While education remains hugely affected due to the pandemic outbreak, tech-focussed IIT Chicago has gone overboard to provide quality education in these testing times.
The COVID-19 outbreak compelled the world to stand still and confine the horizon. Almost, every country in the world has seen the worst of pandemic crises. Given that the students comprise a major part of most countries in the world including India, the pandemic has enabled online education as a steady medium for seeking growth and opportunity in life.
IIT Chicago has transformed its degree programs to make them accessible online, keeping in view the Indian context where it takes a lot of push in executing the desired results.
There are several EdTech start-ups in India that have already floated the knowledge about e-courses, e-books, e-classes, etc but for serious learners who want to count on their degree for a lucrative job, the international degree programs from IIT Chicago are a boon.
While the COVID-19 situation has definitely provided an opportunity to online platforms to gain a bigger reach in a short period of time, in the long run, however, Illinois Institute of Technology undoubtedly emerges as the most credible alternative not only in terms of cost but also efficacy.
The university has been doing a great service to the student community of the country by providing a wide range of online degree programs at a cost, which is three times lower than the actual on-campus tuition fee.
Providing UG, Masters and even PhD programs, the tech-focus university is especially becoming a favourite among working professionals due to the versatility of the programs offered.
The best thing about its online degree programs is that real classroom video lectures (recorded classes) are provided to the students, who can watch them as per their convenience and even multiple times. However, they complete their degree at the same pace as the on-campus students.
“They get same project work, same assignments, appear in exams on the same date as do the on-campus students. Even they receive the exact same degree certificate but at just 33 per cent cost of the total tuition fee charged for the on-campus degree programs,” says Mr Sri Kumar Panyam, Director India Operations, Illinois Institute of Technology, adding, “The significant difference in fee is what makes the online degree program lucrative for Indian students, especially the working professionals.”
Given that fact that the university provides three modes of study (on campus, online in India and hybrid mode of study), working professionals are provided the option to switch from online mode to on-campus mode, in case they are transferred to the US.
Interestingly, the GRE and GMAT tests have been done away with, keeping the pandemic crisis in consideration. Also, the absence of TOEFL or IELTS tests has made the online degree programs of Illinois Tech more lucrative.
That’s not all. Those learners who complete their online degree programs from Illinois Tech are deemed as American graduates who become eligible for a H1B Visa under American Graduate Pool quota. Every year, the number of visa applicants under the American Graduate Pool quota are very less compared to the general quota.
Although the programs are quite attractive it is certainly not only about the costs. The phenomenal and strong alumni network of the university is something that makes it stand out.
Speaking about the same, Sri Kumar Panyam, who is also the chief mentor of Indian Students Association in Chicago, says, “We prepare students for professions that require technological sophistication, innovative mindset and entrepreneurial spirit. From magnetic tapes, cell phones, bar code technology to Pentium4 chip, Amazon Alexa and Bira91 Beer, the inventions and innovations of our alumni have changed the course of human history.”
Some of the famous names from India, who happened to study from Illinois Tech, are Rajeev Chandrasekhar (MP from Bangalore), Jamshyd Godrej (Managing Director of Godrej & Boyce), Sanjay Kirloskar (Chairman of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd), GV Prasad (Co-chairman and Managing Director of Dr Reddy’s) and N. Srinivasan (Managing Director of India Cements and owner of Chennai Super Kings).
The list is too long but to specify, almost 75,000 world renowned businessmen, industrialists and others have completed their education from the international university, which speaks about the quality of education on offer.
With two annual intakes, in January (Spring Intake) and August (Fall Intake), IIT Chicago, a world-class university has established three registered offices in India. Mr Sri Kumar Panyam, along with his team, provides free services including assistance right from the admission and throughout the program at these offices.
Associated with the university from the last six years, Mr Sri Kumar has been interacting with the parents as well as enrolled students. He has also managed to create a useful parent network successfully.
It is pertinent to mention that Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly known as Illinois Tech is a private, independent, not-for-profit university based in Chicago with programs in Engineering, Science, Architecture, Business, Law, Design, Human Sciences, and Applied Technology.
Created in 1890 by the merger of Armour Institute and Lewis Institute, Illinois Tech forayed into India in 1997 when it set up its wholly-owned subsidiary in India – Illinois Institute of Technology (India) Pvt Ltd (IIT IPL), to provide quality Masters and Certificate Education to thousands of working professionals at a subsidized cost. The aim was to provide quality education to people who cannot manage to undertake a fulltime programme in the US.
The quick turn-around from traditional to online sources in the education industry due to COVID-19 proves that we are ready to learn the unlearnt, and IIT Chicago has done a great service to streamline the process, the absence of which was holding us back. Students who want to switch to the reputed international university for their higher studies and working professionals who want to upgrade their skills while keeping their job intact can take advantage of this splendid opportunity by visiting their official website www.iitindia.iit.edu
