Udacity Partners With Industry Leaders to Offer Free High Technology Education Online for Worldwide Audience

PALO ALTO, Calif. & BEIJING, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Udacity, a company on a mission to democratize education, today announced it is partnering with technology leaders Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Autodesk, Cadence, and Wolfram to deliver a new series of free courses online at Udacity.com. The courses will teach skills and knowledge relevant in high-tech jobs and build on Udacity’s existing courses in Computer Science, Mathematics, General Sciences, Programming, and Entrepreneurship. Additionally, computational tools from Wolfram, makers of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha, will be integrated into upcoming Udacity course offerings to enhance the student learning experience.

Udacity CEO and Founder, Sebastian Thrun, made the announcement during his keynote address at then China Mobile Developers Conference, the largest mobile developers conference in Asia.

“It’s exciting that corporations are stepping up to sponsor the development of these courses and a recognition of how important it is to connect university education with workforce education,“ said Thrun. “Our students work hard and demonstrate real learning and independent thinking by doing. By keeping education meaningful and modern with the latest technologies and skills, we hope to advance both education and career opportunities for our students.”

Courses opening for enrollment at Udacity.com and starting in early 2013 will cover introductory concepts and languages in:

Parallel Programming with CUDA,
HTML5 for Game Development,
3D Graphics Programming,
and Functional Hardware Verification.

Additionally, courses under development cover:

Data Visualization with Mathematica,
Applications Development with Windows 8,
and Mobile Applications Development with Android.

With a U.S. Department of Labor estimate of 800,000 new job openings in high tech by 2018, these companies have stepped up to help bridge traditional university education with employable skills and learning. Ultimately, the goal will be to allow students to prove their mastery of knowledge and skills through certification that will be recognized by employers.

About Udacity

Udacity's mission is to bring accessible, engaging, and effective higher education to the world. We believe that higher education is a basic human right, and we seek to empower our students to develop their skills in order to advance their careers. With over 753,000 students enrolled since January 2012 and around 350 employer partners, Udacity is bridging education and employable skills with courses in Computer Science, Mathematics, Programming, General Sciences, and Entrepreneurship at www.Udacity.com.