Google launches new courses in programming with online education provider Udacity

Google is starting to take education into its own hands with the launch of four new courses to teach the next generation of mobile programmers how to use its Android operating system.

Today at Google’s big annual developers conference, I/O, the company announced plans to expand its vocational training partnership with online education provider Udacity.

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Thanks in part to a broken immigration system, Silicon Valley is constantly starved for talent. Even worse, our institutions of higher education treat vocational training like “the ugly stepchildren of education,” often refusing to provide practical hands-on learning that will help students get a job after graduation. As a result, startups like Udacity have teamed up with industry to close the skills gap.

In this case, Google has helped build courses in four programming areas (Android fundamentals, Cloud fundamentals, UX fundamentals, and web performance) to help build out the number of people who can develop the next generation of apps for its growing operating system.

There is no word yet on whether Google will officially incorporate these new courses into its hiring process. Earlier this month, Udacity announced the creation of a new vocationally oriented alternative degree, the “nanodegree,” with a host of tech partners who would agree to recognize completion of certain courses when hiring employees.