More than 34,000 Applications Received for ‘Tech & Data’ Scholarships
More than 34,000 applications from 186 countries were received for the two scholarship programs that Bertelsmann announced late last year as part of its new “Tech & Data Scholarship” initiative. The initiative again includes a total of more than 50,000 scholarship slots over three years. Bertelsmann Chief HR Officer Immanuel Hermreck is especially pleased with the large number of applications from within the Group, which is significantly higher than in previous years.
More than 34,000 applications from 186 countries have been received for the two scholarship programs that Bertelsmann announced late last year as part of its new “Tech & Data Scholarship” initiative. The initiative follows on from the “Udacity Tech Scholarship Program” that ended in fall 2022 after a successful three-year run. The new initiative aims to provide people around the world with relevant digital skills, again spans a period of three years, and once again includes a total of more than 50,000 scholarship slots. This year, for the first time, the initiative is structured into two parallel programs: the “Bertelsmann Employee Scholarship Program” exclusively for Bertelsmann employees and the “Next Generation Tech Booster” for interested parties outside the Group worldwide.
As part of the first round of the Next Generation Tech Booster, 17,000 external students are currently taking Udacity’s introductory Challenge Course. 500 of them will then have the opportunity to take part in a nanodegree course lasting several months and culminating in an internationally recognized certificate of completion from Udacity. Meanwhile, more than 1,100 Bertelsmann employees are already studying with Udacity, Coursera and Harvard Online. Because of their affiliation with the Bertelsmann Group, they were able to bypass pre-qualification and start directly with the targeted online courses.
A lot of in-house applications
“The strong response to Bertelsmann’s scholarship programs shows how important it is to introduce people around the world to promising careers in the Tech & Data sector,” says Bertelsmann Executive Vice President Human Resources Immanuel Hermreck. “This is an important part of our corporate social responsibility. At the same time, it brings external applicants into contact with Bertelsmann, which is very important given the tough competition for promising talent.” Hermreck is particularly pleased with the large number of in-house applications, which is significantly higher than in previous years. “It is paying off that, for the first time, we’ve split our scholarship program into the ‘Next Generation Tech Booster’ program for all interested parties outside the Group and the ‘Bertelsmann Employee Scholarship Program’ for our employees,” continued the Chief HR Officer. “This enables us to do justice to both target groups and, in particular, to offer our employees upskilling tailored to their needs, which at the same time helps to further expand Tech & Data skills within the Group.”
In October, Bertelsmann launched its global “Become a digital expert” image campaign to create awareness for the scholarship programs among people interested in Tech & Data. It highlights the enormous opportunities that the digital future holds for companies and society, as well as for each and every individual. The cross-media campaign included prime-time TV spots, print ads and advertisements in magazines and trade journals, as well as ads in selected online and social media.
