Maren Gräf, Škoda Auto Board Member for People & Culture, says: “The opening of the non-profit educational institute 42 Prague marks a milestone for the entire IT education sector in the Czech Republic. The innovative learning concept, involving peer learning, without teachers and a campus open 24/7 – has clearly struck a chord. Congratulations to everyone who got through the selection training! With Škoda Auto being a founding partner, we are proud and delighted that the campus has now opened its doors to the inaugural students. Throughout their studies at the non-profit educational institute 42 Prague, I wish them joy, success and interesting new insights. A huge thank you to the organisation team who worked tirelessly to coordinate the opening and also to all co-founding partners supporting 42 Prague with us.”
Christian Schenk, Škoda Auto Board Member for Finance and IT, adds: “The world of work is changing fundamentally. It’s becoming faster, more digital and more international, especially in the IT sector. To keep pace in the future, flexibility, teamwork and fun with innovations are needed in addition to comprehensive hard skills. The new curriculum teaches all these competences and optimally prepares graduates for their professional entry and further careers. I’m pleased that Škoda Auto will be able to count on these highly trained IT talents amid the transformation of our company in the future.”
No teachers, classes or books
The learning model of the non-profit educational institute co-founded by Škoda Auto challenges conventional practice. The non-profit educational institute 42 Prague relies on three approaches: gamification (i.e. each student’s progress is measured in levels), peer learning (i.e. the students learn together, independently and collaboratively on projects) and peer evaluation (i.e. the students correct each other and promote a constructive exchange about project results). After eight to twelve months of basic studies, most students take a paid internship. They then decide on a specialisation for the remainder of their studies. After a total of two to four years, they receive a Software Engineering certification.
Daria Hvížďalová, CEO 42 Prague, says: “Our non-profit educational institute offers its students excellent opportunities to contribute and make the most of their respective talents. They will experiment with projects and test their skills in internships. Thanks to the innovative, flexible and practice-oriented curriculum, each student will have unique experiences and choose different specialisations. In this way, they will end up with a wide range of individual skills to bring to the world of work.”
Peter Podprocky, COO of 42 Prague, explains: “In concrete terms, the curriculum starts with the basics. The students learn the C programming language, the UNIX operating system and other fundamental programming concepts. With this foundation, they can then work intensively on projects together and learn new programming languages and technologies. To this end, the non-profit educational 42 Prague campus is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has cutting-edge technology to provide students with the best possible learning environment.”
Continuous development of the curriculum
The time-tested curriculum of the first Ecole 42 in Paris is now used at all 42 campuses worldwide. It was created in 2013 by seasoned computer science professionals in France and has since been continuously developed and updated on a monthly basis by teachers and students.