The Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT-Mandi) and online learning solution provider WileyNXT have collaborated to launch post-graduate certification programmes in applied artificial intelligence/machine learning and full-stack development. The curriculum has been designed to bridge the skill gap and prepare a workforce for the future.
When the candidate completes the programme, they will receive a joint certificate from IIT-Mandi and WileyNXT. The programme focuses on contextual learning to complement conceptual learning with skilling exercises. It offers projects based on real-life business problems, according to a news report. The students will be taught by top IIT-Mandi faculty members and industry leaders based on content from Wiley Network.
The full-stack development course is an online seven-month-long programme. Applicants that have graduated with a minimum score of 50% and who know at least one programming language are eligible. The applied AI/ML course will also be online and will run for six months. Candidates that have one year of work experience in engineering or programming are eligible to apply. Scholarships are offered for both programmes for qualified individuals, the report noted. The programmes come at a time when India is witnessing a surge in demand for AI-enabled automated customer service agents. It was the top AI use case for Indian organisations last year. This was due to the pandemic, which kept millions at home and face-to-face interactions diminished across industries, a report has said. The AI use cases gained momentum in the country, driven by the need to ensure timely product development, facilitate better customer experience, improve higher employee productivity, and achieve high competitiveness in the market.
IIT-Mundi is also collaborating with the HCI Foundation (iHub) to host a six-day weekend workshop on a Deep Learning crash course for executives and working professionals. The workshop will be held between 3 July and 18 July. As per reports, it will cover extensive theory sessions and lab sessions scheduled every weekend. An assessment will be done at the end of the workshop, and based on this assessment, certificates will be provided to participants. During laboratory sessions, support will be provided by specifically trained teaching assistants. The workshop mainly targets software engineers and executives. However, final year undergraduates, masters, PhD-level, and faculty members may also apply. A basic understanding of linear algebra, Python, machine learning, and probability theory is expected as a prerequisite for the event.
Extensive learning materials will be provided through comprehensive sessions organised by various experts. Most importantly, the specially designed hand-on sessions will be a boon to completely novice learners. According to an official, the organisations hope the workshop will “effectively democratise AI/ML learning”. The workshop will explore:
- The basics of machine learning and neural networks
- Convolutional neural networks
- Object localisation and detection
- Autoencoders and variational autoencoder
- Generative adversarial networks
- Recurrent neural network and long short-term memory, Siamese networks
- Transformer networks
A key speaker of IIT-Mundi noted that the workshop is the first of its kind sponsored by the iHub and IIT-Mandi. The entire workshop series includes six similar workshop events that will happen this year. The current workshop would provide students, academics, and industry personnel with hands-on sessions on AI/ML topics that span several domains, including the human-computer interaction area. Interested participants can register through the official portal. The workshop will have a selected batch of participants and the applications will be shortlisted on a first-come-first-serve basis. This workshop will cover state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques in detail with extensive hands-on tutorial sessions for the participants. The workshop may pave the way for a research internship opportunity at the iHub and IIT-Mandi.
