Indians are completing online courses faster than US students, reveals Udacity's 2016 trends

Leaders at Udacity, an education startup disrupting learning technologies globally, have observed trends related to online courses in Android, Machine Learning, and Data Analysis in India, US, and around the world this year. One of them is that Indians are completing online courses faster than their US counterparts.

Here are some other interesting takeaways:

Top online courses in India and US
Android Development, Machine Learning, Self Driving Car and Data Analysis were the most in-demand online courses amongst Indian students.

In the US, Self Driving Car, Machine Learning, Intro to Programming, Web development and Android Development had the most interest.

Shernaz Daver, the Chief Marketing Officer at Udacity says - “New opportunities have opened up for millions of online learners in India. Globally, organizations have started recognizing that alternate credentials, like Udacity Nanodegree programs, provide people with the necessary tech skills that are in high demand by leading employers worldwide.”

MOOCs
Traditional MOOCs that involve passive viewing of videos to learn have been left behind. Online learning along with mentorship, project reviewers, and “learning by doing” (i.e. project-based work) makes students/professionals more job ready.

Also, a very interesting trend noticed was that average time taken by an Indian student is 5 months as compared to an US student who takes 6 months to complete.

Jobs and Salaries
Web development and Android/IOS development programs helped students everywhere get the highest number of jobs in 2016. The data from Udacity’s salary information partner, Paysa, suggests that the highest salaries for students/professionals are in new fields like Machine Learning and Data Analysis. However, it is most difficult to find sufficient qualified candidates for these fields.

Expected trends for 2017
The courses for Self-Driving Cars is expected to garner a lot of interest across the world. Also, the highest salaries are expected for Self-Driving Car Engineers who will graduate in the coming months.