IIT Madras Hosts SWAYAM Plus National Workshop – ‘SkillScape 2024’

CHENNAI : Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) hosted a SWAYAM Plus National Workshop – ‘SkillScape 2024’ in the campus on Monday (2nd September 2024), focused on ‘Navigating the Future of Higher Education and Skilling’.

The workshop explored the transformative potential of technology and partnerships in addressing skill gap while also providing platforms for key stakeholders to showcase their initiatives and solutions.

Several new Initiatives on SWAYAM Plus were also launched on the occasion. MoUs were also signed with PAN-IIT Foundation, HCL Technologies and other organisations, bringing the total partners on SWAYAM Plus to 55.

IIT Madras has launched six new, skill-based courses, all developed by experts from the institute, on SWAYAM Plus, in partnership with IITM Pravartak Technologies. These courses will be offered by IIT Madras with the industry having expressed interest in recruiting the students coming out of these programs.

The new courses launched include ‘Advanced Electronic Manufacturing’ an NCrF 4.5 level course, ‘CNC Machining’- fundamentals with practical exposure, ‘Comprehensive Electronics and Embedded Systems’ NCrF 4.5 level course, ‘Digital Manufacturing Practice’ NCrF 4.5 level and ‘Smart Manufacturing’ – Fundamentals.

SWAYAM Plus is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Education, Government of India and IIT Madras, launched in line with National Education Policy’s (NEP 2020) focus on promoting and encouraging employability-focused, skilling courses. It aims to build employable skills among graduates across chosen sectors critical to India’s growth. The aim is also to align industry skills with academic courses, thereby bridging the gap.

As on date, SWAYAM Plus has more than one lakh registered learners and 55 industry partners around 300 industry-focused courses, of which 60 of them are NCrF aligned courses. It offers more than 11,000 internship opportunities across industries ranging from manufacturing, energy and BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) to digital and emerging technologies, among others.

Speaking on ‘Skilling the next generation of learners in a digital first ecosystem – The NEP perspective’, Shri Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, said, “The whole regime of regulations and restrictions have been done away with the NEP. It is not just a document to state what the Government of India is going to do but a vision document on what the country wants to achieve. So, it is not just the Government but every institution involved in academics and research are part of this journey. A student can think of completing his degree before the 3 or 4 years if he can get the required credits. We all know that the pillars of NEP. We understand that the focus is not only the institute but the learner who is the focus of the policy. The campus itself can go to all other places and deliver courses online and many other platforms. This possibility has come because we started thinking from the ‘learning’ and ‘learners’ point of view.”

Explaining the importance of IIT Madras to the Education Ministry and the Country, Shri Sunil Kumar Barnwal added, “IIT Madras is taking new programs under the NEP. When SWAYAM was started, it was NPTEL which IIT Madras was doing for a long time. We wanted quality courses to be delivered to the North East as not everyone can be brought to the Metros. They have to be given education at their place and this had to be made possible through technology. As many as 1,100 courses are being offered through SWAYAM with data. It is not only people in remote areas but even people living in metros are making use of SWAYAM. It is not to provide accessibility to courses but improve the skills and knowledge of students already studying in good institutions.”

Further, Shri Sunil Kumar Barnwal said, “One key requirement is to make students ‘industry ready’ so that the industry is ready to take them on the day the students graduate. Now, in SWAYAM Plus the industry designs the course and the institute teaches them. We have got more than one lakh registrations in SWAYAM Plus, which will be extremely use for students. Such workshops should be held across the country so that all Higher Educational Institutions, be it technical, Central and State Universities, also benefit. This new policy also makes internships and apprenticeships easy for the students and we are coming up with internship-embedded programs. Students get credits for the internships and complete the course with practical knowledge.”

Shri Sunil Kumar Barnwal added, “I also congratulate IIT Madras for taking up the ‘Vidya Shakti’ to make students from rural India ready for ‘STEM’ in Higher Education. It has become successful in remote areas and the Ministry wants to scale it up across India.”

The themes of Skillscape 2024 include:

1. Need for skilling in institutes of higher learning

2. Role of technology in skilling

3. Industry-academia partnerships for skilling in HEIs

4. Reaching tier II & III cities/towns

Speaking on ‘The future of skilling and Higher Education, exploring synergies’, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “The NEP has outlined some interesting concepts that will facilitate young students to get to their aspirations at the earliest possible time. The Education Ministry, Government of India, worked with other organizations associated with it, such as UGC, AICTE and IIT Council, to come out with regulations that will help institutions implement the NEP”

Prof. V. Kamakoti added, “Today, 30-40% of the credits in an Academic Curriculum can be taken online. This is important because we may not have expertise uniformly across institutions. We are now giving a platform where the student can select the best available material. This was the objective with which we started SWAYAM / NPTEL. Today, we have crossed One Million Registrations this semester alone. We hope to cross Two Million in this entire year. The courses maybe online but the examinations are proctored and taken in physical mode in examination centres across India with assignments as rigorous as those taken by other students coming to IIT Madras. The Universities are now allowing the transferring of credits based on these courses and are awarding degrees.”

Further, Prof. V. Kamakoti said, “All these developments were happening in the areas of engineering and technology and mostly in academic syllabus but the Industry needs more. SWAYAM Plus will bridge the gap between educational institutions and the industry. Around 20% of the credits can be skill-oriented so that students can be encouraged to take them and make it part of their degree. This will ensure that the students are meeting the industry expectations at the time of graduation.”

SWAYAM Plus initiative was launched by Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Education, on 27th February 2024 with a special focus on Employability, Skilling and Industry partnerships. It is set to revolutionize the landscape of higher education and employability by introducing a ground-breaking credit recognition system for industry-relevant courses.

Speaking on ‘The need for SWAYAM Plus and role it will play in the future of skilling and learning in HEIs’, Prof. R. Sarathi, Dean (Planning), IIT Madras, and Project Head, SWAYAM Plus, said, “These courses are provided by the industry and hence, will empower everyone in the system to go to the next level. It is now being offered in Hybrid Mode with both online and offline modes of teaching.”

Shri P. Palanivel, Secretary General, Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), Dr. Sekar Vishwanathan, Vice President, VIT, and Vice President EPSI, Shri Ravi Bhatkal, Managing Director India, McDermid Alpha, and addressed the inaugural session

A Panel Discussion on ‘Getting job ready on Day 0’ was also held focused on Industry expectations for graduate skills, challenges universities face in skilling students, and potential solutions.

It was moderated by Shri Narayanan Ramaswamy, National Leader, Education and Skilling Practice, KPMG India. Shri Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Dr. T Sasiprabha, VC, Sathyabama University (EPSI member), Dr Mahalakshmi Rangarajan, Chairperson, Vel Tech University (EPSI member), Shri Ravi Bhatkal, Managing Director India, McDermid Alpha and Dr. MJ Shankar Raman, CEO, IITM Pravarthak Technologies, were in the panel.