In a first, edtech firm upGrad launches online blended degree programmes

To offer BBA, BCA, MCA, MBA and LLM with Jamia Hamdard, O P Jindal Global University

One of the first edtech firms to foray into full-fledged online blended degree programs, upGrad has announced bachelor's and master's programs with Jamia Hamdard University and O P Jindal Global University. 

upGrad will be offering online-offline blended three years bachelor of business administration (BBA) and bachelor of computer application (BCA) and two years master of business administration (MBA) and master of computer application (MCA) with Jamia Hamdard as well as two master's programs including a one year LLM in corporate and financial law and two years MBA in digital finance and banking with O P Jindal Global University (JGU). 

A government-funded university, Jamia Hamdard (JH) is amongst the top 25 universities in India as per MHRD's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released last week and is a recipient of MHRD’s letter of intent for 'Institution of Eminence' (IoE) status. while O P Jindal Global University was recently ranked as the country's topmost private university as per the latest QS World University Rankings apart from an IoE status by MHRD.

With this, upGrad which was so far catering through post graduate programs has now forayed into undergraduate education. 

While the edtech firm is still finalising fees or pricing for the programs, it may be Rs 40,000-50,000 annually for the two and three years programs at Jamia and around Rs 2-2.5 lakh annually for the ones with JGU since the latter is aimed at catering to working professionals. 

To strengthen its foothold in the higher education market which is estimated to witness 41 million enrollments by 2022, upGrad has earmarked an extensive budget of Rs 150 crore for this new venture.

Having earmarked the same for the launch of the degree programs, executive chairman and co-founder of upGrad Ronnie Screwvala said that online education space seems to be the only way forward with the ongoing global crisis calling for evolution on a recurring basis. 

Comparing India's gross enrollment ratio of 26 per cent with that of US at 80 per cent and China at 60 per cent, Screwvala said that online education including blended degree programs could help enhance the same. "Online education is not just camera in front of you but more than that. It is also about the entire homework, asynchronous learning, pedagogy and ability to update courses," he said while adding that the online medium was allowing edtech players like upGrad to take higher education to even tier 2, 3 and 4 towns as well as rural India. 

According to the other co-founders Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli, the edtech firm is undertaking a 3-pronged approach to solve the macroeconomic disruption for both learners as well as academic institutions. While degree programs will enable fresh graduates and working professionals to achieve a full-fledged degree, upGrad is also offering paid programs and free certification courses for college students helping them to utilise the additional time on hand productively.  

"For offline colleges and universities, we have provided complete access to the upGrad LIVE platform, Learning Management System (LMS) so they can seamlessly migrate to online at zero cost. Over 50 institutes have empanelled with us for the same," Kumar and Kompalli said.

upGrad has been chosen by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), an MHRD undertaking, to make future-forward topics like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning accessible to all. The company’s programs are accredited by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Meanhwhile, its PG Diploma in Data Science became the country's first PG Diploma validated and recommended by NASSCOM FutureSkills.