NPTEL Online Certification Courses (NOC)

https://onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in/
NPTEL has been offering Open online courses along with certification since March 2014. Through this online portal, 10hr,

20hr and 30hr courses of 4, 8, and 12 weeks duration respectively in various engineering disciplines, sciences,
humanities and management that includes relevant exposure to tools and technologies are currently being offered
by NPTEL.
o
o

The enrolment to and learning

from these courses is free.
An
in-person,
proctored
certification exam is conducted
at the end of every course and
a certificate is provided
through
the
participating
institutions and industry, when
applicable.
The proctored exam provides a
viable means of delivering authentic certification following online education.

Highlights of NOC
Number of exam runs completed as
of April 2016: 9
Number of courses completed as of
April 2016: 122
Number of candidates enrolled: 6.5+
lakhs
Number of candidates registered: 33
K+
Number of candidates certified: 28K+
Scholarships given till date: 12K+
Unique features such as online
programming exams and proctored final exam successfully deployed
Multiple course durations: 4/-, 8/- or 12/- weeks
At nptel.ac.in/noc, one can see statistics of completed courses, distribution of exam score and can also verify
the certificate

Who will benefit?

Participants in the course - by receiving quality instruction and education in select topics and skills can improve their
employability and widen their knowledge base, get introduced to new domains. Faculty members teaching the
courses in colleges can hone their teaching skills and use this material to supplement their teaching.
Course instructors - may utilize this opportunity to connect with a wide spectrum of student community.
Industry - Can use the courses to reduce training time, broaden and refresh the skill set of their employees.

Incidental benefits
Enrolling and learning from the course involves no cost.
Flexibility for the student as he/she can prioritize his/her time and work at ones own pace.
Variety of programs and courses From engineering to humanities to management, students can try
pursuing learning in areas other than their expertise. Since there is no restriction to joining any course,
students can learn from any course they are interested in.
Clarify doubts with course instructors via email, discussion forum and other online media.
Networking Opportunities The peer group includes a mix of users from across the globe, from colleges
across India and professionals from the industry which will enrich the learning experience.
Inculcate mode of self-learning
Evaluate themselves on how they compare against the pool of students nationwide.

How will faculty benefit?

A comparison of Short Term Courses offered by certain institutes vs NPTEL Online certification courses is shown
below. Taking up NPTEL online certification courses will surely upgrade their knowledge base and help them keep up
with todays technological development. (Thanks to an SPOC who compiled this comparison.)
Short Term Course at other Institutes

NPTEL Online Certification Course

Registration Fee

Typically between Rs. 10000 - Rs. 20000

Zero Registration Fee

Travel

Typically involves travel and Accommodation

arrangements

No Travel/Accommodation required. The

entire lecture content is available right at our
desktop

Leave of absence

Typically involves 8-12 days of Academic

Leave

No Academic Leave required

No disturbance of regular duties
Learn anytime, anywhere

Exposure to
Lectures

All the participants are exposed to lectures

only once

Registered Participants have

complete/anytime access to video content
and may watch the videos multiple times

Evaluation

No examination at the end

(a) weekly assignments and (b) end of the

course examination which helps the faculty
apply the learnt skills

Interaction with
the Instructor

Involves interaction only during the short

term course

Interaction is available with Course

Instructor/Teaching assistants/Other
participants via an Online Discussion Forum
during the entire duration of the course

Frequency of the
Offered Course

Very Rare

NPTEL re-runs Online Certification Courses

that are in great demand

NPTEL Local Chapter

http://nptel.ac.in/LocalChapter/
NPTEL has been offering self-study courses across engineering,
humanities and science streams for more than a decade. To take
this initiative forward and to encourage more students across
colleges to participate in this initiative, we now wish to create
and engage in a fruitful relationship with colleges by
establishing an NPTEL Local Chapter in the college.

As of June 2016, there are 500+ colleges having NPTEL Local Chapter, from 23 states and Union Territories, across
the length and breadth of India!
12K+ students from local chapters received CSR scholarship for exams!

What should a college do to become NPTEL Local Chapter?

1. A letter from the Head of the institution requesting to establish an NPTEL Local Chapter.
2. College should nominate a single point of contact (SPOC) (who could be a faculty member, librarian or any
other staff member) to interface between NPTEL and the college.
3. The college is also requested to obtain the contents created under NPTEL by sending 9 TB of external hard
disks if the college does not have it already, or hard disks of appropriate sizes for disciplines that are
required. NPTEL will copy the contents, free of cost, which can be made available on the colleges LAN for
the benefit and easy access of the faculty as well as students there.
The SPOC will be the brand ambassador of NPTEL in the college and will be kept informed of all the initiatives of
NPTEL and can in turn publicize these amongst the students and faculty of the college, facilitate mentors for
students taking courses and aid in exam registration process.

How does a college benefit by hosting an NPTEL LOCAL CHAPTER?

-

Each college that has a Local Chapter will have a page on nptel.ac.in/LocalChapter.
The statistics of their participation in each course run will be displayed.
During certification exam, NPTEL will try to ensure an exam centre, in the same city or the nearest city (as
decided by the exam partner, based on availability) if sufficient number of students from the college register
for the exams.
NPTEL encourages the SPOC to pay the online exam fee in bulk on behalf of students if they do not have a
bank account and cannot avail online payment mode, via a single DD.
Faculty from the college can also be nominated as mentors who can in turn follow progress of students and
help them during the course-run.
To encourage the toppers from the college, their photos will be displayed in each course page.

Credit Transfer for courses taken from NPTEL NPTEL will provide the raw scores obtained by the students in
assignments and the exam. Colleges and
universities may choose to award credit to
students taking the courses, as permitted
by their norms.
From July 2015 onward, some autonomous
colleges and deemed universities have
started using NOC courses for credit. Some
technical universities and AICTE have also
announced their intention to allow transfer
of credit from NOC courses.
As the graph here shows, students are
primarily taking up online certification
courses. Hence we urge SPOCs to help us
achieve our common goal of increasing
student participation.

SPOC Roles and Responsibilities

SPOC will be the brand ambassador of NPTEL in the college.
You have to primarily believe in NPTEL and the benefits to
be derived from it. You have to act as the liaison between
NPTEL and faculty/students of your college.

SPOC Tasks
SPOC has to
-

Ensure that details about your college are updated on the Local chapter portal
Publicize the online certification courses amongst the students and inform them about the courses being
offered currently
Encourage students to enroll in NPTEL online courses
Identify faculty members who can act as mentors for the enrolled students and encourage them to be active
in the course, submit the assignments on time and register for the exam
Talk to faculty members and students across departments and give suggestions to NPTEL regarding the
courses they wish to see offered and in which time frame
Aid the students in registering for the certification exam by assisting with the online exam registration
process, if necessary
Ensure that students enrolled in online certification courses have access to the content and computer
systems for studying so that can complete their assignments
Identify the objectives of the college - take courses for credit or for students to improve their understanding

Some suggestions to increase awareness among students/faculty

1. Identify one or two faculty members in every discipline who can reach
out to students of that discipline. Make it more of a college wide
network.
2. Encourage faculty to enroll for courses and also sign up as Mentors. This
way, they will have an idea of the course content that is covered in each
subject.
3. Have a group of student ambassadors who can motivate other students
in their departments; especially have toppers from previous courses
share their experiences.
4. Conduct awareness programs before each course run so that
faculty/students can get familiarized with the portal and process.
Explain to them about NPTEL, online certification courses, the processes involved, the benefits they accrue
by doing it, etc.
5. Display course posters throughout the campus where students gather in large numbers.
6. Tell students the benefits of the NOC certificate how they can showcase this as an add-on qualification/skill
on top of their college degree.
7. Invite college alumni to talk about how such skills had helped them at their current work place.
8. Display toppers photos/list on your college website give this link to college placement authorities. Ensure
that this page is updated regularly.

Criteria for Mentors

-

Any faculty member of a college can be the mentor for a maximum of 2 courses - one mentor for every 50 to
60 students.
It is mandatory that the mentor be enrolled to the course which he is mentoring.
It is mandatory that the mentor complete all the assignments.
Weekly feedback about the contents/assignment/responsiveness in the course must be submitted on the
NPTEL website through the login.
Mentor will be recognized with certificates and recognition on the portal depending on the performance of
the students he/she mentored.

Mentor Tasks
-

Select the courses appropriate for the students of that college.

Guide the students on what course to enroll and pursue - based on the academic skill of the student.
Help the student understand the gaps/finer points in lectures. If the course is being rerun, contents will be
available ahead and student is at an advantage to begin learning much ahead of the course start.
Ensure that the students watch the lectures and submit the assignments.
Ensure that students work out the assignments themselves - which will give them the confidence and also
assess their understanding
Give hints to solve the questions but not the complete solutions to the students. Not understanding how to
solve will be detrimental as a part of the final exams is modeled on the assignments.
Ensure that the assignments are submitted well ahead of the due date.
Encourage students to ask questions in the forum - no question is trivial or foolish. The forum is anonymous
and gives students direct access to the faculty to clarify all the doubts they may have. Asking questions will
also help other students - who are shy of asking - understand the content better.
Help the students with their questions in case of problems with language and communication.
Also keep the NPTEL office updated about the progress of the course and report any irregularities with
respect to posting of content or forum questions not being unanswered.
5

Good practices for Mentors

-

Be active in the Discussion forum; encourage students to do so too

Conduct Mock tests
Have group discussions
Watch select video lessons along with the students
Motivate students to take notes while watching videos. This will help
while preparing for exam
provided practice problems similar to the course assignment problems
Watch the beginning videos and gave crash course to the students on
the topic
Make a repository of all the online lectures, which students could copy
and then review them time to time, especially before their Final Exam
Arrange for group studying

Recognition for SPOCs/Mentors

SPOCs and Mentors will be recognized with certificates and recognition on the portal depending on the performance
of the students from the college.

Consent of students
Students who register and give the exam are being asked for their consent:
-

to allow NPTEL share their details with potential interested employers

to share their scores with their colleges

Use of the certificates

-

Once companies begin to see the talent pool here with skills specific to their job descriptions, the
certification score would come in handy.
Colleges that mention such courses taken in the transcript of the student or transfer equivalent credits will
be given access to raw scores. Colleges then can suitably moderate the same for internal use.
These courses and certificates can be quoted while applying to internships at companies. IIT faculty also
sometimes invite the toppers to interact with them or learn under them.
The assignment and exam scores will henceforth be printed on the certificates for all categories of
certificates. Students who get less than 40% will only have e-certificates generated - hard copies will not be
printed and dispatched.

Scholarship
Limited scholarships are available. The SPOCs can apply for the same and NPTEL will approve based on the amount
available. More details will be shared soon.

Exam fee payment:

-

Students with bank accounts Encourage them to pay through the online mode
Students with no bank accounts SPOCs opt for collection of cash and make the payment to NPTEL as a DD.
Cash - We are trying to incorporate pay through cash directly. If so, encourage students to go for this option.

Active College
The mode of payment or the number of students enrolled to courses or registered to exams does not affect the
status of a college being tagged as an Active college. The factors contributing to it will be the performance of the
students registered for the exams and not the number of students registered or the mode of payment. So we
suggest that you put in efforts into helping students prepare and learn better.
6

Request to SPOCs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Please report success stories in your college

How did students benefit?
How did faculty benefit?
Did someone get a job/internship because of a course?
Report use of NPTEL online courses for credit transfer

Sample certificate

Shown below is a break-down of state-wise Local Chapters for your reference.

Together, let us make our collaboration fruitful for the career and advancement of students across colleges in India!

Contact us
Please contact us by email (nptel@iitm.ac.in) or
call us at 044-22575905/22575908.
Our postal address:
NPTEL, Web Studio
ICSR building, 3rd floor
IIT Madras
Chennai 600036

Our Programme Coordinators:

Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, Department of
Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras
Prof. Prathap Haridoss, Department of
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT
Madras