Microsoft, in partnership with LinkedIn, has plans to train 10 million people around the world, offering free online courses for the main areas of market demand.

This week, Microsoft, alongside LinkedIn, announced the launch of new free online courses of the “Paths to learn skills for employment” program, which aims to develop skills and train 10 million people around the world. The initiative consists of free access to more than 350 courses and six new Certifications Microsoft introductory. Through the program, companies will also make globally available 50 subscriptions to LinkedIn Premium.

More than 1,3 million Brazilians approved in free courses 

In Brazil, as part of this Microsoft and LinkedIn initiative, 1 million people have already benefited from the free online courses since July 2020 in various training courses offered by both companies.

Key learning paths were Digital Literacy and Productivity, Power Apps, Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals, Power BI, Azure Fundamentals, Power Platform Fundamentals, Introduction to C#, Team Collaboration Management with Microsoft 365, and Security Threat Protection Security with Microsoft 365.

In this new stage, as part of the commitment to national economic advancement and to promoting the training and retraining of the workforce in Brazil through technology, the free Microsoft and LinkedIn courses also provide content in Portuguese.

In total, there are 63 courses in the local language, totally free, on the Microsoft 365, Project Management, Work Optimization, Data Analytics, Digital Literacy, Fundamentals for Business Analysis, among others. Much of the content will be available for download, with exercises, lesson plans, tests and quizzes that can be taken on demand.

In addition, another 48 free courses with certification will be available directly through the LinkedIn platform.

To register, simply access this link

Free open online courses focus on LinkedIn demand

Using data from LinkedIn itself and the Burning Glass Institute, Microsoft analyzed job listings to point out the six most in-demand positions, which are: Project Manager, Administrative Assistant, Business Analyst, Systems Administrator, Data Analyst and Software Developer .

The new free and certified courses will be available in seven languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese and Japanese. This expansion is based on the commitment of Microsoft and LinkedIn in supporting inclusive economic opportunities so that students around the world have equal access to the skills, opportunities and technologies needed to succeed in a digital economy.

According to the president of Microsoft Brazil, Tânia Cosentino, the company has partnered with LinkedIn on its journey to provide training opportunities and knows there is much more to do.

Now and in the future, much of the modern workforce will need to learn or possess digital skills to perform in high-demand jobs and be prepared for an increasingly dynamic economy.

Companies speak out

Through this new program of free courses and with the support of strategic partnerships with the public sector and non-profit organizations, it is possible to contribute to offering training courses to society and increasing the chances of employability of Brazilians at scale.

“The expectation is to offer opportunities for millions of people to learn the skills most necessary for success in the digital economy”, says Cosentino. 

For the Director General of LinkedIn from Latin America, Milton Beck, continuous learning is a necessary skill in this scenario of constant changes in which there is a greater demand for qualification of the workforce to deal with emerging technologies.