Udacity partners with Paytm, 1mg, Zomato and Didi Chuxing

NEW DELHI: In a bid to accelerate the global skilling and ed-tech revolution, Udacity, leader in disruptive learning technologies, made three major announcements at their annual conference Udacity Intersect, in Mountain View, California. The company announced the launch of two new innovative Nanodegree Programs- Robotics and Digital Marketing for students across the globe. They also announced a series of partnerships with global leading players in various sectors like Didi Chuxing, Paytm, 1mg, Zomato and others.

Robotics and automation today has opened up a plethora of opportunities for both entrepreneurs and students in India and abroad. Industries across a range of sectors such as automotive, atomic energy, defence, space, metals, textiles and manufacturing are using robotic technologies very extensively these days.Therefore, given the fast rising demand for skilled robotic engineers, the launch of the Robotics nanodegree will focus on numerous robotics applications, and feature a curriculum developed with top robotics engineers.The program will enable students to learn robotics fundamentals such as navigation, perception, artificial intelligence, and hardware control.

On the other hand, with increased internet usage over the last few years, the digital and social media landscape in India has witnessed a paradigm shift. As per the study of IBFE on ‘India’s Advertising and Marketing Industry’, the digital marketing spend has grown at 33% annually between 2010 and 2016. About 87 per cent brands are leveraging digital and 38 per cent of them are allocating a whopping 1/3rd of their budget to digital marketing. Therefore, there is huge demand for seasoned professionals who keep refreshing themselves on latest digital strategies and tools. The launch of the Digital Marketing Nanodegree is well timed, and with it students will get an opportunity to run actual, live campaigns,analyze results, and develop their ability to present actionable insights in meaningful ways.

The third announcement is one of the most important wherein Udacity has partnered with Didi Chuxing, China's dominant ride-hailing company. The collaboration is to encourage students to build codes for self driving cars and provide them an opportunity to meet the experts in the industry,

Commenting on the developments, Shernaz Daver, Chief Marketing Officer, Udacity International, said, “Worldwide spending on robotics is set to hit $135.4 billion in 2019, with a CAGR of 17%; the average market salary for a digital marketer is $104K and over $70 billion is being spent on digital advertising in the U.S. alone, and this number is expected to grow by over 40% in the next four years. In a scenario like this, where there is an increased demand for skilled talents, we are excited to collaborate with industry leaders as our hiring partners, providing our students an opportunity to fast track their carriers for job consideration at top companies in their respective fields.”

Adding to this Ishan Gupta, MD India, Udacity, said, “The job scenario in India is currently far from being favorable and with a slow season expected on recruitment and appraisals, employees in IT sector are looking at upskilling/re-skilling themselves. With our new courses and tie up with hiring partners, we are confident that our students will be able to take on the roles reserved for the best in the industry.”

The industry hiring partners for Robotics Nanodegree Program include X, Megabots, iRobot, Bosch, Kuka, Lockheed Martin and Uber ATG. Google, Facebook, Hootsuite, Hubspot, MailChimp, and Moz have contributed in content for the Digital Marketing Nanodegree Programme.