Frequently Asked Questions

No, there is no equivalent on-campus version. IIT Madras has carefully curated this exclusively as an online program.

Due to limitations of campus facilities and students being spread out geographically, learners enrolled in the program will not have access to IITM campus facilities.

All our program courses are taught in English. Hence, we expect a minimum proficiency in English language to participate in the program.

It is not necessary to have a prior knowledge of coding to learn from our program. Our program is structured in such a way that once a learner starts from the Foundational level and progresses towards the Degree level, in sequence, he / she will obtain sufficient proficiency in Programming and Data Science.

The full program can take anywhere between 3 and 6 years to complete. On an average, we anticipate that a learner studying part time will finish the degree in 4 to 5 years. While this is the estimated time for the full degree, a diploma can potentially be obtained faster (around 8 months - 2 years). Check Academics page to better understand the program structure.

Access to good internet connection as well as a laptop / desktop device will be a key requirement to learn effectively from our courses. Familiarity with Google tools would be an advantage.

No. Pre-recorded lessons and assignments will be made available on our portal on a weekly basis. Learners can learn from the content released each week at their own pace, but will be required to submit the weekly assignments online within stipulated deadlines.

One or two LIVE sessions per course may be conducted to clear doubts and interact with the course instructor and course support team.

The program is split into three levels that have to be done strictly in sequence:

1: Foundational Level (8 courses)

2: Diploma Level (6 Programming courses + 6 Data Science courses)

3: Degree Level (11 courses)

Check Overall Structure in Academics page.

The expected effort to do well in one course is about 10 hours per week.

There are 3 terms in a year. Learner may be allowed to register for a maximum of 2 - 4 courses in a term depending on their performance in previous exams and their preferred pace of learning.

Note that all courses of one level need to be completed before registering for courses in the next level, and all prerequisites of a course need to be completed before registering for that course.

Each course page will have a discussion forum where learners can raise their course-related questions and interact with the course instructor or course support team.

For all questions not related to the course, you may write to support@onlinedegree.iitm.ac.in

We have NOT created any official groups anywhere yet. We currently answer all questions / doubts via support email / calls.

We have plans to create official groups for our learners when the qualifier month starts. We will reach out to you through whatsapp, email and SMS. Kindly look out for communication from our side on this.

As a sample, Week 1 content videos have been made available for the first four Foundational Level courses for you to try and learn from. We recommend you to check out these lectures and try the sample assignment we have put out for each course. The links to Week 1 Content & Assignment pages can be accessed from the Foundational Level courses section in Academics page.

Please send us your registered email ID and a screenshot of the error / issue with relevant description to support@onlinedegeree.iitm.ac.in

If the error is after payment has been made, please forward the confirmation email from Razorpay along with email ID, application number and screenshot with description.

There is no daily attendance, but once you register for the courses, submission of weekly assignment is taken as an attendance indicator. Minimum required scores in weekly assignments of a course will determine if a learner will be allowed to write the end term exam for that course or not.

No. Every term will have 3 quizzes and an end term exam for each course. All quizzes and end term exams will be in-person, invigilated exams at designated centres across the country. You need to travel to the exam centre and take these exams. Check Exam Cities in Academics Page.

A quiz is similar or equivalent to a monthly test in schools and colleges. Marks obtained in quizzes count towards the total score obtained in the course. All quizzes will be in-person, invigilated exams at designated centres across the country.

No, the exam dates are not flexible. The quiz and end term exam dates are fixed for all learners taking the same course in a term. We try our best to schedule all exams during the weekends though it may not be possible for every exam.

If the city of your choice is not in our current exam cities list, please send an email to support@onlinedegree.iitm.ac.in. We will consider your request, but there is no guarantee that we will add it.

There may be more than one exam centre in any exam city. The count depends on the number of learners in each city and availability of centres on given date with our exam partner.

Learners who clear the Qualifier Exam will be expected to register for the program right after their results are announced. In the first term alone, classes start (with week 5) immediately after the completion of week 4 in the qualifier phase with no gap. Please check Important Dates in Admissions page to get to know the timeline.

Learners who join the IIT Madras Online Degree Program have the option of exiting the program earlier with a Diploma in Programming AND / OR Diploma in Data Science.

Learners who wish to exclusively pursue a Diploma in Programming OR Data Science alone and already have a basic understanding of the foundations can check out IIT Madras Diploma Program website.

Check Eligibility section in Admissions page for the latest update of the eligibility criteria.

Students currently in class 12 (or equivalent) will be allowed to apply for the program, go through the qualifier phase and write the qualifier exam, but will not be allowed to register for the foundational level of the program until they clear class 12 (or equivalent). Note that a Qualifier Exam result is valid only for 3 terms (about 1 year) right after the exam. So, plan accordingly.

Yes, you may apply for the Program if you have studied Mathematics & English in class 10 and have cleared class 12 or equivalent.

Yes. If you cleared class 12 or equivalent in 2019 or earlier, you may apply for our program - there is no requirement to have completed a degree program. Check our latest eligibility criteria.

Anyone who is eligible may apply by filling in the application form, uploading required documents and paying the application fee.

We recommend that you go through the Academics Page to better understand the program and the Admissions Page to understand the admission process before applying.

All applicants will have to go through a Qualifier Process, like a trial month, wherein they will get access to 4 weeks of content for the four foundational level courses - English I, Mathematics for Data Science I, Statistics for Data Science I and Computational Thinking. Check Qualifier Process in Admissions page

No. Only the learners who get the minimum required marks in the online assignments during the qualifier process of 4 weeks will allowed to attend the qualifier exam. Only those learners allowed to write the qualifier exam shall be provided with hall tickets.

Refer to Qualifier Process and the section below it to learn about the minimum required marks in the qualifier assignments and minimum required marks to pass / clear the qualifier exam.

The Qualifier Exam result is valid for a period of 3 terms (or 1 year). So, a learner may choose to not register for Foundational Level immediately after clearing the Qualifier Exam and register for the Foundational level in the second or third term following the Qualifier Exam.

For now, we are running applications / admissions thrice a year.

The list of required documents is available on the Application Process section of the admissions page.

IITM's Online BSc Degree in Programming and Data Science is a stand alone program. Credits cannot be transferred.

No, the course content will be provided only in online mode so you can watch them anytime, anywhere. There will be no hard copy provided. Depending on the course, learners may be recommended reference books / material that they may buy separately.

Student has to submit valid certificates while applying / registering. These will be verified by our team. An approved certificate will be valid for three terms.

No. There will be no refund of application fee once paid.

No. A course registration is valid only for one term. If a learner is not able to clear a course in a term, they will be considered as having failed the course and will need to register for the course again at a later term along with the required fee.

Note that a learner will be allowed to drop off from a course within the first four weeks of the term. In such cases, a part of the course fee will be retained as admin charges and the balance, if any, may be carried over to the next term.

The overall program fees will not be paid at one stretch. The actual fees you will be paying in each term will be in proportion to the number of courses you register for in the respective term. So, if you register for 2 courses in a term, you have to pay the fees only for those 2 courses. For more details, please refer to Fee Structure in Academics Page.

Fees can be paid only through online mode. Fees through DD will not be accepted.

Note that payment cannot be made using Debit Card. You can pay using any Credit Card, Netbanking (all Indian Banks), Wallet, UPI (Google Pay, BHIM, etc.).

Yes. After successful completion of payment, you will receive a confirmation email from Razorpay.

In case of failed payments, it will take 3 to 4 weeks for the money to be credited back in your bank account.

Your application form will be considered as submitted only upon making the application fee payment. Until then, you may edit the contents of your application form. After the application fee has been paid, you will not be allowed to edit the application form.

In case your uploaded document(s) gets "returned / rejected" during verification, you will be given a chance to re-upload a valid document within a stipulated deadline.

Verification of documents may take upto 3 weeks. Please be patient. We will keep you updated about your application status by email / SMS.

After you submit your application, we verify the same before changing the status of uploaded document(s) to "accepted" or "returned / rejected".

Be careful when filling the application form and double check the information you enter. We verify the files / documents you have uploaded (photograph, signature, ID card, SC / ST / OBC-NCL / EWS / PwD document if applicable). If any of the files / documents uploaded is unclear or broken or found to be wrong or incorrect, your application may be "returned / rejected".

In case your uploaded document(s) gets "returned / rejected" during verfication, you will be given a chance to re-upload a valid document within a stipulated deadline.

Being honest and careful while filling the application form and uploading correct documents in the correct formats will help get your application "accepted". Check Application Process for required documents, document formats and sizes.

No. You will need to pick two different preferences for exam cities in the order of your preference. Your exam centre shall be allotted in any one of the two exam cities picked depending on availability. We recommend that you familiarise with the current available Exam City options to be able to pick your preferred exam cities.

You will not be allowed to change your exam city for the qualifier exam after submitting your preferences in the application form.

If there is any unavoidable situation because of which you need to have the qualifier exam city changed, please write to us. We will try to accommodate your request based on availability, but cannot guarantee a change of exam city.

No. The Exam city preferences selected in the application form is for the Qualifier Exam only. You will have the option of picking a different set of Exam City options, if you wish, after qualifying for the later invigilated exams.

We are trying to see if this is possible. Please watch out for announcements regarding scholarships / loans.

SC / ST / OBC-NCL / EWS /PwD candidates will have concession in minimum scores required during the qualifier process to enter the program. Check out Qualifier Process in Admissions page. Note that there will be no such concessions after entering the program. (OBC candidates not belonging to the OBC-NCL category cannot avail any concession)

Only SC / ST / PwD candidates may avail fee waivers in the application stage. After clearing the qualifier process and exam, candidates belonging to any category (General / OBC / EWS / SC / ST / PwD) may avail fee waivers in course fees based on family income. Check Fee Structure in Academics page for details.

The term family income for the purpose of availing fee waivers includes the income of the candidate, the income of his/her parents and spouse, also the income of his/her siblings and children below the age of 18 years.

After clearing the Qualifier Exam, all learners who wish to avail fee waivers based on Family Income required to submit Family Income Certificate in the format provided in the Fee Structure section. Note that the Family Income Certificates are valid only for one year and will need to be submitted afresh each year to continue availing fee waiver based on Family Income through the program.

Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in India, as defined by the Govt. of India, is a sub-category of people belonging to the General category with an annual family income less than ₹8 lakhs per annum and who do not belong to any category such as SC/ST/OBC. Course fee waivers from IIT Madras are available for general category learners with family income less than ₹5 lakhs per annum. As per the policy of IIT Madras, and as part of our documentation process to ensure that we give fee waiver benefits to the deserving learners, we require general category learners with family income less than ₹5 lakhs per annum to submit both EWS certificate and Family Income certificate. EWS and Family Income certificates will need to be obtained in the format mentioned in the Fee Structure section in Academics page.

We will try to make internship / recruitment opportunities available to learners; we will notify learners when the opportunities arise.

A large number of learners apply and participate in the qualifier process. After clearing the qualifier process, learners will need to clear foundational level courses, diploma level courses and then the degree level courses to finally get a BSc degree from IIT Madras. That's a total of 31 courses of IIT standard and 116 course credits. When a student is able to successfully clear these courses and fulfill all the academic requirements, we are confident that the students will be employable.

The demand for data analysts / scientists and full stack developers is very high. Through our program, we do our best to equip our learners with required subject expertise. We are also planning to give soft skills training as part of the program. It is all about enabling IITM BSc graduates with the right job opportunities. IIT Madras will actively reach out to the recruiters in the context of placement opportunities for the graduates of the Online BSc Degree Program.

Once you clear the Qualifier Exam, you will be allowed to access the Course Registration Form from your dashboard upon logging in. In the Course Registration Form, you will need to fill the required details, upload necessary documents and pay the course fee to register for the first term of your Foundational Level. You may choose to register for one or more Foundational Level courses with the upper limit of courses you can register for depending on your Qualifier Exam Score.

Note that there will be an added Exam Fee applicable for learners opting to write their quizzes and end term exams outside India.

It is mandatory any one of these documents while registering for Foundational Level:

- 12th or equivalent mark sheet OR

- Degree Certificate OR

- Certificate of the highest level of education

Please refer to the Fee Structure section in the Academics page to see which fee waiver may be applicable to you and the relevant documents / certificates that will need to be submitted.

No, not required to submit again. However, the EWS / OBC-NCL certificate need to be submitted again if the previously submitted certificate is not valid until the end of the current financial year.

Please be informed that you will not be paying the entire Program fee or Foundational Level fee at one stretch. The actual fees you will be paying will be in proportion to the number of courses you register for in every term. So, if you register for 2 courses in the January 2021 Term, you have to pay the course fees only for those 2 courses.

In the Fee Structure section, select your goal to be able to see a detailed PDF with break down of course fee over each term.

The personal email ID you applied for the program with cannot be changed. This email ID is used to access the whole Qualifier Process and the Foundational Level Course Registration Form.

Once all the documents uploaded in the Foundational Level Course Registration Form are approved, each registered learner will be assigned a roll number and a corresponding official IIT Madras Online Degree student email ID. After that, all further communication and course access will be through the official student email ID.

We are working on the process of getting the bank loans approved for this Program. Please do look out for updates from our side on this.

No, the current portal will be used for all the Levels. You will be given a new official IITM Online Degree student email ID to access the portal.

An ID card in electronic format will be provided, subject to conditions on use of ID card.

The BSc Degree has to be completed within a maximum period of 6 years. While a 1 or 2 year break between Levels is allowed, we recommend that you time the length of your breaks depending on whether you want to pursue a Diploma or Degree, and how many courses you are able to take up in a term.

You can re-apply again for the immediate next Qualifier Process with partial application fee payment. Your previous assignment scores will be considered and you will be directly eligible to write the Qualifier Exam without having to submit assignments again.

You have to re-apply as a new applicant with payment of full application fee.

No, you have to complete all the 8 courses in Foundation Level before enrolling to the Diploma Level courses.

To be eligible to write the End Term Exam for a course, it is mandatory for the learner to have (i) obtained in the course an Average Assignment Score >= 40/100 AND (ii) appeared for at least one out of the three proctored in-person Quizzes.

Learners who are not eligible to write a specific course's End Term Exam will not be issued hall ticket for the same. They will have to repeat the entire course including assignments and quizzes in a later term.

It is mandatory to attempt at least one of the three proctored in-person quizzes in a term to be eligible to appear for the End Term Exams.

For the courses you register for immediately after clearing your Qualifier Exam, yes, your Qualifier phase assignment scores will be included while calculating eligibility for the End Term Exam.

For courses that you register for in a later term, you will be required to repeat the assignments completed in the Qualifier phase.

The Qualifier Exam Score will be counted as Quiz 1 Score for the courses registered in the Foundation level in the term immediately after the Qualifier exam.

Learner has two options:

1. Register for the course in the subsequent term with the option of taking the End Term Exam alone and by paying a reduced fee (Rs.1000 per Foundational Level course and Rs.2000 per Diploma / Degree Level Course).

2. Repeat the entire course (including assignments and quizzes) by paying the full course fee.

Once the registration window closes in any term, adding courses will not be allowed. Dropping a course will be allowed within 4 weeks of the term start.

For courses dropped within the first four weeks of the term, admin charges will be retained and the balance course fee, if any, will be refunded. Admin charges for a Foundational Level course is Rs.2000 and the admin charges for a Diploma / Degree Level course is Rs.4000.

For learners who registered to take exams outside India, 50% of End Term Exam Fee for the dropped course will be refunded. If such a learner chooses to drop all courses in a term, 50% of Quiz 2 & Quiz 3 fee will also be refunded.

For more details, please refer to the operations document shared with registered students named "Part II - Foundation + Diploma" under section "13.7. Dropping a Course".

Though it is not recommended, a learner may choose to repeat a course for improving grades any number of times. The course fee for repeating a course will be twice the regular course fee and the learner will have to submit the online graded weekly assignments, appear for the Quiz(zes) and End Term Exam.

The highest score among all attempts of a course will be used for calculating the CGPA.

Please send an email to support@onlinedegree.iitm.ac.in

Each exam has a deadline before which change of exam city is allowed. Option to change the exam city will be available till each deadline in the student Dashboard, in the "Exam Cities and Hall Tickets" page.