Google has been in collaboration with Udacity for the last two years granting 1000 and 10000 similar scholarships to passionate coders in the years 2015 and 2016 respectively. This year, however, a German media firm called Bertelsmann has also involved the initiative. Announcing the news in a blog post, Matt Brittin, Google’s EMEA President said that the company is humbled by the increasing demand for the courses and that “together with Udacity and Bertelsmann, we will be offering opportunities to 75000 more people to benefit from the free developer courses.” He also pointed out that there is still a growing digital skill gap despite the increasing enthusiasm of developers. With this campaign, Google hopes to close the gap and also alleviate EU’s concerns that by 2020, there would still be half a million unfilled jobs in information and communication technology. Already, 60,000 scholarships are open for application. The 3-month courses will lay focus on Android and web development. The beneficiaries will also acquire community experience through Community Managers, and Udacity mentor support. The top 6,000 students out of the 60,000 will earn another 6-month scholarship to any of the four Nanodegree Programs including Mobile Web Specialist, Android Developer, Web Developer, and Android Basics nano degree. These scholarships will also include mentorship, community support, and project reviews.
The three-month coursework will require at least ten hours per week to complete the program successfully. However, students can choose their pace as long as they finish the course-related activities (which include content, projects, and quizzes) before their scholarships end. You will access course material 24 hours a day through an Udacity classroom or a mobile application. The program application is 100% online, and it welcomes both existing programmers and absolute beginners. Filling the application takes only 10 minutes and October 15, 2017, is the last day for application. It is worth noting that there will be no deadline extensions. This is in a bid to encourage fairness. It is however quite unfortunate that the 60,000 scholarships are strictly available to Russia, Europe, Israel, Turkey, and Egypt residents who are at least 18 years old. Google will fund the remaining 15,000 scholarships that will be offered by Bertelsmann. They will include data science courses at beginner and intermediate levels. More information on registration will be provided in a few weeks.
