Vodafone offers free online learning resources to support customers

Vodafone Foundation expands digital learning platforms to help children in Europe and Africa

Vodafone is making a new range of online educational and training support available to customers and employees for free, including online e-learning courses from Udemy and extended access to Perlego’s online library of academic text books and publications as part of Vodafone’s commitment to support society during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone’s philanthropic arm, is also widening the reach of its digital learning platforms that already bring curriculum-based quality education to over a million out-of-school learners across the globe.

Vodafone has partnered with Udemy – the world’s largest destination for online courses – to make available a curated selection of more than 150 free online video courses covering business and productivity, technology, personal development and wellness.

In addition, Vodafone customers will also be offered six weeks free access to Perlego, the world’s largest online academic and professional library allowing people to learn anything, anytime. Perlego offers a growing library of 300,000+ titles from the leading educational publishers, in addition to mainstream publications on management and business.

Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said: “With so many of us at home during these difficult times, we want to ensure that our customers and employees have the opportunity to practice new skills and extend their learning and development. Vodafone will be offering customers free access to some of the best online learning resources, giving them the chance to learn and develop while away from their offices, colleges and schools.”

Both offers will be progressively rolled out to Vodafone customers in Europe and Africa from 1 April 2020, with Vodafone markets announcing the services via e-mail, SMS and the My Vodafone app.

Vodafone has also made a wide selection of additional e-learning courses available to its own employees, including programmes to improve home working and managing teams remotely in addition to courses on building resilience and managing stress. Vodafone is also encouraging employees to develop their technology and project management skills online and has offered free access to popular adult language learning courses.

Vodafone Foundation helps young people continue their education

In Africa, more than 1.1 million young people are accessing free online learning materials through the Instant Schools and Vodacom e-school programmes. These digital learning platforms are endorsed as a recommended tool for home learners in Ghana, DRC, Tanzania and in South Africa where 76,000 new subscribers have registered to use e-School this month.

In Europe, primary school users of Vodafone Spain Foundation’s DigiCraft digital skills programme have doubled in a week, whilst in Romania, 97% of students with remote access to ‘School in a Box’ continue to participate in class. In Greece, the Foundation are enhancing their Generation Next platform – which has supported 61,000 adolescent learners to date – to include visual classrooms and online labs to challenge students to participate in ‘DIY’ STEM activities from home.

Andrew Dunnett, Vodafone’s Group Director of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Sustainable Business and Foundations, said: “As the COVID-19 outbreak prevents millions of children around the world from attending school, digital learning platforms assume an even greater importance, ensuring children continue to develop and equip themselves for a brighter future. We remain committed to working with our partners to enable as many young people as possible to continue their education.”

Through Instant Network Schools, Vodafone Foundation is also the largest connected education partner of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The digital learning programme has connected more than 86,500 refugee students to a quality education to date, and will be scaled over the next 5 years to benefit half a million young refugees, host communities and their teachers, improving the quality of education in some of the most marginalised communities in Africa.

For further information:

Vodafone Group

Media Relations Investor Relations
www.vodafone.com/media/contact ir@vodafone.co.uk

About Vodafone Group

Vodafone Group is one of the world’s leading telecoms and technology service providers. We have extensive experience in connectivity, convergence and the Internet of Things, as well as championing mobile financial services and digital transformation in emerging markets.

Vodafone Group has mobile operations in 23 countries, partners with mobile networks in 42 more, and fixed broadband operations in 18 markets. As of 30 September 2019, Vodafone Group had approximately 625 million mobile customers, 27 million fixed broadband customers and 22 million TV customers, including all of the customers in Vodafone’s joint ventures and associates. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.

About Vodafone Foundation

Vodafone Foundation is at the centre of a network of global and local social investment programmes. Vodafone Foundation’s Connecting for Good programme combines charitable giving and technology to make a difference in the world. Vodafone Foundation is an independent UK registered charity, registered charity number 1089625.

About Perlego

Perlego is an online library that gives students and independent learners unlimited access to over 300,000 professional and academic titles. Perlego's mission is to make educational material more universally accessible and affordable. On Perlego, readers can learn from the best books in Business, Social Sciences, Psychology amongst hundreds of other topics. Founded in 2016 in London, Perlego now works with over 2800 of the world's leading publishers including Pearson, Wiley and Bloomsbury.

About Udemy

With a mission to improve lives through learning, Udemy is the world’s largest online learning destination that helps students, businesses, and governments gain the skills they need to compete in today’s economy. Millions of students are mastering new skills from 57,000 expert instructors teaching over 150,000 online courses in topics from programming and data science to leadership and team building. For companies, Udemy for Business offers an employee training and development platform with subscription access to 4,000+ courses, learning analytics, as well as the ability to host and distribute their own content. Udemy for Government is designed to upskill workers and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. Eighty percent of Fortune 100 companies trust Udemy for employee upskilling. Udemy is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Denver, Brazil, India, Ireland, and Turkey. Udemy investors include Insight Partners, Prosus (Naspers Ventures), Norwest Venture Partners, and Stripes.