'One Million Arab Coders' achieves quantum leaps in empowering Arab youth with digital skills in partnership with 'Udacity'

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Since its launch in 2017, and over the course of four years, One Million Arab Coders (OMAC) initiative part of Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives (MBRGI), and led by Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), has equipped more than one million Arab youth with digital skills, in partnership with Udacity - a global digital educational platform specializing in providing digital courses in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, cloud computing, and other disciplines.

Udacity, the learning platform, welcomed more than one million Arabs from 80 countries to learn programming through five million hours of study, and provided 76,000 training workshops. The initiative has brought about 100,000 successful graduation projects, and granted 1,500 scholarships for outstanding students, and succeeded in making a qualitative leap in the world of digital learning and programming.

“One Million Arab Coders” - the largest initiative of its kind has bridged the digital literacy gap among Arab youth and empowered the region’s brightest talents with modern technology, enabling them to develop future-proof skills and actively contribute in their nations digital transformation.

At the initiative’s closing ceremony in May 2022 Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation celebrated the entry of one million Arab programmers into the world of the digital economy and who will use the programming skills they have acquired to realize their dreams and ambitions.

During the ceremony, His Highness awarded the first-place winner in the “One Million Arab Coders” challenge with a grand prize of $1 million, while the five best projects’ owners received prizes worth $50,000 each, whereas the top four trainers won $25,000 each.

HE Khalfan Juma Belhoul, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Future Foundation said: “Dubai, with its forward-thinking mindset, aims to be the world’s leading city in terms of innovation, in collaboration with its public and private sector partners.

“Dubai Future Foundation, in partnership with Udacity, played a pivotal role in achieving the key aim of the One Million Arab Coders initiative; facilitating the access of more than one million young Arabs with free digital courses to futureproof their skills and drive their nations digital economy”

For his part, Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Udacity, said: “The OMAC initiative has made a qualitative achievement worldwide in empowering talent with the digital skills that will offer a direct path to a prosperous future, including software development, mobile applications, and digital analytics.”

Udacity aims to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future. The platform educates individuals on how technology is transforming industries, as well as equip them with critical technology skills that companies are looking for in their workforce.