The ever-changing global scenario makes the world more competitive and requires high levels of lateral thinking and the spirit of entrepreneurship to cope up with the emerging challenges. Many a times, the defined skill sets that are being imparted to students today with Programme Specific Objectives in educational institutions become redundant sooner than later due to rapid technological advancements. No university curriculum can adequately cover all areas of importance or relevance. It is important for higher educational institutions to supplement the curriculum to make students better prepared to meet the industrial demands as well as to develop their own interests and aptitudes.
• To provide students an understanding of the expectations of industry.
• To improve employability skills of students.
• To bridge the skill gaps and make students industry ready.
• To provide an opportunity to students to develop inter-disciplinary skills.
• To mould students as job providers rather than job seekers.
The Programme interested in designing a Value Added Course should undertake Training Need Analysis, discuss with the generic employers, alumni and industrial experts to identify the gaps and emerging trends before designing the syllabus. Any new Value Added Course developed by a Programme should be placed before the Board of Studies and Faculty (Standing Committee) and approved by the Academic Council. The course offered should not be the same as any course listed in the curriculum of the respective programme or any other programme offered in University Departments
The Value added course (one credit) of 30 hours duration shall be evaluated through assessments tests for 100 marks. The one credit courses shall be offered by a Programme with the prior approval from respective Board of Studies. If the total credit thus earned is three or more, then one elective course may be exempted. A student may be permitted to take up VAC from other departments with approval from both the Heads of the Departments.
NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) is a joint initiative of the IITs and IISc. Through this initiative, they offer online courses and certification in various topics. NPTEL has been offering self-study courses across engineering, humanities and science streams for more than a decade. Local Chapter will help students and faculty members to earn online certification for NPTEL courses, the highlight being the certification exam through which the student gets an opportunity to earn a certificate from the IITs.
• To enhance the quality of engineering and science education in the country by developing contents for undergraduate and postgraduate curricula using video and web based courses.
• Courses cover the syllabi prescribed by Universities and approved by AICTE. Course contents will be useful for students to improve their quality.
• To facilitate the competitiveness of Indian industry in the global markets through improving the quality and reach of engineering.
• Entire NPTEL content shared on the LAN which is accessible to all for viewing, downloading and copying.
NPTEL courses are designed for a duration of 4/8/12 weeks and each week has the following components:
• Video content of about 2.5 to 3.5 hrs per week.
• Additional reading materials like text transcripts, reference documents and journal papers.
• An assignment that tests the learning of the student on the weekly content.
• Discussion forum for the users to ask questions and clarify doubts that may arise – the communication channel between the Course instructor and the learners.
• A live interaction session between the Instructor and the learners.
• The weekly assignments are all graded out of 100 marks.
• For the 4/8/12 week courses, normally best 3/6/8 assignments are considered for calculating the Average assignment score (out of 100).
• Final score = 25% of Average assignment score (out of 100) + 75% of proctored certification exam score (out of 100).
• STUDENT WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, they will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.