Expanding Free Access to Computer Science Education in New Markets

Amid the growing gap between the demand for computer science skills in the workforce and available computer science education curriculum in schools,¹ Code.org, an education innovation nonprofit, was formed. The organization, dedicated to providing all students the opportunity to learn computer science for free as part of their core K-12 education, has been working to close that gap. According to research, access to computer science education, especially in low-income countries, will create a more equitable, global society.²

Situation

While Code.org has become a well-recognized resource for computer science education in schools across North America, its brand did not have the resources or organizational support to make the same impact globally. The organization saw an opportunity to expand its influence more broadly, particularly as Code.org’s free resources have become the go-to content for computer science education curriculum in North America. Seeing an opportunity to scale its influence globally, Code.org began a partnership with FTI Consulting’s Dubai-based Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment to help bring their curriculum to countries across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) region.

Our Role

FTI Consulting is partnering with Code.org to identify new countries that would largely benefit from including Code.org’s curriculum into their existing education system, and to help facilitate and project manage new relationships. To integrate into a new geography, FTI Consulting is working with the Ministries of Education, Communications and Information Technology, as well as other government entities, to create country-specific plans which each take the following four-pillar approach:

Understanding the curricula — FTI Consulting analyzes the current state of computer science education in each country and proposes a five-year plan to the Ministry of Education that would result in country-wide integration of Code.org’s curriculum.
Raising awareness — Code.org and FTI Consulting are raising awareness by leveraging influential figures, public campaigns and key events including Code.org’s flagship Hour of Code bootcamp.
Training educators — FTI Consulting is working to create public and private partnerships that will help fund scholarships to train teachers on Code.org’s resources.
Measuring success — FTI Consulting will collaborate with each country to measure agreed-upon key performance indicators to ensure Code.org’s resources are actively working toward their mission.

“Striving to give every child around the world an opportunity to learn coding and computer science is a very ambitious goal, but the impact will be colossal in terms of its ability to develop critical expertise and provide access to the increasingly highly-skilled world of work. At FTI Consulting, we are fully committed to this effort.” — Alberto Pamias, Senior Managing Director, Corporate Finance and Restructuring

Our Impact

Since the project launched, the FTI Consulting team has dedicated over 4,000 hours to the Code.org expansion project as of September 2023.
In the first year, FTI Consulting has garnered interest from more than 20 countries and issued 15 Memorandum of Understandings to various government agencies and private companies. This includes the formal launching of Code.org in the UAE.
As part of their partnership with the UAE, Code.org will be hosting an Hour of Code session at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (“COP28”) in November 2023.
While FTI Consulting is making progress in bringing Code.org’s resources to the EMEA region, both organizations are committed to furthering the mission that every child around the world has free access to computer science education.

Footnotes:

1: Link

2: Link