Up to £17 million in government funding will create more scholarships for AI and data science conversion courses, helping young people from groups underrepresented in the tech industry including women, black people, people with disabilities, and people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds join the UK’s world-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry.
The government is encouraging companies to play their part in creating a future pipeline of AI talent by co-funding the AI scholarships for the conversion courses. Industry support for these scholarships will help get more people into the AI and data science job market quicker and strengthen UK businesses.
Together, government and industry funding will create two thousand scholarships for masters AI and data science conversion courses, each worth £10,000. The programme is enabling graduates to do further study courses in the field even if their undergraduate course is not directly related, creating a new generation of experts in data science and AI.
Courses are open to anyone who meets a participating university’s entry requirements. Details of how to apply are available on the universities’ websites. Eligible applicants can apply for a scholarship through their university. Please visit the Office for Student’s website for more information.
The UK is ranked third in the world for private venture capital investment into AI companies (2019 investment into the UK reached almost £2.5 billion) and is home to a third of Europe’s total AI companies.
The new scholarships will ensure more people can build careers in AI, create, and develop new and bigger businesses, and will improve the diversity of this growing and innovative sector.
See: £17 million to boost skills and diversity in AI jobs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)