University of North Carolina and University of Toledo of the U.S. have begun designing modalities for offering online courses with the active participation of some of the higher learning institutes of India, including the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi.
A team of professors led by Tony Schmitz (University of North Carolina) and Matthew Franchetti (University of Toledo) visited NIT-T and held discussions with its Director S. Sundarrajan on Monday and senior professors over the possibilities of offering online courses to the students of both India and the U.S. They visited various departments to make on-the-spot assessment of courses offered to students. Besides interacting with professors, students and other stakeholders, they took note of the strength of Indian education system.
“We have come here with an open mind to identify partners for launching online courses. The idea is to make use of advantage of online education to students of the two countries,” said Prof. Schmitz.
He said online courses would be beneficial to students of both the countries. For the U.S. students, it would open up opportunities for knowing Indian philosophy, culture, history and its education system. For Indian students, it would provide an excellent opportunity to study well crafted contemporary courses on technology and humanities. While stating that online education had come to stay in the U.S., Mr. Franchetti said students of far away places had been enjoying the benefits. Indian students could become beneficiaries of online courses. A foolproof mechanism could e devised to ensure quality.
He added that a few higher learning institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institute of Technology, and Anna University had been providing quality education to students. They could join hands with the U.S. universities for providing online education. Expressing happiness over the outcome of the discussion with the U.S. team, Mr. Sundarrajan said the NIT-T was looking forward for a meaningful collaboration with the universities. It had been decided to offer a few models to the U.S. students on a pilot basis. It could slowly become part of online courses.
Team from University of North Carolina, Toledo visit NIT-T
U.S. varsities looking at tie-up with premier institutions
