IIT-Madras first ever online degree programme: Working professionals constitute 20% of candidates who got – Times of India

CHENNAI: As many as 8,154 students, including 1,922 were female candidates, enrolled in the first ever online degree programme –BSc in programming and data science — offered by IIT-Madras. The course begins in January 2021.
As many as 1,666 (20%) of the 8,154 candidates who got admission are working professionals from IT, banking, manufacturing, finance, law, healthcare, marketing and other sectors.
A total of 1,593 learners were from arts, science and commerce backgrounds while 3,450 had an engineering background.
A total of 30,276 candidates had applied for the first qualifier process. They were given access to the first month online classes of the programme.
Only learners with a minimum required average assignment scores in all four courses were eligible to appear for the in-person invigilated qualifier exam. A total of 20,396 learners were eligible to write the qualifier exam, which was conducted on November 22 and after which 8,154 students qualified for admissions.
“IIT-Madras is happy to welcome the first batch of students to the foundation level of BSc degree programme. IIT-Madras is doing everything possible to give a great learning experience to the students. 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 rigor of the programme is maintained,” said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director of IIT-Madras, said in a release.
Andrew Thangaraj, professor incharge, IIT-Madras online degree programme, said 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,” he said.
Further, IIT-Madras said students can apply for the second qualifier process for the course and the last date to apply is February 6.