Google, Udacity Partner for 1,000 Android Nanodegree Scholarships in India

Search giant Google and Tata Trusts on Monday launched a programme in partnership with Udacity under which 1,000 Android Nanodegree scholarships will be offered to developers.

The Android Nanodegree is an education credential that is designed to help developers learn new skills and advance their careers in a few months from anywhere on any device at their own pace.

Google said India being the second largest developer population in the world with three million software developers, has the potential to become the #1 (number one) developer population by 2018, with four million developers.

"While India has millions of software developers, we still lag behind in creating world-class apps. Today, only 2 percent of apps built in India feature in the top 1,000 apps globally and our goal is to raise this to 10 percent in the next three years," Google South East Asia and India, VP and Managing Director, Rajan Anandan said in a statement.

The Udacity Android Nanodegree programme comprises of courses developed and taught by expert Google instructors from the Google Developer Relations team and will include project reviews, mentorship and career services from Udacity.

The curriculum will be updated regularly with new releases and will provide developers with a certificate that will help them to become a more marketable Android developer.

Tata Trusts and Google will give 500 Nanodegree scholarships each. The programme, which is open for enrollment right now, takes an average of 6-9 months and costs Rs. 9,800 per month with Udacity refunding 50 percent of the tuition upon completion.

"With over 381 million Internet-enabled mobile phone subscriptions in India, there is a growing demand for the Internet as a multi-purpose solution provider," Tata Trusts Development Manager Ganesh Neelam said.