Google and HRD to Join Hands to Provide free online courses from Best Professors

Google and HRD Ministry have decided to come together for a good purpose. HRD Ministry’s National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) project is basically to provide students free online courses and that too from best professors across India.

These courses are based on Google’s open-source online courses platform--Course Builder. Along with providing free education, the programme provides with an opportunity to earn a certificate at the culmination of each course. At this time there are 47 courses to choose from, encompassing fields such as Computer Science, Management, Social Sciences, Civil Engineering, Mathematics and Basic Sciences. These courses are being offered by faculty from renowned institutes including IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay, Chennai Mathematical Institute and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The programme consists of video lectures, reading material, quizzes and assignments, and based on the length of the lecture material are available in three different durations: 10-hour, 20-hour and 40-hour.

Moreover online discussion forums are also available to help solve the questions of students.

The NPTEL online courses program has been active since January 2014 and over the last two years has offered over 90 online courses totalling close to 400,000 enrollments.