Udacity launches web design pipeline for nanodegree grads

Dive Brief:

• For-profit online learning company Udacity this week announced the formation of Udacity Blitz, a web development job trial company that pairs corporations seeking mobile design with nanodegree graduates with skills matching their assignment needs.
• Companies are free to hire the graduates after the completion of the project, with no costs in finders’ fees beyond the original matching price.
• Udacity, which began as a MOOC platform developer, has expanded into tech skills training to match the growing need for computer science graduates, expected to exceed 1 million by 2020.

Dive Insight:

If there is a fast track to for-profit education supplanting traditional learning space, Udacity has just revealed it to the world. The school is serving as the career training module as well as the job placement agency post-graduation in a market desperate for new and capable talent, all at a lower cost to students.

Traditional campuses may want to look at similar models for success in the social sciences and liberal arts, with specific focus on regional industrial imprints and future workforce trends in healthcare, project management and business-to-business services.