Chennai: Sutherland, an experience-led digital transformation company, is partnering with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) to support the education of 10,000 students from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds through their Corporate Citizens program, Sutherland's global corporate social responsibility initiative.

The program provides scholarship funding to qualified students that reduce the cost of certification by 50%. This scholarship funding enabled students to obtain certification in the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning’s (NPTEL) online courses for the January 2022 semester. The funding supported 10,000 beneficiaries from 160 colleges in 18 states across the country.

Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Madras, said, “With the generous support from Sutherland, these students, many of whom hail from families of first-generation learners, now have the opportunity to obtain NPTEL certification.”

NPTEL currently works closely with more than 5,000 colleges across the country including engineering, arts, commerce, science and management. Many students and faculty take these certification examinations to improve their employability and upskill themselves with the latest skills in their area.

“Our investment in the education of these future leaders reflects our commitment to developing talent that enables the digital transformation of organizations. And we all benefit when tomorrow's workforce is better equipped to succeed in our digital future,” said Anil Joseph, Senior Vice President, Global People Operations, Sutherland.

The NPTEL is a joint initiative of IITs, including IIT Madras, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) under the Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India. It offers more than 600 courses for certification every semester on the national Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) portal - https://swayam.gov.in/ - in various engineering disciplines, sciences, humanities and management and also focuses on relevant exposure to the latest tools and technologies.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr. Kartavya Singh Jadoun from Madhya Pradesh, said, “My father passed away two years ago, my mother is a housewife. So, to manage the economic conditions of our home I have to do a part-time job along with my studies. This scholarship will help me to fund my next NPTEL examination registration.”

Another beneficiary Ms. Divya C Samse from Maharashtra, said, “My parents are farmers. Now, they face financial hardship due to weather challenges and they are not able to financially support my education. I want to thank Sutherland for the scholarship program.”

Mr. Anubattula Sai Prakash from Telangana, also a beneficiary, said, “My father and mother are labourers in the construction industry. The fee reduction through the scholarship is a huge benefit for a poor student like me. It helped me to enrol for some more courses. Thank you so much.”

The duration of NPTEL courses are 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Enrolment in these courses and the learning process are free and open to anyone who wishes to learn from. Learners must watch videos online and submit assignments on a weekly basis.

The courses are very useful for learning new technology and upskilling and the certificates are very valuable being stamped by the IITs and IISc, among others. At the end of each online course, an optional in-person, proctored examination is conducted for certification which involves a cost of Rs.1,000/-.

More than 1.9 crore learners have joined NPTEL courses to date and NPTEL videos have received more than 1.4 billion views. The process of identifying the students is through the network of Local Chapters or the colleges with whom NPTEL partners. The Principals of the Local Chapters in Tier2 and Tier3 towns do the verification on their side and attest to the student's requirements. So far, more than 1.4 lakh students have been supported through NPTEL exam scholarships.  

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