Microsoft announces professional degree programme

| Microsoft News Center

TORONTO — July xiii, 2016 — On Wednesday at the Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the Microsoft Professional Degree (MPD) program, the first programme of its kind to offer employer-endorsed, university-caliber curriculum for professionals at whatever stage of their career. MPD is a Microsoft-led initiative that provides professionals with real-world knowledge and hands-on experience to grow their skills in disquisitional fields. The initial MPD offering is in data science, with all courseware available on edX.org, the nonprofit online learning destination founded by Harvard University and MIT.

"The proliferation of deject technologies and the commitment of software equally a service has opened up tremendous revenue opportunities for our partners," said Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president and chief evangelist, Programmer Feel and Evangelism Group, Microsoft. "The Microsoft Professional Degree volition be offered via edX, as well as through learning-as-a-service offerings delivered through partners, to see customers' evolving preparation needs and to assistance shut the skills gap we are seeing across a number of industries."

A significant skills gap exists in the information science field. In response to this growing need, Microsoft designed its pilot curriculum to evangelize the critical skills and experiences that are required for success in the data scientific discipline field. Since May 2016, over 200 pioneering partner and 650 Microsoft employees have been participating in a airtight preview to evaluate and validate this new data science curriculum.

"At Microsoft, we believe the approach and tools used for learning need to continually evolve to see the demands of our device-axial and data-driven world. This is a world where both technical and functional skills are becoming increasingly disquisitional across all careers and vocations," said Alison Cunard, general manager, Microsoft Learning Experiences. "The breadth and versatility of the edX platform allow us to expand our attain and deliver the Microsoft Professional Degree plan, combining online learning with hands-on labs and workshops, allowing students to gain relevant and marketable skills."

Learning partners including DDLS, Fast Lane, NIIT Ltd. and QA Ltd. have been evaluating the platform and curriculum since May.

"We are very excited about this new opportunity to scale up our online learning offerings and evangelize cutting-edge skills in emerging areas of the digital transformation wave sweeping beyond organizations worldwide," said Rahul Keshav Patwardhan, CEO, NIIT.

The MPD program is designed as both a catalyst for individuals in the early stages of their career and an enhancement for mid-career professionals looking to sharpen and larn new skills to go along their success in the dynamic loftier-tech job market. Students will get experience with real-world data, using tools from Microsoft and the open source community that range from Excel, Power BI and Cortana Analytics to R and Python.

"Nosotros see this as a fantastic opportunity to provide what our customers take increasingly been asking for, real-world skills — both conceptual and technical — that prepare people to succeed in 21st century careers," said Torsten Poels, CEO and chairman of the lath, Fast Lane.

The data science curriculum is now available on edX.org. More information is available at https://aka.ms/lexdsc.

Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-kickoff, deject-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more

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