The computer programming school 42 Nice and Crédit Agricole Côte d’Azur officially announced their partnership on November 30th.
42 Nice, part of the 42 network created in 2013 by Xavier Niel, is a free computer programming school with a revolutionary format. Without any teachers, learning is based on peer-to-peer collaboration, allowing anyone to access the training without any prior IT background, requiring only motivation. The school is also open continuously (24/7), allowing each student to learn at their own pace.
While this learning system may be surprising, it seems to be very effective as Rachid Abarki, president of 42, assures that 100% of students are employed upon completion of the training.
The Partnership
What seems to have brought 42 Nice and Crédit Agricole together is the sharing of common values. Rachid Abarki and Stéphane Benoussaid, marketing director of Crédit Agricole Côte d’Azur, emphasize these values that brought them together – sharing, mutual assistance, support for learning, and digital inclusion.
Both parties are working towards the same goal: “develop the territory, in service of the territory, for the territory.” Stéphane Benoussaid also admits that this partnership represents “a great responsibility” for Crédit Agricole Côte d’Azur. Indeed, since 42 Nice is a free school, it needs partners. Thus, Crédit Agricole enables the school to “accomplish its project.”
The bank’s marketing director adds that “the proximity to 42 Nice makes perfect sense as in France, 11 million people regularly use the mobile application or the website of Crédit Agricole.”
And what about the students?
42 Nice consists of nearly 250 students with an average age of 24, 60% of whom have never done coding before. This school also sees 30% of students deciding to start their own business project after completing the training.
According to some students, one of the current school cohorts consists of approximately 115 boys and only 7 or 8 girls. The lack of girls is “the great regret” of the school, according to its director Rachid Abarki, who hopes to reach 33% female students in the upcoming school term.
Finally, for the students, this partnership with Crédit Agricole represents an “employability opportunity” after finishing the training.
