Google in Partnership with HRD Ministry

Google has entered into a partnership with the Ministry of HRD’s National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) project. In this effort some of the country’s best professors would offer free online courses to anyone interested in learning.

Google has based these courses on its open-source online courses platform-Course Builder. The aim of this collaboration is to offer free, high quality educational material to students along with the ability to earn a certificate at the culmination of each course. The course is offered free of cost although there is a nominal fee involved in taking the examination.

At present the students can choose from about 47 courses covering fields such as Computer Science, Management, Social Sciences, Civil Engineering, Mathematics and Basic Sciences. The faculty from some of the renowned institutes such as IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, Chennai Mathematical Institute and the Indian Council for Medical Research would be offering these courses.

These courses are modelled on the lines of the regular university courses and consist of video lectures, reading material, quizzes and assignments. Depending upon the length of the lectures the materials are available in different durations of 10 hours, 20 hours and 40 hours. Online discussion forums are also available that would answer the queries of the students.