The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has tied up with Sutherland, an experience-led digital transformation company, to support the education of 10,000 students from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds through their corporate citizens program.
The program provides scholarship funding to qualified students that reduce the cost of certification by 50 per cent. This scholarship funding enabled students to obtain certification in the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning's (NPTEL) online courses for the January 2022 semester.
The funding supported 10,000 beneficiaries from 160 colleges in 18 states across the country, said Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT-M.
NPTEL currently works closely with more than 5,000 colleges across the country including engineering, arts, commerce, science and management. Many students and faculty take these certification examinations to improve their employability and upskill themselves with the latest skills in their area.
“Our investment in the education of these future leaders reflects our commitment to developing talent that enables the digital transformation of organizations. And we all benefit when tomorrow's workforce is better equipped to succeed in our digital future,” said Anil Joseph, Senior Vice President, Global People Operations, Sutherland.
The NPTEL, which is a joint initiative of IITs, including IIT Madras, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), offers more than 600 courses for certification every semester on the national Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) portal in various engineering disciplines, sciences, humanities and management and also focuses on relevant exposure to the latest tools and technologies.
More than 1.9 crore learners have joined NPTEL courses to date and NPTEL videos have received more than 1.4 billion views. The process of identifying the students is through the network of Local Chapters or the colleges with whom NPTEL partners, the IIT-M said.