Google has announced that it will be giving out 100,000 scholarships for certificates in three online courses. The certificates which are created and will be taught by Google employees are data analytics, project management, and user experience design.
The courses can be completed in three to six months through the online learning platform, Coursera. Google says it considers all the certificates as on par with a college degree for related roles at the company.
“While college degrees have tons of value, they are not accessible to everyone. And we believe that the absence of a college degree should not be a barrier to economic stability,” Google Vice President, Lisa Gevelber said. Lisa also leads Grow with Google and Google for Startups and serves as Google chief marketing officer in the US.
Also read:
– Google Meet Introduces New Security Features for Education Subscribers
– UK Government Announces Total Ban On Huawei From Its 5G Development
– Google Introduces Split-View Multitasking To Gmail For iPad
Google is committing itself to fund 100,000 people enrolled in any of these career certificate programs on need-based scholarships. At the same time, it will be awarding over $10 million in grants to YWCA, NPower, and JFF. The three are nonprofits that partner with Google to provide workforce development to women, veterans, and underrepresented Americans.
Lisa says, “This is not revenue-generating for Google. There’s a small cost from the Coursera platform itself — the current pricing is $49 a month — but we want to ensure that anyone who wants to have this opportunity, can have it.”
According to Lisa, the choice of data analytics, project management, and user experience is simple; they can lead to “high-growth, high-paying careers.”
This is not the first time Google is towing this path. In 2018, the company began a similar certificate program for people interested in IT. Lisa says that at the time, the certificate helped it diversify its workforce and bring the underrepresented up to par.
For your daily dose of tech, lifestyle, and trending content, make sure to follow Plat4om on Twitter @Plat4omLive, on Instagram @Plat4om, on LinkedIn at Plat4om, and on Facebook at Plat4om. You can also email us at info@techtalkwithtdafrica.com and join our channel on Telegram at Plat4om. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE.