Almost 50,000 Students Take Part in Medellín’s Free English & Digital Skills Training

The first semester of training at Ciudadela Digital Medellín successfully concluded with strong public response. This strategy, led by the Mayor’s Office of Medellín through Sapiencia, aims to promote fourth industrial revolution skills. A total of 47,859 people enrolled in free online English and digital skills courses.

The offering was delivered in three sessions during the semester. The first course had 17,008 enrollments, the second 1,512, exclusively for the public in five district departments, and the third, recently completed, had 29,339 participants, exceeding enrollment expectations in each of them.

“These results demonstrate citizens’ interest in accessing relevant, free, and high-quality training. From the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, through Sapiencia, we continue to open doors so that more people can prepare and take advantage of the opportunities that today’s job market demands,” said Carolina Rendón Arenas, deputy director of post-secondary education management at Sapiencia.

Of the 15 courses offered, the most in-demand were Basic and Intermediate English with 14,173 enrollments; Intermediate and Advanced Excel (8,972); Preparing Businesses for Digital Marketing (3,736); Data Science and Engineering (2,589); Business Intelligence (BI) (2,544); Create Your Own AI (2,468).
Digital Tools and Office Automation (1,827), among others.

Medellín’s Ciudadela Digital (Digital Citadel) will open its next call for applications on August 4 at noon. Three additional free training offerings are planned for the second half of the year. Sapiencia’s goal is to benefit more than 100,000 people throughout the four years with training in digital skills, bilingualism, and creative and cultural industries.

Photo credit: City of Medellín.