National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning was initiated with the purpose to provide course contents in the field of Science and Engineering. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and seven Indian Institutes of Technology i.e. Kharagpur, Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur, Guwahati, Madras and Roorkee joint put forth this proposal. The plan was to create web based content for 100 courses. Along with this videos too were prepared. The duration of each course is 40 hours.

Courses offered under NPTEL

Some of the areas covered under NPTEL are

• Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Automobile Engineering
• Atmospheric Science
• Biotechnology
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Aerospace Engineering
• Metallurgy and Material Science
• Environmental Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electronics & Communication Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Engineering Design
• Management
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Mathematics
• Mining Engineering
• Textile Engineering
• Ocean Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Physics

As of now 125 web course material and 136 video courses are available. All the material can be downloaded free of cost.

Objective of NPTEL

• Prepare structured content to be used commonly by all.
• To provide learning material in Science and Engineering field to all including students, corporate, government agencies etc.
• Provide workshop to teachers across on the approach to be adopted whilst teaching.
• To create forum and discussion boards to encourage various viewpoints to be put forth. This would help the creation of digital library. Also a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) can be created.
• To create the largest video repository of technical lecture-courses in the world

The syllabi of All India Council for Technical Education have been adhered to. The faculty using the contents can modify the same to their requirements.

Benefits of NPTEL

• Faculty of IISC/IIT are encouraged to contribute towards creation of content. They are encouraged to create new courses i.e. courses not part of AICTE syllabi.
• In order to improve the skill sets of the students online assignments and comprehensive tests have been created. An attempt has been made to create contents in the various engineering related courses.
• Parameters have been designed to ensure the students follow all the requirements. Expert training has been to the colleges. The students will need to attempt them in addition to the University examinations. The deserving students will be rewarded.
• To the remove the old system of monotonous and mechanical form of learning and encourage an analytic method of study.
• The training requirements of the industry have been considered during content creation.

Copyrights of the contents of NPTEL

IISC/ IIT and MHRD jointly own the copyrights of all the contents.