling Times Square. Since the launch of the “#50000Chances” campaign, Bertelsmann has reached more than 100 million people worldwide and presented itself with a clear digital focus.

The rationale behind the scholarship initiative is the growing global shortage of skilled workers in the IT and tech sector, especially at the interfaces of business and technology. Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe commented: “Tech skills are becoming increasingly important to meet the demands of the job market. Fortunately, this is reflected in the high level of interest in our Udacity Technology Scholarship Program. For example, we have received a total of 153,000 applications since the program began two years ago, a good 5,300 of which were from Bertelsmann colleagues.”

Bertelsmann Chief Human Resources Officer Immanuel Hermreck said: “The Business Analytics course, which is particularly relevant for entry into the Tech & Data fields, was in particularly high demand this year. Overall, we are thrilled with the positive response to all three courses. We especially see the in-house interest, with another 1,300 Bertelsmann applications, as a sign of success for continuous, future-oriented upskilling in our company.”

The current round involved 15,000 scholarships for the Azure Cloud Architect course (“Cloud” field), the Business Analytics course (“Data”), and the Machine Learning with Tensor Flow course (“Artificial Intelligence”). This year as in prior rounds, the Data course, requiring the least amount of prior knowledge, was in greatest demand at 41 percent of applications, followed by the Artificial Intelligence course at 32 percent, and Cloud at 27 percent. Just over 24 percent of applications were from India, 14 percent from Nigeria, and ten percent from the U.S. Around a quarter of those interested are women.

The first phase of this year’s Udacity Technology Scholarship Program, the two-month Challenge Course in the respective tech field, begins this week. All applicants were recently informed whether they were selected. The Challenge Course will allow 1,600 people to qualify for a more advanced Nanodegree course, which will run from March to August 2022. The Udacity learning platform partners with leading tech companies to develop practical, online degree programs that are certified with accredited degrees (“nanodegrees”) and can be completed while working a full-time job. Udacity, whose principal shareholders include Bertelsmann, is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

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 around 130,000 employees and generated revenues of €17.3 billion in the 2020 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 aspires to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. In 2021, Bertelsmann commemorates the 100th birthday of Reinhard Mohn, the Group’s late post-war founder and longtime Chairman and CEO.

About Udacity
Udacity is a global lifelong learning provider 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 real-world 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.

Media contact:

Markus Harbaum
Head of Communications Content Team
Phone: +49 (0) 5241 80 2466

SOURCE: Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA