The Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru (IIMB) is one of the 14 institutions in the world that will offer ‘MicroMasters’ programmes through the massive open online course provider, edX. IIMB is one of the member institutions of edX.
IIMB will offer two MicroMasters programmes in entrepreneurship and business management. The former will have four courses with a duration of five weeks each that will include learning in subjects like economics and finance, business and management. The latter programme will consist of six courses of seven weeks each and will include subjects such as economics and finance, business and management as well as social sciences, data analysis and statistics.
The fee for each course is around Rs 10,000 ($ 150). The two programmes are likely to be offered by the beginning of next year.
Some of the other universities which will offer the programmes are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University, Australian National University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to name a few. A total of 19 MicroMasters programmes in subjects ranging from project management and supply chain management to artificial intelligence are being offered.
A statement by edX on its website said that the programmes were meant to “enable learners to begin advanced education in an affordable and flexible manner”. A MicroMasters certificate is comparable to a significant portion, in most cases a quarter or a half, of a traditional Master’s degree, and is a valuable standalone credential that will help learners advance their careers, it said.
Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX and MIT professor, said, “The workplace is changing more rapidly today than ever before and employers are in need of highly-developed talent. College graduates want to advance professionally, but are realising that they do not have the career-relevant skills which the modern workplace demands. EdX recognises this mismatch between business and education for learners, employees and employers.”