Microsoft and Udacity have formed a new partnership to offer a new microcredential that will equip learners with valuable skills to pursue a career in Artificial Intelligence or Data Science. There are 300 Scholarship places available to students who excel at a free introductory course on Azure Machine Learning. 

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As you have probably noticed, these days Microsoft is mostly focused on AI. It is also pretty busy in the area of Artificial Intelligence, These two interests converge in Azure Machine Learning which, according to the launch announcement made in 2014 aims to:

bring together the capabilities of new analytics tools, powerful algorithms developed for Microsoft products like Xbox and Bing, and years of machine learning experience into one simple and easy-to-use cloud service.

While Azure Machine Learning is now established, the learning materials based on it from Microsoft and Udacity are completely new. According to Julia White, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure, it has been made available in response to demand for introductory machine learning content that doesn’t require advanced programming knowledge.

To start there is a free course based on the Azure Machine Learning service:

This Introduction to machine learning on Azure course will help students learn the basics of ML through a low-code experience powered by Azure Machine Learning’s automated ML and drag-and-drop capabilities. 

This will be followed up with a new Nanodegree Program - Machine Learning with Microsoft Azure in which students will further enhance their skills by building and deploying sophisticated ML solutions using popular open source tools and frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, and ONNX.

According to Udacity, over the four months of the nanodegree, learners will strengthen their machine learning skills by building sophisticated machine learning models, such as time series forecasting and hyper parameter tuning, claiming:

This program will offer world-class curriculum, integrated Azure labs for a smooth learning curve, a groundbreaking classroom experience, industry-leading instructors, thorough project reviews, and a full suite of career services.

Applications are now invited for the Machine Learning Scholarship Program for Microsoft Azure. This involves filling in a series of forms asking for Background Information, Prerequisite Knowledge, Goals and agreeing to terms and conditions. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age.

By way of pre-requisites the scholarship program is for learners who have programming knowledge in Python, and are comfortable writing scripts, performing loop operations, etc. Having a background in beginning level statistics will also be helpful for understanding and deploying the ML models.

More Information

Announcing Azure Machine Learning scholarships and courses with Udacity

Udacity Program Catalog   

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Udacity Offers Free Access To Nanodegree Programs

New Udacity Web Developer Nanodegrees 

The Benefits of A Udacity Nanodegree 

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