IITs and IISc jointly offering 500 free online courses for students, professionals on SWAYAM

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has come together and offered 500 online courses on the SWAYAM platform for students and working professionals. According to a report by Times Now, National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, NPTEL, is a joint initiative by IITs and IISc that has opened enrolment for online certification courses across India. The report adds that the courses are being offered for free. However, there is a nominal fee charged towards the in-person proctored exam for the certification. Certification, however, is optional. Popular courses include Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms using Python, Basic Electrical Circuits, Engineering Thermodynamics, Health Research Fundamentals and Constitutional Studies. As per the report, learners must watch online videos, submit assignments on weekly basis and register for an in-person final exam. The report adds that more than 1.2 crore learners have joined NPTEL courses till now. In an interaction with the publication, Andrew Thangaraj, Coordinator SWAYAM-NPTEL-IIT Madras said that in order to streamline efforts of learners and to guide them to obtain expertise in an area, NPTEL has initiated the idea of ‘Domain Certification’. According to Thangaraj, a domain comprises a set of core and elective NPTEL course and those who manage to complete a domain will get a domain certificate. According to The Indian Express, Prathap Haridoss, co-ordinator, SWAYAM-NPTEL-IIT Madras, said that NPTEL currently has 49 industry partners who contribute through live sessions on various technologies and provide career guidance to learners. According to Haridoss, NPTEL has conducted more than 150 live sessions till date. The report adds that SWAYAM-NPTEL currently works with more than 4,000 colleges in engineering, arts, commerce, science, and management disciplines across India.