Google to offer 30 000 Google Africa certifications scholarships this year

Internet giant Google has announced that it will this year offer 30 000 Google Africa certification scholarships.

The move is inline with the firm’s commitment to provide mobile developer training to 100 000 Africans to develop world-class apps.

In a statement on Monday (15 April) announcing the opening of applications for the initiative, Google said in addition to the 30 000 scholarship opportunities, it will also provide 1000 grants for the Google Associate Android, Mobile Web and Associate Cloud Engineer certifications.

Applications for the Google Africa Certification Scholarships are now open

Google said the developer training will be delivered by its partners Andela and Pluralsight.

The training will be based on a what Google said is an intensive learning curriculum that is designed to prepare motivated learners for entry-level and intermediate roles as software developers in these fields.

Commenting in the same statement, Google’s global head developer training programmes William Florance said with Africa on track to have the largest working-age population of 1.1-billion by 2034, Google’s announcement marks a transition from inspiring new developers, to preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow.

“Google’s certifications are developed around a job-task analysis and test learners for skills employers expect developers to have in these domains,” said Florance.

He added that Google’s continued initiatives — which focus on digital skills training, education and economic opportunity, as well as support for African startups and developers — demonstrate the company’s commitment to helping advance a “healthy and vibrant developer ecosystem”.

“By providing support for training and certifications we will help bridge the unemployment gap on the continent through increasing the number of employable software developers,” said Florance.

Last year in March, Google offered 15 000 single course scholarships and 500 nano-degree scholarships.

Featured image: closari via Flickr (CC BY 2.o)