IIT-Madras to offer country’s first online BSc degree

CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) on Tuesday announced the launch of the country’s first online BSc degree in Programming and Data Science.

The programme is open to anyone who has passed Class 12, with English and Maths at the Class 10 level, and enrolled in any on-campus UG course. Even the current batches of students who are completing their Class 12 in 2020 are eligible to apply. Graduates and working professionals can also take up this programme.

This was launched in the presence of Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Union Minister of HRD and Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for HRD, Communications and Electronics and IT, online.

Data Science is one of the fastest growing sectors that is predicted to create 11.5 million jobs by 2026. Online education is a trend being rapidly embraced for high quality education on a large scale.

Faculty from IIT Madras are addressing the need of this sector using online education processes and present an inclusive and affordable education model that will extend IIT’s reach by orders of magnitude.

Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said students who are currently enrolled in a different on-campus programme anywhere in India can pursue this without needing to switch careers or courses. He said even employers who want to up skill their employees can consider this option without loss of productive time on the job. According to him, the programme will be delivered on a state-of-theart online portal and will attract learners from even remote parts of country where outreach of digital literacy is minimal and will help them stay ahead in their career journeys.