FIRST TIME ABROAD: Udacity thinks the future will be written in code. And so the MOOC provider is expanding to a country that it says “has the potential to have the #1 developer population by 2018.” The Mountain View, CA-based company has partnered with Google and Tata Trust, a Mumbai-based philanthropy, to make its Nanodegree programs available in India. Udacity will also put boots on the ground and set up a local office led by Clarissa Shen, one of its earliest employees.
To celebrate its first overseas operation, Udacity will offer 1,000 full scholarships to its Nanodegree program in Android development, courtesy of Google and Tata Trusts. Standard tuition for any of the seven Nanodegrees will run 9,800 rupees (approximately US $149) per month, with a 50 percent rebate after completion. Each program, on average, takes six to nine months to complete.
Udacity’s choice to expand to India may simply be a matter of meeting demand. In an accompanying blog post, the company states: “Over the last year, we have seen enrollments in India more than double across our free courses and increase 5x for our Nanodegree program.” Over 10,000 students across the world have enrolled in a Nanodegree program since it was first announced in June 2014.
