IIT Madras launched online Bachelor’s degree in Programming and Data Science

A number of online courses have been floating around for the benefit of students during this pandemic. Going in the same direction, IIT Madras has now become the first IIT in the country to offer an online bachelor’s degree in Programming and Data Science.

The online program is aimed to train students in the subject that offers a wide scope of employment. Using a top-notch combination of online teaching with in-person assessment, at affordable rates, the program is flexible and has been called a ‘game-changer’ by institute director Bhaskar Ramamurthy. He believes that this program could inspire other premiere institutions to invest in such online initiatives.

There are no age, stream, or geographical restrictions on any candidate who wishes to join the course. It can be pursued by anyone already enrolled in college as a second degree, or someone who has dropped out of/completed their bachelor’s degree.

The program is divided into three levels:

Foundational Level (8 courses)
Diploma Level (6 programming courses + 6 Data Science courses)
Degree Level (11 courses)

In order to qualify for the course, 4 weeks of online courses and assignments are to be completed. The students who obtain qualifying scores in this assessment will write a Qualifier exam based on the content shared in these four weeks. Once the students have secured the minimum required marks in this exam, they can register for the foundational level courses.

IIT Madras, with its online Bachelor’s degree, has perhaps started a new trend that could transform the way education will be perceived in the post-COVID world. This program will virtually be charging the candidates nothing but the tuition fee. This new way of obtaining a valid educational degree could catch on owing to the way today’s world is moving. Further, degree holders from this program become alumni of IIT Madras.

The cost of doing all the three levels for a general category student would be INR 2,42,000. A fee of Rs. 32,000 for the foundation level, INR 1,10,000 for diploma level and INR 1,00,000 for a degree level. There are relaxations in this cost for students from underprivileged categories. More details can be found at https://www.onlinedegree.iitm.ac.in/

For more information on online courses, you can check out these pieces!