NPTEL-SWAYAM launches new online courses

Hyderabad: A few universities are offering courses on electric vehicles, Internet of Things online (IoT), that too, fee running high. However, students can pursue such courses, business and sustainable development on SWAYAM, the free online courses portal.

On Thursday, the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) said that it has joined hands with IITs, IISC to offer the courses for the July 2021 semester through the SWAYAM platform.

The NPTEL courses allow students to learn from the comfort of their homes. The enrolments for the July - Dec 2021 semester have already commenced. The last date to enrol for the first set of NPTEL courses is August 2.

The courses are taught by faculty from IITs and IISc. Learners can enrol for NPTEL courses through https://swayam.gov.in/NPTEL. The new courses are part of more than 500 free courses to learners across the country in online mode. The possibility for anyone to learn anywhere and anytime has made the teaching-learning process more student-centric, and innovative. This online mode of education has also proved invaluable in Covid pandemic era.

Prof Vignesh Muthuvijayan, NPTEL coordinator at IIT Madras, said, "SWAYAM-NPTEL is currently working with more than 4,000 educational institutions in engineering, arts, science, commerce, and management across the country. Students and faculty from the institutions take up NPTEL courses to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Some popular courses on NPTEL platform include data science for engineers, courses on programming in Python, C, C++, Introduction to machine learning, soft skills, project planning and control, among others."

Another unique feature is that NPTEL offers certification courses through the MOOCs format. Learners must-watch videos online, submit assignments on a weekly and monthly basis. They can register for an optional proctored final exam. There is a nominal fee charged towards the in-person proctored exam for the certification. Students can request for transfer of credits once they clear the NPTEL certification examination. Provided it is approved by the educational institute they are affiliated with.

NPTEL was initiated by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee) along, with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.