SWAYAM Plus: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has launched the SWAYAM Plus platform, which will be operated by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. It promises to offer employab
SWAYAM Plus: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has launched the SWAYAM Plus platform, which will be operated by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. It promises to offer employability and professional development-focused programmes through collaboration with leading industry players such as L&T, Microsoft, and CISCO. In alignment with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the SWAYAM Plus platform will now include courses supporting industry needs that enhance the learners’ employability.
The sole aim of SWAYAM Plus is to transform the professional development journeys of all learners by providing access to the best learning content and growth opportunities, so they can take charge of their futures. Speaking about the SWAYAM Plus platform, India aims to achieve a higher education Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50 per cent by 2035 and 65 per cent by 2047, which implies the addition of 37 million and 66 million learners respectively to the current system. As per a PTI report, SWAYAM Plus features innovative elements such as multilingual content, AI-enabled guidance, credit recognition, and pathways to employment.
According to Pradhan, SWAYAM Plus primarily focuses on building an ecosystem for all stakeholders in professional and career development, including learners, course providers, industry, academia, and strategic partners. “The other objectives of the platform include enabling a mechanism that provides credit recognition for high-quality certifications and courses offered by the best industry and academia partners; reaching a large learner base by catering to learning across the country, with a focus on reaching learners from tiers 2 and 3 towns and rural areas and offering employment-focused courses based on learner needs — across chosen disciplines with options to learn through resources in vernacular languages,” Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
“SWAYAM Plus also envisions bringing in features such as access to mentorship, scholarships and job placements as value-added services in due course of time, thus building a digital ecosystem for learners to pursue upskilling and re-skilling at all levels, namely certificate, diploma or degree,” he further added, PTI reported.
Taking a step forward towards implementing NEP 2020 in letter and spirit and fulfilling Hon. PM @narendramodi’s guarantee of making India’s population future-ready, launched SWAYAM Plus.
A collaboration between all stakeholders of the academia—@ugc_india, @AICTE_INDIA, @ncert,… pic.twitter.com/OrKgz6Z4AA
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) February 27, 2024
SWAYAM Plus Platform: Key Features
- Building an ecosystem for all stakeholders in professional and career development, including learners, course providers, industry, academia, and strategic partners.
- High‐quality learning and certification programs from the best industry and academia at affordable costs.
- Employment‐focused programs imparting future skills in chosen domains
- Reach a large learner base by catering to learning across the country, with a focus on reaching learners from tier 2 and 3 towns
- Flexible offerings based on learner needs – across chosen disciplines with options to learn through resources in vernacular languages.
- Access to Indian Knowledge Systems for learners across the globe.
- Access to Indian Knowledge Systems for learners across the globe.
According to the official website, SWAYAM Plus will have programmes in chosen sectors, namely – Manufacturing, Energy, Computer Science & Engineering/IT/ITES, Management Studies, Teacher Education, Healthcare, Hospitality & Tourism, Social Science, Indian Knowledge Systems, Media, Communication, etc. To know more, read the frequently asked questions(as listed on the website) here.
1. Are SWAYAM PLUS Different From SWAYAM?
SWAYAM Plus will adopt an ecosystem approach by working with various strategic partners i.e., academic institutions, industry, edtech platforms and individual contributors, while SWAYAM currently focuses on partnerships with academic institution through 9 National Coordinators. In the due course of time, SWAYAM Plus will offer the whole gamut of qualifications. However, in the initial years, the focus will be on certification programmes.
2. Are there any age or other restriction to access SWAYAM Plus courses?
There are no age restrictions to access SWAYAM Plus courses. Anyone can register on the portal and access the courses. However, partners based on their discretion may have prior knowledge requirement or qualification requisites to access the course and gain certification.
3. Can I enroll in multiple SWAYAM Plus courses simultaneously?
Learners can enroll in multiple courses on SWAYAM Plus as long as they have the ability to manage their time and fulfill the course requirements.
4. Are there exams or assessments in SWAYAM Plus courses?
All courses that have certification or credit recognition require that the learner appear for a proctored online / offline exam.
5. Can I transfer my SWAYAM Plus course credits to a traditional university or college?
Not all courses on SWAYAM Plus are credit aligned courses. The courses that are credit aligned will have an NCrF level tagged to it. Only those courses that have been aligned to an NCrF level can be submitted at the learner’s University / college to gain credits. The courses that are NCrF aligned are approved by an expert committee, Program Implementation Committee. However, the final decision of awarding credits will depend on the University / HEI of the learner.
6. How do I receive my course completion certificate?
Once the learner completes all the course requirements as outlined by the course provider, the certificate will be provided.
7. Is there a hard deadline to complete the courses?
This varies from partner to partner. We strongly recommend that learners choose their courses after reading through the complete information on the course information page. For more details, check the official website: https://swayam-plus.swayam2.ac.in/.