The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) will admit 8,154 students in the first batch of its world’s first-ever online B.Sc degree in Programming and Data Science.

The students could enrol for the foundational level courses, which will be offered from January next year.

An IIT-M release said the 8,154 students included 1,922 female and 6,232 male candidates across India.

Learners from various age groups and educational backgrounds applied for the qualifier.

As many as 1,593 learners were from Arts, Science and Commerce background, while 3,450 were from engineering background.

A total of 30,276 candidates had applied for the first qualifier process and were given access to the first month online classes of the programme.

A highly qualified content support team, specifically selected for this purpose, conducted nearly 400 hours of live sessions, to support the learning process of the learners.

IIT-M Director Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi said, “I would like to congratulate all the learners who have successfully cleared the qualifier process.”

“IIT-Madras is happy to welcome the first batch of students to the Foundation Level of B.Sc Degree program and will be doing everything possible to give a great learning experience to the students,” he said.

The courses are delivered through a state-of-the-art online portal and students are given the opportunity to participate in Live sessions to clarify their doubts. The exams are conducted in-person so that the academic rigor of the program is maintained.