Access Bank and Udacity are awarding 2,000 scholarships in 2021-2022 for those who wish to have a career in tech or acquire a skill set in today’s most sought-after, in demand tech skills. 2,000 Nanodegree program scholarships will be awarded by Access Bank and Udacity to anyone in Africa who want to learn practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills. The scholarship will provide scholarship recipients with upskilling opportunities and provide them with the skills that many tech businesses require today.
How It Works
Udacity is collaborating with Access Bank, a multinational commercial bank, to empower people in Africa who are interested in learning tech-forward skills to kick-start careers in the banking industry in 2021-2022.
We are proud to provide hands-on learning opportunities in fields such as Business Analytics, Programming, Data Science, Product Management and Digital Marketing. Scholarship recipients will complete a portfolio of real-world projects that demonstrate mastery of highly sought-after tech skills.
Our solution
Udacity and Access Bank are committed to closing the divide between the number of tech jobs available and the number of Africans working in tech by providing opportunities to those who would not otherwise have them. That starts with ensuring a robust pipeline of trained, talented tech professionals. Together, we are offering:
- 2,000 Nanodegree program scholarships for Africans to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills.
- Engagement with classmates in a robust, actively managed, student community.
- Subject matter experts and on-demand tutors.
The scholarship will create upskilling opportunities for individuals and give them the skills needed in the digital world. In fact, the tech industry comprises some of the highest growth, most in-demand careers today.
Who can apply
Anyone 20 years of age and above is encouraged to apply. Scholarship recipients should be prepared to invest about 5–10 hours per week during the Nanodegree programs.
How does this scholarship program work?
Phase 1: Challenge Course
20,000 Access Bank Scholarship applicants in the form of 4 rolling cohorts, will be selected to participate in a Challenge Course, with the second cohort beginning in December 2021. Each cohort will consist of 5,000 participants. During this first phase of the scholarship, students work through one of the five initial Challenge Courses that comprise of course text, content and quizzes (no projects) for Business Analytics, Intro to Programming, Programming for Data Science with Python, Product Management, or Digital Marketing over the course of 5 weeks. Learners should be prepared to invest about 3–5 hours per week during this period. Challenge course recipients participating in this initial phase of the program will also engage with classmates in a robust, actively managed, student community.
Phase 2: Nanodegree program
2,000 students in the form of 4 rolling cohorts will be awarded a scholarship to Business Analytics, Intro to Programming, Programming for Data Science with Python, Product Management or Digital Marketing. Each cohort will consist of 500 full scholarships, and the first cohort of winners will begin in January 2022. Access to these Nanodegree programs includes expert project reviews provided by human project reviewers. Applicants should be prepared to invest about 5–10 hours per week for 2 months.
Eligibility Criteria:
- STEM graduate or demonstrated evidence of strong interest in pursuing IT and Digital career
- Consistent access to a laptop
- Consistent access to strong data network and power supply
- Commitment to the time required for the program
- Must give pre-consent during application for Udacity to share data with the bank
- Recent graduates from School/University or early career professionals are strongly preferred
- Applicants based in Africa are strongly preferred
Though only 5,000 people will be selected to participate in a given Challenge phase cohort, all applicants will receive an email notifying them of the selection decision.
When will the results be announced? When do classes start?
The timeline for Cohort 2 will be:
- Applications Accepted: December 1, 2021 – December 29, 2021
- Challenge Winners announced: January 7, 2022
- Challenge Course: January 11, 2022 – February 16, 2022
- Scholarship Winners Announced: February 25, 2022
- Scholarship: March 1, 2022 – April 30, 2022
For more details visit the official website
