IBM is offering a free certificate course on blockchain technology for students in India.
The technology giant has partnered with Indian elearning platform National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) to offer a 12-week online course titled “Blockchain Architecture Design and Use Cases.”
The enrolment for the course is currently open, but the coursework will not be available until July 30. Students will be required to submit weekly assignments and pass a final exam at the end of the course to successfully receive their certificate which will be co-signed by IBM.
While anyone across the world can signup for the course and learn — the final exam will only be conducted offline in select Indian cities.
The course will be taught by Praveen Jayachandran, Blockchain and Smart Contracts researcher at IBM India, and Sandip Chakraborty, a professor at IIT Guwahati.
NPTEL is a joint initiative of some of the most reputed engineering colleges in India (IITs and IISc). The programme is funded by India’s education ministry.
Jayachandran told local publication The Hindu about the involvement of IBM in the course:
The popularity of blockchain has moved from cryptocurrency to business applications across many industries such as insurance, finance, supply chain logistics, digital identity, healthcare and public sector. IBM’s collaboration with India’s leading academic minds to create a blockchain curriculum is a reflection of our commitment to enabling the technology to realize its full potential, while also addressing the increased demand for adequate skills for students and developers.
If the coursework provided on the website is to go by, the course will explore both cryptocurrencies (especially Bitcoin and Etheruem) and blockchain in details and the technology’s utility in sectors such as supply chain and digital identity.
The suggested reading list for the course includes books by Bitcoin proponent Andreas Antonopoulos and Institute of Blockchain Studies’ Melanie Swan — apart from IBM’s own published work on the technology.
There has been a rise in the interest in blockchain technology among students. A similar course put up by University of California Berkeley has seen nearly 8,000 students signup already. I won’t be surprised if we see more such courses cropping up in the near future.
Those interested can see signup for the NPTEL course here.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.