Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) BS Program in Data Science and Applications is inviting applications for the January 2023 batch. Students from across the world can apply and learn from this program as the contents are delivered online while all examinations are in person.
Interested candidates can apply for this program, which has completed two years, through the website - https://onlinedegree.iitm.ac.in. The last date to apply for the January 2023 term of this Data Science Program is 16th January 2023.
With the first batch close to completing their degrees, the IIT Madras BS team is actively interacting with various industries for placement and internship opportunities. The team has met with more than 100 companies from various parts of the country who are eager to recruit students from this program.
Students who have completed one diploma have already received internships at companies such as Ford Analytics, KPMG, Aditya Birla, Renault Nissan, Vunet, Buckman Asia Pacific, and Reliance Jio, among others.
Speaking about this program, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “This BS in data science is the first step in opening up IIT Madras in an inclusive manner to the learners across the country. Hands-on training in every single course, building strong foundations in learners, exposing the learners to cutting-edge technology and topics, and the rigorous assessment methods make this an employment-oriented program in a domain where the projection is 11.2 million jobs in the next 10 years.”
Currently, more than 16,000 students are studying in the program, with more than 4,500 at the Diploma level and the first batch of 60 studying at the degree level. The program from IIT Madras does not require learners to prepare and attempt JEE to apply.
Further, Dr. Andrew Thangaraj, Professor In-Charge, BS in Data Science and Applications, IIT Madras, said, “The recent approval from UGC that students can pursue 2 degrees simultaneously has opened the doors to the lakhs of students in colleges who are already pursuing various degrees in engineering, arts and science colleges but would also like to equip themselves with programming and data science. This is also an invaluable opportunity for those who dream of a degree from an IIT but have not been able to gain admission through the regular routes of JEE or GATE.”
The syllabus of this unique undergraduate program has been designed after a lot of deliberation with people in the industry to ensure that graduates are productive as soon as they join the workforce. The program has multiple exit options that include exits with a certificate, diplomas, or degrees. This provides flexibility to the learner to choose the level of expertise they want to acquire and exit with.
Dr. Vignesh Muthuvijayan, Professor In-Charge, BS in Data Science and Applications, IIT Madras, said, “The scholarships available to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are anywhere between 50%-100%, and more than 4,000 students are availing the same. The in-built qualifier process ensures that students do not have to spend on going to coaching classes, and the reasonable program fee coupled with the scholarships ensure that the program is affordable to anyone who has the motivation to work hard and learn from IIT Madras.”
Eligibility to apply is just having studied Maths and English in Class X. Students in class XII can attempt the qualifier and have an admission letter from IITM while in school, which is again a very unique admission process in India. The program also permits learners of any age and any background/group to apply and learn and already has students aged from 18 to 75 years and from varied areas such as arts, science, commerce, economics, medicine, and law in addition to engineering.
The program has its own qualifier process, which consists of 4 weeks of learning in 4 basic subjects taught by IIT Madras and being tested on them. Those who get minimum pass marks of more than 50 are admitted to the program. There is no limit on the number of seats, and hence all those who qualify can study in the program.
The program starts with foundation level, which teaches basics for courses in programming and data science. It is followed by diploma-level courses. The Diploma in Programming includes courses on Data structures and algorithms, Java programming, Web application development (front end & back end), Database management, Introduction to Linux programming and two full-stack development projects.
The courses in Diploma in Data Science teach students about the foundations of Machine learning, and expose students to the business side of data collection, organization, cleansing, analysis, and inferences, with a specific course on data visualization. In addition, two projects on the business side and ML implementation help demonstrate the student’s learning of the subjects.
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