Google and Apple are courting the education sector with new tools for students

The new semester is fast approaching and Big Tech is wasting no time in bringing the education sector a swathe of new offerings. With this in mind, Google has announced it’s expanding its college search feature, which it introduced a little over a year ago.

While the feature previously made it possible to sift through a slew of four-year programs, Search engineer Sitaram Iyer announced the function now also pulls results for “two-year colleges, and popular certificate and associate programs available at four-year institutions.”

For those new to college search, the tool works similarly to Google’s job search feature, but with a focus on helping students find a university that suits their interests and professional aspirations. The curated university information will show up directly under search results, when you look up a college (it does seem to be limited to US users, though).

Here’s what the updated layout looks like:

Available for both desktop and mobile, college search lets you explore a breadth of university programs, and compare details like cost, graduation rates, and campus culture.

Most of the data is sourced from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the Big G says.

Google, Apple, and education tech

The college search feature is one of several new additions to Google’s suite of education tools.

Earlier this week, the company introduced Assignments, an app that fuses the functionalities of Google Docs, Drive, and Search to help teachers streamline the grading process. Next to Assignments, it also announced a suite of tools – dubbed Classroom – aimed at helping students identify research gaps, boost collaboration, and improve communication with teachers.

Google isn’t the only tech giant taking aim at the education sector, though.

On August 13, 2019, Apple revealed that over 100,000 college students will now be able to use their iPhones and Apple Watches as contactless IDs, so they can enter their dorms and buy lunch without the need to carry a physical wallet around.

Among other campuses, the feature will be available at Georgetown University, Duke University, and Johns Hopkins University.