Press Release | Gütersloh, 10/13/2022

‘Next Generation Tech Booster’: Bertelsmann Sponsors Another 50,000 Tech & Data Scholarships

• 17,000 scholarships a year through 2024 for “Challenge Course” at Udacity
• Several months of online study leading to a certified Nanodegree for the top 500 participants in each round

Gütersloh, October 13, 2022 – Bertelsmann has launched a new Tech & Data Scholarship initiative that sees the Group once again awarding more than 50,000 scholarships in the years ahead, to interested parties from all over the world who wish to advance their knowledge of emerging technologies. Under the heading “Next Generation Tech Booster,” 17,000 scholarships will be awarded each year through 2024 for a “Challenge Course” at the online education provider Udacity. The focus will be on data management and artificial intelligence, software development and engineering, and cybersecurity. The top 500 participants will also be given the opportunity to enroll in a degree program lasting several months and earn an internationally recognized Nanodegree certification. Meanwhile, employees of all Bertelsmann companies worldwide are invited to apply for an internal, custom-tailored “Bertelsmann Employee Scholarship Program” that includes courses offered by Udacity, Coursera and Harvard Business School Online.

With the “Next Generation Tech Booster” for all tech enthusiasts outside Bertelsmann and the Employee Scholarship Program exclusively for employees, the Group is following on from its popular “Udacity Tech Scholarship Program,” which is now ending after a successful three-year run. The program, under which 50,000 scholarships to the Udacity online learning platform in the fields of cloud, data and artificial intelligence were awarded over its three-year duration, attracted more than 150,000 applications from nearly every country on Earth. More than 17,000 participants successfully completed the “Challenge Course,” and another 2,600-plus went on to earn a full Nanodegree.

Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe says: “The rapid technological transformation of society impacts all of Bertelsmann’s lines of businesses – and just about every other company. Tech & Data are of great strategic importance for the future, not just of our company. We feel it is part of our responsibility to society to give as many people as possible access to online learning opportunities in important tech fields, even people outside our company. At the same time, it is important to get our employees excited about these topics and give them the opportunity for systematic upskilling and to acquire tech know-how. This is the only way we can continue to move Bertelsmann forward together and become the leading media, services and education company in terms of technology. I’m delighted that our scholarship program has been so positively received over the past three years. So it only makes sense to continue this program now.”

Applications for the “Next Generation Tech Booster” scholarship initiative are being accepted now through November 28 at https://www.udacity.com/scholarships/bertelsmann-next-generation-tech-booster  . Courses start December 15, 2022.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services, and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the entertainment group RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, 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 145,000 employees and generated revenues of €18.7 billion in the 2021 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.