India launches SWAYAM Plus platform for industry-linked online courses

India's Ministry of Education launched SWAYAM Plus, an extension of the national online course platform SWAYAM, on February 27, 2024. The platform was unveiled in New Delhi by the Union Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

SWAYAM Plus is operated by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and carries courses developed together with industry. Companies named at the launch include L&T, Microsoft and Cisco. The courses span manufacturing, energy, computer science and information technology, management, healthcare, hospitality and tourism, and Indian knowledge systems. Features described at the launch include content in multiple Indian languages, an AI-enabled chatbot that helps learners choose courses, and a mechanism for recognizing credits from industry-developed courses through the Academic Bank of Credits. The portal is also intended to list internship opportunities.

The original SWAYAM platform was launched by the ministry in 2017, and IIT Madras was among the founding institutions of its SWAYAM-NPTEL course program. According to figures cited at the launch, enrollment on SWAYAM rose from 31 lakh, or 3.1 million, in 2017 to more than 72 lakh, or 7.2 million, by the end of 2023. The new platform is aimed at college students as well as working professionals, and is intended to improve employability by connecting academic study with skills that employers are seeking.