Last month, Apple said that it will release $5 million as grants to four historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The grant is reportedly intended to improve the engineering programs taught at the universities. Specifically, the goal is to expand the courses that teach designing of chips that power smartphones, laptops, desktops, etc.
The $5 million grant from Apple is destined to reach four universities namely Alabama A&M University, Howard University (Washington, DC), Morgan State University (Baltimore), and Prairie View A&M University (Texas). The grant is to be released over the course of three years.
To improve education quality and economic quality
Last year, Apple announced a new initiative to tackle the problems of racial injustice. As part of the initiative, the company said that it will dedicate $100 million in the first round of grants to help improve the situation in the United States of America (USA).
“The initiative will challenge the systemic barriers to opportunity and dignity that exists for communities of color and particular for the black community,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook last year. Apple is confident that its new initiatives will show results in the country by tackling the issues right from the early years of education.
Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative program is being headed by the company’s VP Lisa Jackson. The company had said last year that its initiative will help promote racial equity. The initiative will mainly focus on improving education, criminal justice reform, and economic quality.
Apple designs its chips for the iPhone and the iPad in-house. The company is also expected to design all the chips for the Mac by 2022, it has already released the first chip for the Mac – the M1. It is a field where it will be beneficial for both the company and the current crop of black students to have more resources to study which will help the students become experts in the industry.
