Dive Brief:

• The Holberton School, named for female programming pioneer Betty Holberton, aims to increase diversity in the software field and ready students for high-paying jobs.
• The French startup expects the European model to engage students through an experience that replicates real-world employment and forces students to work together, solving programming challenges using their own ingenuity rather than teachers’ instructions.
• The Holberton School raised $2 million in a seed round and has the support of more than 70 mentors from leading tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM, and Yahoo.

Dive Insight:

The Holberton School is accepting applicants now for a cohort that will start in January. Its classes will have no formal teachers and no formal courses throughout the two-year program. Students will, however, have the benefit of mentors from its tech partner companies. Learning is project-centered and students will face problems of increasing difficulty throughout their program, preparing them for workplace tasks. The inaugural class will get free tuition and students need not have any high school or other academic credentials to apply. Its founders expect Holberton School to be a viable alternative to coding bootcamps, online programs, and even traditional programming degrees. Its first cohort will attend free of tuition.