Google offers 1.3 lakh scholarships to upskill Indian developers in latest technologies

Aiming to build a highly skilled tech workforce in India, Google partners with Pluralsight and Udacity to provide training in emerging technologies like Mobile and Web Development, Machine Learning, AR/VR, AI, and Cloud Platforms.

In July last year, Google announced Android Skilling and Certification programme to train around 2 million Indian developers in Android Development over the next three years.

One year and five months down the line, Google India has partnered with technology learning platform Pluralsight and online education company Udacity for a new scholarship programme. The tech giant unveiled the initiative on November 23, 2017, in New Delhi, announcing that will train 1.3 lakh developers and students in emerging technologies like Mobile and Web Development, Machine Learning, AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Platforms.

The new scholarship programme is an extension of Google’s Android Skilling programme.

In this joint effort, Google will sponsor 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight technology learning platform and 30,000 Scholarships on Udacity to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in emerging technologies.

R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom, said: “All tech firms have responded favourably to the market requirement for re-skilling and many companies are actively working to actualise these requirements internally. This scholarship programme from Google will go a long way in inspiring more IT professionals in India to take up advanced courses offered under the programme and boost the re-skilling initiative across the industry."

How Google plans to upskill developers and students

Of the 30,000 scholarships Google is offering with Udacity, 1,000 developers will also be selected to receive full Nanodegree (teaches a skill but at a small cost of a college degree and comes with a job guarantee) scholarships. Interested candidates will also get access to Pluralsight IQ, where they can measure their skills in the latest technologies within 5 minutes.

William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google, expressed confidence that this new skilling initiative will help in transforming the technology landscape in India.

“In the last one year, we have engaged over half a million students and developers across India through a variety of programmes and initiatives. Since we announced our skilling initiative in India, 210,000 students have completed Google-developed courses on Udacity, with 117,000 students completing the course this year. To build on this momentum, this scholarship programme will make it easy for students and developers to gain the skills they need to be successful in the changing technology landscape,” he added.

Also read: Google wants local developers to build apps optimised for India

Pluralsight and Udacity’s efforts to help developers

Pluralsight already supports learners in more than 150 countries and the technology learning platform hopes to upskill developers in India as well by partnering with Google India.

Arun Rajamani, Country Head & General Manager, Pluralsight, said: “India’s tech workforce is going through a phase of transition; a new ecosystem of technology skills are being learnt in order to add value in a fast-changing, digitally-powered world. Pluralsight has been an enabler of this transition in India and across the world. We are thrilled to partner with Google to help developers across India understand their skill level using Pluralsight IQ and advance their skill sets in four key roles: Android Developer, Mobile Web Specialist, Cloud Architect, and Data Engineer.”

In 2016, Udacity revealed that 13,000 students had enrolled for the Nanodegrees, 3,000 graduates, and 900 had gotten jobs so far. Indian tech giants like Infosys had also partnered with Udacity for skilling new employees.

Also read: Google salutes SMB Heroes, India’s small businesses that have leveraged the power of digital

The online education provider further revealed that the top 1,000 students of Google’s skilling India initiative will get an additional 6-month scholarship to its Mobile and Web Developer Nanodegree programmes, which includes mentorship, community support, and expert project reviews

Ishan Gupta, Managing Director, Udacity India, said: “Our collaboration with Google is a major step towards democratising education in India to prepare youth for jobs of today and tomorrow. With this scholarship programme, students can master web and mobile development skills with experts from Udacity and Google. The scholarship programme will have two phases. The first phase will offer free access to our courses in mobile and web development along with mentorship and community support.”