IIT Kharagpur lines up new courses on continuing education

In an attempt to provide tailor-made and relevant courses for professionals, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has lined up a number of programmes this month under its continuing education programme, in association with AICTE and NNRMS (ISRO).

These courses are expected to help professionals update their knowledge in domain areas years after completing formal education in college.

The programmes include topics like 'remote sensing and GIS', 'recent trends in human resource development', 'real-time systems', among others.

On average, close to 300 professionals get admitted for the continuing education programmes every year at IIT-KGP. The cost of these courses, on an average, range between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000. However, certain courses could cost up to a couple of lakhs.

According to Amit Bhattacharya, faculty course coordinator for remote sensing and GIS, "The main objective of this course will be to enhance the knowledge of participants in the field of remote sensing and GIS and also motivate them to take up research in this rapidly growing field of science and technology."

According to Bhattacharya, the twin techniques of remote sensing and GIS have been widely accepted as the most versatile decision making tool in all types of geospatial activities.

They are widely used in planning, management and monitoring diverse fields of activities, such as, infrastructure development, rural and urban planning, environmental monitoring, resource inventory, disaster management, sustainable development, among others.

Remotely sensed data, acquired from airborne and space-borne platforms, combined with collateral data, form the basic database in GIS for multi-criteria decision making in several applications, like groundwater and mineral exploration, land use or land cover, forestry, wasteland management, inland water resources, mining, agriculture, coastal mapping and development, land records, health care, socio-economic, crime investigation, etc.

IIT's second course this month on human resource development will offer practical hands-on approach to develope human resources, conveying concepts through a combination of theory, cases, examples, and skill building exercises.

According to K B L Srivastava, faculty coordinator for recent trends in human resource development, "The course will address all aspects of human resource management and the socio-technical systems as well. Managers planning a career shift to HR roles or positions involving substantial people management responsibilities will find this programme useful."

The third programme on real-time systems will primarily concentrate on the real-time operating systems aspects. However, several associated topics such as low power circuits and multimedia communications, will also be discussed.