In a strategic move, upGrad, online higher education company has partnered with WeWork, leading space-as-a-service platform, to expand its interactive programs nationally. Through this association, upGrad will leverage WeWork’s large members base to introduce industry-relevant programs and higher learning to the workplace, with an objective of enhancing member experiences and advancing their professional journeys. WeWork members across all locations in India would now be able to access a minimum 10% discount on upGrad programs, no commitment trials, free personalised career counselling, mock interview and resume screening among other benefits.
To further encourage knowledge transfer of relevant industry skills, experts in fields such as Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Product Management will periodically conduct interactive webinars for WeWork members. These webinars will be a platform for members to interact with the experts and get a first-hand look into current industry trends. Apart from this, focussed hackathons would also be conducted at WeWork locations to help domain experts collaborate extensively on various projects.
50% of WeWork’s members in India are enterprises. Keeping this in mind, the alliance would also host enterprise focused career fairs and base camps on relevant topics. These forums would encourage networking, extending learnings and opportunities from members who are part of WeWork’s extensive enterprise base, paving the way towards collaborative learning for all. Additionally, these programs would also serve as L&D programs for enterprise members, helping them engage, attract and retain top talent housed in WeWork’s workspaces.
Elaborating on the partnership, Gaurav Kumar, President- Corporate Development upGrad says, “Our new journey with WeWork will bring forth an immersive learning experience for their employees. With industry-ready programs and accurate domain knowledge, upGrad commits to perfect the economic imbalance of adequately required workforce vs the current supply. All our deep learning programs, Life Long Learning-related content on the app and other social media platforms are designed to embellish the hard and soft skills of working professionals, thereby enhancing their employability quotient. With our outcome-based learning approach, we have seen 20,000+ working professionals’ transition in their careers and we look forward to creating another benchmark with this alliance coming into force.”
According to Karan Virwani, CEO, WeWork India joining hands with upGrad will encourage its members to upskill themselves by accessing valuable insights shared by industry experts. “We believe this association will benefit those who are looking to advance their professional growth, no matter who they are, or what they are currently pursuing. Our ultimate goal is to create a highly engaging, collaborative and positive learning environment for all our members and this partnership brings us closer to achieving this,” he adds.
