google ireland and Bank of Ireland have partnered to offer up to 10,000 fully-funded scholarships. Google AI Professional Certification Delivered to Bank of Ireland’s SME customers to upskill their workforce with the aim of helping Irish SMEs leverage AI in their day-to-day operations.
This scholarship is available through the Grow with Google program and covers the cost of the Google AI Professional Certificate offered through Coursera. This training is aimed at non-technical professionals and can be completed online, asynchronously, and at the learner’s own pace.
Vanessa Hartley, vice president of EMEA LCS and head of Google Ireland, announced the partnership in a LinkedIn post, saying it aims to provide companies with practical AI skills rather than “heavy theory.”
Mr Hartley said: “We launched this partnership to provide Irish businesses with the practical skills they need to embed AI directly into their day-to-day operations.”
The ThinkBusiness FAQ states that there are “up to 10,000 licenses available to businesses and their staff.” The program includes 7 courses, 20+ activities, and 90 days of free extended access to Google AI Pro.
Training for unskilled workers
The Google AI Professional Certification is positioned as a practical course for executives and employees without a background in coding or computer science.
According to ThinkBusiness FAQ, the curriculum is “explicitly built for non-technical professionals” and uses “everyday conversational English” to help learners apply AI to workplace tasks such as data entry, client reports, and marketing materials.
This course is structured around seven modules that each take approximately one hour to complete. According to the FAQ, a full certificate will be completed within 10 hours.
The scholarship will cover the full cost of the Coursera program and Google AI Professional Certification for eligible Irish SMEs and their employees. Learners who complete all seven courses will receive a Google Certification.
ThinkBusiness says the offer has “no hidden fees or penalties” and describes it as a “direct investment in the digital literacy of the nation.”
No AI experience required. The first course is designed to give learners a foundation in AI skills before moving on to workplace use such as research, writing, data analysis, and app building.
7 courses covering research, writing, data, and app building
The certificate starts with AI fundamentals and covers important AI concepts and prompts. Later modules will focus on using AI for brainstorming, planning, research, writing, communication, content creation, data analysis, and app building.
For research and insight, learners are introduced to tools such as Deep Research and NotebookLM to generate overviews, pressure test ideas, and support decision making. The writing and communication module involves converting rough notes into messages to various stakeholders, anticipating questions and concerns, and preparing presentations.
The content creation module focuses on images, videos, and presentations. The data analysis course covers unstructured data, visualization, formulas, and Google Sheets Gemini.
The app building module introduces “vibe coding” and positions app building as a practical workplace skill for non-technical employees. This training is designed to help staff build simple custom tools for repetitive tasks without writing code.
Mr Hartley said participants will also be provided with a “ready-to-use digital toolkit for your business to help automate invoicing, administration and communications”.
Includes access to Google AI Pro
The scholarship includes three months of extended access to Google AI Pro, giving participating SMEs time to apply the training within their own workflows after earning the certificate.
Hartley said the package includes “three months of extended access to Google AI Pro for experimentation,” along with a digital toolkit designed to help businesses automate tasks such as invoicing, administration and communications.
According to ThinkBusiness, access to Google AI Pro is intended to enable teams to “smoothly deploy what they learn,” including using deep research capabilities and text and image tools within their everyday workspace applications.
According to ThinkBusiness, registration can be done by eligible small business customers of Bank of Ireland and takes less than two minutes. Mr Hartley thanked Laura Lynch and the team for making what she called “Ireland’s first partnership” a reality.
