The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is admitting a total of 8,154 students in the first batch of its new online BSc degree in Programming and Data Science. These students can enrol for the foundational level courses, which will be offered from January 2021. The 8,154 students included 1,922 female candidates and 6,232 male candidates across India. Learners from various age groups and educational backgrounds applied for the qualifier. Total 1,593 learners were from Arts, Science and Commerce while 3,450 learners were from an engineering background.

A total of 30,276 candidates had applied for the first qualifier process. They were provided access to the first month online classes of the programme. Nearly 400 hours of live sessions were conducted to support the learning process.

“The courses are delivered through a state-of-the-art online portal. Students are given the opportunity to participate in LIVE sessions to clarify their doubts. The exams are conducted in-person so that the academic rigour of the programme is maintained,” Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT Madras, said.

The institute launched this degree programme building on its experience with online education in the NPTEL programme. The specialisation of this degree, Programming and Data Science, is expected to provide a significant increase in professional opportunities for the learners in the course.

“The programme gives a lot of flexibility to students to learn at their own pace. There are three different stages in this programme – Foundation, Diploma and Degree. Students can choose their own pace while registering for courses and, upon completion, receive a certificate, diploma or a degree at various exit points from IIT Madras,” said Andrew Thangaraj, professor in-charge, IIT Madras Online Degree Programme.

The blend of online instruction and in-person assessment in the programme aims to reach a large number of students without compromising the quality of education. The course can also help fulfil the dreams of all learners of studying in an IIT.

Highlighting students’ response, Prathap Haridoss, professor in-charge, IIT Madras Online Degree Programme, added, “Nearly 30% of the learners who have applied for the qualifier process are working professionals from IT, banking, manufacturing, finance, law, healthcare, marketing and other sectors.”

The institute has started the second qualifier process. Students may fill the application form to enrol in the second qualifier process, upload the required documents and pay the application fee of Rs 3,000.

The fees paid will give access to four weeks of course content for the qualifier training process as well as the qualifier examination. The last date to apply is February 6, 2021. The second qualifier process will start in the first week of March 2021.