Apple today announced that it is expanding its “Everyone Can Code” initiative to 70 colleges and universities in Europe, bringing its syllabus focused on app-making with Swift to more users outside of the U.S.
The expansion covers educational institutes in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland and Portugal.
Apple highlights several specific institutions in its press release, of which by far the biggest is the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where 34,000 students will be offered the chance to use Apple’s curriculum.
“Coding is an essential skill for today’s workforce, and through Everyone Can Code, we’re giving people around the world the power to learn, write and teach coding,” said Tim Cook in a statement. “Since launching ‘Everyone Can Code’ two years ago, we’ve seen growing excitement for the initiative from schools around the world, who are increasingly incorporating the curriculum into their classrooms.”
Apple’s announcement also notes that the tech sector is one of the fastest-growing industries across Europe, and that the app economy has generated 1.36 million jobs there. Since the launch of the App Store, Apple says it has paid out nearly $18 billion to developers across Europe.
Expanding outside the U.S.
Apple first expanded its “Everyone Can Code” initiative outside the U.S. late last year, when it introduced it in 20 different international universities across Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.K.
Apple has also taken steps to promote international code literacy by launching an App Accelerator in India, teaching locals to code, as well as making similar classes available for free inside Apple Stores.
