42 School
“Learning to learn, without teachers or tuition.”
About 42 School
42 is a global network of programming schools founded in Paris in 2013 by entrepreneur Xavier Niel. Its model breaks all traditional paradigms: no teachers, no lectures, no textbooks, no tuition. Students learn from each other (peer-to-peer) by completing increasingly complex projects on a gamified platform. Selection is done through "La Piscine", an intensive one-month process that evaluates learning ability, not prior knowledge. It currently has over 50 campuses worldwide, including Madrid, Málaga, Urduliz and Barcelona.
“We don't teach you to code. We teach you to learn, and that's what you'll need for the rest of your life.”
Numbers that speak
54,000+
students trained across the network since 2013
50+
campuses across 30+ countries worldwide
100%
employment rate after completing the common core (42 Paris internal data)
12%
of graduates have founded or co-founded their own companies
€0
tuition — completely free, all resources provided on campus
24/7
campus access — no fixed timetable, self-paced learning
Impact and recognition
Over 50 campuses across 5 continents
Completely free model funded by Xavier Niel and partners
Recognized by Google, Microsoft, Tesla as a talent pipeline
Campuses in Spain: Madrid, Málaga, Urduliz and Barcelona
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