The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, on June 7, unveiled a new four-year online course on electronic systems in alignment with the Centre's mission to make India a global hub for electronic manufacturing. The full time course would enable students to take up a career in various sectors including electronics, semiconductor, defence, and automotive, officials said.
Noting that majority of courses offered in the country were service sector oriented, IIT-M professor electrical engineering department Andrew Thangaraj said companies like Samsung have their own equipment but avail service from other countries including India.
"This programme aims to create our own electronic equipment indigenously instead of importing the devices from other countries.." Thangaraj, also the associate chair of Centre for Outreach and Digital Education (CODE) at IIT-M told reporters.
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The programme aligns with the India's semiconductor mission to make India a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design, he said. The Centre for Outreach and Digital Education (CODE) at IIT-M is already offering BS degree course on Data Science.
Semiconductor industry has emerged as one of the most important sectors and is a major contributor to the global economy, employing millions of people and generating billions of dollars in revenue every year, he added. Elaborating, Thangaraj said the course would be offered in three streams -- foundation(one year), diploma (two years) and degree (four years) priced at Rs 80,000, Rs 2.48 lakh and Rs 5.84 lakh, respectively.
"Scholarships up to 75 per cent would be provided to students if their family income is less than Rs 5 lakh", he said. Candidates who apply would be provided access to four weeks of content taught by IIT Madras faculty and on conclusion of the course, examinations would be conducted based on the content, he said.
To a query, Thangaraj clarified that unlike the existing requirement of clearing Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) to take up a course in IIT-M, students can pursue the courses as per their convenience without JEE requirement.
"Other IITs present in the country are still in the conceptual stage of launching these kind of courses whereas we are the first to launch this course on electronic systems", he said.
While classes would be conducted through online mode, examinations would be held offline at the campus of IIT Madras, he said and added the institute has received about 700 applications so far.
Citing a report of the Tamil Nadu government backed Guidance Tamil Nadu, a press release from IIT Madras said the Tamil Nadu Electronics Hardware Manufacturing policy seeks to increase the electronics industry output to USD 100 billion by 2025, accounting for 25 per cent of the total electronic exports from the country.
"There is a huge potential for manufacturing in electronics not only for India's needs but exports to the global market. By acquiring the fundamentals and skills, graduates of this BS Electronics Systems programme will be able to serve in multiple industries.." Thangaraj said.
(With PTI Inputs)
