Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan launched the ‘SWAYAM Plus’ platform at an event in Delhi on Tuesday.
According to a press release, the platform is designed to offer employability and professional development‐focused courses developed collaboratively with industry experts from players such as L&T, Microsoft, CISCO, and more.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, which is among the founder institutions of Swayam-NPTEL, will be operating the ‘SWAYAM Plus’ Platform.
The Swayam-NPTEL is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform providing educational opportunities for a vast number of learners. As per the release, the e-learning platform has the largest enrolment base, with the total enrolment increasing from 31 lakh in 2017 to more than 72 lakh by the end of 2023.
SWAYAM Plus is aimed at enhancing the employability of both college students and professionals. It will offer programs in sectors like Manufacturing, Energy, Computer Science and Engineering/IT/ITES, Management Studies, Healthcare, Hospitality, and Tourism besides Indian Knowledge Systems, and more.
Key Features of SWAYAM Plus.
- Multilingual content: The platform will be multilingual, thereby enabling users to choose SWAYAM Plus as a platform of choice.
- AI-enabled chatbot: Students will be assisted with an AI-enabled chatbot to choose the right courses based on their needs.
- Credit Recognition: Credit equivalency would be established for courses offered by industry players. It also enables students of higher educational institutions (HEIs) to earn credits simultaneously for their degree requirements.
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{{/usCountry}}Union Minister Pradhan, while launching the platform, highlighted that it is the first time that reputed industrial houses would be coming with their academy, partnering with the UGC, esteemed education departments, and prestigious institutes like IIT Madras, adding that all these courses will be accredited.
He further informed that SWAYAM Plus offers employability, entrepreneurial mode, and job-centric courses, emphasizing practical, hands-on learning.
“Our goal is to make education industry-fit, providing learners with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the professional world,” said the Union Minister.
Emphasizing the importance of reskilling and upskilling, Pradhan said that the SWAYAM Plus empowers individuals to upskill and reskill, thereby enhancing their career prospects and contributing to India's knowledge economy.
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, stated that there is an exponentially growing demand for trained manpower in core areas spanning across verticals and not restricted to health care, logistics, technology, energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing.
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He emphasized that on the need to augment certain recent topics for fresh students and upskilling for the already employed, adding that Swayam Plus will be a single-window solution.
Prof. R. Sarathi, Dean (Planning), and Faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras, and the IIT Madras Coordinator for ‘SWAYAM Plus’, stated that the platform would enable students and professionals to upgrade their skills in their domain.
Prof Sarathi also informed that internship opportunities will be provided through the portal along with skill-based courses with credit recognition that will be recorded in the respective academic bank of credits of the student.