‘We believe in the power of digital education’: Amity University Online chairman

NEW DELHI: Amity University Online, launched in 2020, now has over 80,000 students enrolled in its 60 masters and undergraduate courses. Ajit Chauhan, chairman, spoke to Careers360 about new courses, its AI bot, challenges in curriculum delivery and learning outcomes, and mandate from the University Grants Commission (UGC). Edited Excerpts:

Q. How has the process of building an online university from an offline one been?

A. In 2018, the UGC had framed guidelines for formalising online courses in the higher education sector, specifically for degree programmes. In 2019, Amity University was the first university in India to get approval for an online degree. This process ran for over several months to ensure quality. New Education Policy aims at improving the gross enrollment rate (GER) in higher education and government of India has set a target to improve the current 27% to 50% GER by 2035. This can be achieved through technology, high-quality education and online learning.

In 2019, Amity University, along with two or three other universities, received approval to start online degrees. But it’s not easy and many didn’t start. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was the catalyst of an online shift. In 2021, the UGC relaxed the criteria for online degree approval. Not many universities were able to qualify but Amity got it easily.

This followed several universities coming into the system. About 80-85 universities have online degree approvals but not all have launched it, because running an online degree is different from the classroom experience. We really believe in the power of digital education.

Q. What are the new courses at Amity University Online and what is in the pipeline?

A. Recently we introduced master’s in psychology where we have seen a higher number of women and working professionals joining. We have 60 online degree programmes, including specialisations. We have launched some programmes with industry collaborations. We realise that education has to lead to some tangible outcomes and those can be achieved only when we work with the industry and the employers who will eventually employ our students.

In January this year, we tied up with HCLTech. In 2022, we tied up with TCS iON for several specialisations in machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, and cyber security for our bachelor and master of computer applications (BCA and MCA) programmes.

Students have to take the TCS iON eligibility test and after qualifying, they can apply for interviews in TCS iON or its associated organisations. The company offers selected delivery of degree programmes, including the content, faculty and some support services. They also offer internships. Both courses have thousands of students.

We have also launched specialisations in MCA, BCA, BBA in software engineering, data engineering where students do the content of HCLTech in third, fourth and fifth semesters. There are several other associations being built with IBM, Adobe, KPMG and some banks as well for other courses.

Q. Have you witnessed any rise in admissions and enrollments in certain courses?

A. In online degree programmes, students have to have a certain percentage for admission. But the process is not stringent, unlike offline programmes. We have seen a significant rise in enrollments.

We have over 80,000 online degree students across our six degree specialisations. In the last four years, we have seen a growth of more than 150% in enrollments, majorly in four or five particular programmes. About 95% of students are from India, and the rest from Africa, Middle East, UAE, Saudi, Bahrain. Our flagship is our MBA programme where we have seen the maximum number of enrollments as we have 18 specialisations.

We have freshers, graduates, working professionals, mid-career professionals in our batches. In our previous MBA session, 40% of the students were working professionals.

In our undergraduate programmes, many students are 21-22 years old, the ones who had missed out the opportunity to attend college for financial or family reasons. We have at least 40-45% of the female population in our UG and PG programmes along with many people from defence and military backgrounds.

Q. Are online courses at par with usual degree courses yet?

A. It will take a few more years for online education to be mainstream. We are already seeing year-on-year growth and the improvement is reflecting in enrollments. However, it’s a gradual process. In 2022, the UGC came up with the regulation that employers cannot have any bias against students from online courses. For example, if anyone with 10-12 years of experience goes for an MBA, will that student be not at par with others? It takes time for these things to evolve.

Q. How do you ensure quality in curriculum delivery and faculty?

A. Quality issues are significantly important to us. The UGC has formulated some guidelines for the content. We are focussed on continuous assessment of students.

Each course has five modules and each module has an assessment to ensure students are learning the concepts well. Students aren’t allowed to move to the next module if they do not clear the previous one.

We conduct webinars and masterclasses across our programmes ensuring each module is up-to-date. Also, before the courses start, students are provided with some pre-courses, including advanced Excel, presentation and communication skills, that have to be completed before moving on to core courses. We organise online and offline student meet-ups every two to three months and conduct workshops. Students are invited for campus events with access to all the facilities that an offline student gets.

For faculty, we follow the university system where people with Phd and NET qualification are taken in. We also have international faculty. We have adjunct faculty from the US, UK, and some from Australian universities as well.

Q. What is the average dropout rate? How do you ensure that students attend classes regularly?

A. Our average dropout rate for masters courses is about 20% and for
UG programmes, 35%. We have seen that the longer the programme, higher the dropout rate. We work a lot on student engagement where we have a large student support team making
sure that they are continuously connected with students.

Q. What about scholarships?

A. Overall, an average course fee for an MBA programme is Rs. 1.99 lakh, and for UG courses it is around Rs. 1.75 lakh. For TCSion and HCLTech-specialised courses, the fees is around Rs. 2.5 lakh overall. We give scholarships ranging from 10%-20% depending on the marks and background of students. We work with several education loan providers as well.

Q. You have integrated AI into your system. How has it helped students?

A. We are the first in India to integrate AI in a learning management system (LMS). We have an AI tool called Professor Ami on our LMS where students can ask any question at any time.

Q. What about placement support?

A. We do virtual and in-person jobs fairs. The Union Budget 2024 announcement on internships has further motivated us to seek internship partnerships right from semester one.