As part of the initiative, the search giant would fund 100,000 need-based scholarships and it will consider all of its Career Certificates as the equivalent of a four-year college degree for related roles in the company. “College degrees are out of reach for many Americans, and you shouldn’t need a college diploma to have economic security. We need new, accessible job-training solutions — from enhanced vocational programs to online education — to help America recover and rebuild. The programmes equip participants with the essential skills they need to get a job,” Kent Walker, Google’s Senior Vice President of Global Affairs, said in a release. The online certification classes are created and taught by Google employees and do not require a college degree or prior experience in the field to take the courses. The courses are offered through the online learning platform Coursera and can be completed in three to six months. “This is not revenue-generating for Google,” says Lisa Gevelber, Google Vice President who leads Grow with Google and Google for Startups and serves as the company’s Americas CEO. “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.” Google will also commit $10 million in job training grants to communities across the U.S., including non-profits organizations such as YWCA, NPower and JFF to help workforce boards and non-profits improve their job training programs and increase access to digital skills for women, veterans, and underserved Americans. Nearly two-thirds of all new jobs created since 2010 require either high-level or medium-level digital skills, Walker said. “Technology has been a lifeline to help many small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. And online tools can help people get new skills and find good-paying jobs. People need good jobs, and the broader economy needs their energy and skills to support our future growth, he added. Since 2017, Google has helped 5 million Americans learn digital skills through Grow with Google programme. Also, as part of its Future of Work initiative, the company has provided more than $200 million in grants to non-profits working to promote economic opportunity. On Monday, Google also announced that it will invest $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years by way of equity investments, partnerships, operations, infrastructure and other arrangements to help “accelerate digitisation” in the country.
