CHENNAI: Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in a joint initiative, have launched on courses on electric vehicles and renewable energy, design for Internet of Things (IoT), and business and sustainable development for students and working professionals. The courses are free and students who need certification will have to pay Rs 1,000 and write an exam.

The courses will be 12 weeks long and will be offered through the SWAYAM platform. The courses will be taught by faculty members from IITs and IISc. The last date to apply for July-December semester is August 2. The courses are being offered by National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), a joint initiative by the institutes.

“We have identified these thrust areas to offer courses. The courses will equip students and working professionals in these areas and help them to get jobs,” said professor Vignesh Muthuvijayan, NPTEL coordinator at IIT Madras.

These courses are already very popular among the students. “Around 10,000 students registered for electrical vehicles and renewable energy course, 19,000 registered for design of IoT and 3,500 registered for business and sustainable development
courses,” Muthuvijayan said.

The courses reflect industry demand, the professor said. “Electrical vehicles course has attracted applicants because EVs are the trend in the automobile industry. Many automobile industry professionals are interested in upgrading their knowledge to
work in this domain,” Muthuvijayan explained. Everything from the fundamentals to industry application will be taught over the 12 weeks and the course content will be specific to the sector in India.

The courses won’t be just online, video lectures but will be interactive with students being given weekly assignments where they get to solve problems based on concepts taught over the week. “There will be a discussion forum and live sessions with
faculty members for clearing doubts. Students will be assessed based on weekly assignments (25%) and 75% marks will be based on in-person proctored exams,” Mutuvijayan added.

There are more than 500 courses offered by NPTEL through the SWAYAM portal. Some of the popular courses on are Data Science for Engineers, courses on programming in Python, C, C++, introduction to machine learning, soft skills, project planning and control, among others. You can enroll for NPTEL courses through https://swayam.gov.in/NPTEL