New Delhi: Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the most reputed engineering institutes of India, are likely to start various online certification courses in engineering disciplines soon. According to sources, the committee is planning to take the step keeping in view the growing demand of the IT industry.
In addition, the primary plan is to start a certified programme in two major disciplines by the year 2013. Sources informed that to begin with, IIT Madras will coordinate the programme; however, all other IITs are being contacted to become partners. Moreover, IITs, IT and industry partners will also be playing a crucial part in this programme.
As per sources, the certification programme will be a direct outcome of the ambitious National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) project. This, few years ago, launched a programme jointly carried out by IITs and IISc (Indian Institute of Science) that provided a large number of courses online for students and teachers across the country by providing a new national curriculum.
While talking about the online courses, Mangala Sunder Krishnan, Coordinator of NPTEL, said that to begin with, NPTEL will confine the programme to include two major areas of engineering -- IT and computer science. This would, gradually, be expanded to other engineering and science disciplines. The initial topics for the certification programme would include programming, data structure and algorithms, he said.
He also added that the course will essentially fulfill the demand for more employable graduates for IT industry. However, this will be different from other online programmes because of a strong element of monitoring. He further informed that NPTEL is proposing centrally invigilated exams with IT partners lending support in the management and conduct of the programmes in a very direct way. Also, no entrance test is envisioned, though the applicant should have a professional degree or be a student of a higher education programme.
Furthermore, Krishnan added that the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, under the HRD ministry, is completely encouraging of the programme. NPTEL is funded under the Mission, which has a larger vision for creating content and innumerable opportunities for quality improvement.
