As the new academic year approaches, we’re announcing a suite of new features in Google Colab designed for higher education data science instructors and their students. The academic community has unique needs when it comes to a coding platform — so here’s what’s new for students and educators.
Free one-year Pro subscriptions for students and faculty
We are giving faculty and students at U.S.-based higher education institutions a limited number of free, one-year Colab Pro subscriptions. This initiative is meant to make it easier to get better computational resources. This will make it possible to analyze more complicated data, train models faster, and have a better time in your data science classes. These free subscriptions are available to anyone who can verify their identity as a faculty member or student at a U.S.-based higher education institution. See our FAQ for more. To begin the verification process and claim your free Colab Pro subscription, simply visit our sign up page (look for the button labeled “No cost to students and educators”). Live code execution in slide show mode Slideshow Mode is designed to eliminate the need to juggle multiple tools during a lecture. It allows you to effortlessly convert your Colab notebooks into interactive presentations — plus, you can execute code directly within the slide view. This means you can demonstrate concepts, run live examples, walk through code and explain results all from a single, familiar environment, making your lessons more dynamic and engaging.
a way to enable or disable AI features on each notebook We have taken into consideration your comments that AI features like inline autocompletion can occasionally impede learning, particularly from instructors teaching introductory courses. Previously, students often had to manually disable AI features at the start of each class to ensure a foundational learning experience. Now, you can toggle visibility of AI features at the notebook level. This means professors can set this preference for an entire notebook, ensuring a consistent default environment for all students and saving valuable class time. This lets learners focus on the core concepts without distraction.
We believe these new features will significantly enhance the data science learning and teaching experience in Google Colab. Here’s to a successful and inspiring 2026 school year for all teachers and students!