IIT-Ropar, one of the eight new IITs established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, and TSW, the executive education division of Times Professional Learning (a part of The Times of India Group), have launched a Post Graduate Certificate Programme in Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning.

The programme will be coordinated by The Indo-Taiwan Joint Research Centre (ITJRC) on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), at IIT-Ropar. Supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ITJRC is a bilateral centre for collaborative research in disruptive technologies like AI and ML.

The programme, with its focus on Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning, has an eligibility criterion of a minimum of 2 years of work experience in the IT industry. Though an engineering degree is a desirable prerequisite for this programme, one does not need a coding or mathematics background to be eligible. The selection into the programme will be on the basis of an application and an interview.

The programme has a duration of six months and classes will be held over weekends as live online instructor sessions, with IIT-Ropar faculty and notable industry experts. The programme has been designed with inputs from industry and strikes the right balance between rigor and effort, making it highly suitable for working professionals. The participants will get a joint certificate from TSW and IIT-Ropar, and also IIT-Ropar Executive Education Alumni status, upon course completion. The certificates will be awarded in a convocation ceremony at IIT-Ropar campus.

This programme, being industry led with its focus on Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning, comes with an exhaustive curriculum that includes modules on Emerging Technologies & AI, Data Science, Machine Learning, Programming with Tensorflow, Deep Learning & Neural Networks, Image Recognition, Speech Recognition, Al Applications, and a Capstone Project.

In a LinkedIn report - 2020 Emerging Jobs Report India - featuring the top 15 emerging jobs, 'AI Specialist' stood at the number 2 position. According to Gartner, by 2020, AI would open up approximately 2.3 million job opportunities. Gartner also added that, "starting in 2020, AI-related job creation will cross into positive territory, reaching two million net-new jobs in 2025." Those aspiring to build a career in AI and Deep Learning (DL) can make a head-start with this programme.

IIT-Ropar is a highly ranked institution, having earned high ranks in 'Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2020', 'QS India Rankings 2020' and Union HRD Ministry's 'National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)'. 'THE World University Rankings' is one of largest and most diverse university rankings that includes about 1,400 universities from 92 countries.

Prof. Sarit Kumar Das, Director, IIT-Ropar, said that, "IIT-Ropar has established itself as one of the top technological institutes in India. It focuses on promoting cutting-edge research and high quality publications in all the disciplines. It is expanding its outreach to industry and the best academic institutions in the world through active collaborations."

Dr. Rohit Sharma, Coordinator-ITJRC, commented, "ITJRC focuses on academia to academia, and academia to industry collaborations in various domains of AI and ML. The partnership with TSW will help us take our expertise in AI and ML to a larger audience."

Mr. Anish Srikrishna, CEO, Times Professional Learning (a part of The Times of India Group), added, "We are happy to partner with IIT-Ropar in bringing a programme in AI & DL to our learner community. With the job market for AI poised for growth, the programme surely will help fulfill the career aspirations of many students."

IIT-Ropar and TSW formally launched the programme in a virtual ceremony on 21st May, 2020, when Prof. Das and Mr. Srikrishna, signed an MoU for a long-term collaboration. The programme, the first to be launched as a part of this collaboration, will start accepting applications from 20th July, 2020.