Google brings Android degree courses to India

Google has partnered with Udacity and Tata Trusts to bring the Android Developer Nanodegree program to India.

Courses will be offered for Rs. 9.800 per month and the whole program will take up to 6-9 months to complete. And those students who graduate from the course will get 50% of the tuition fee refunded.

Clarissa Shen of Udacity said in a blog post announcing the partnership, “The program, which takes an average of 6-9 months, is designed to give students a boost in income with a new job, or a promotion, at a fraction of the cost or time it would take offline.“

The three partners will also offer 1,000 scholarships for the Android Developer Nanodegree program. Program graduates will be invited to a career summit, giving them exposure and networking opportunities with prospective employers.

The move makes perfect sense for the Indian market. The country is still in the early stages of smartphone adoption and is not as big as that of the US and China. However, IDC expects that India will overtake the United States as the second largest smartphone market globally, by 2017.

And the Indian smartphone market is dominated by Android. Samsung remains a market leader in the country, controlling over 23% of market share, and Micromax follows closely with 12% of the market. Both offer Android powered devices.

The Udacity courses will not only help budding developers ply their craft, but will also help grow Android’s market share as there will be local developers catering to local demand.