A disruptive innovation by NIIT aimed at radically changing the skilling landscape

NIIT Ltd., a global leader in skills and talent development, today announced the launch of NIIT.tv –a digital learning initiative that brings skilling from NIIT classrooms to every digitally connected Indian, for free, at any time and place of their choice. A disruptive innovation by NIIT for the education space, NIIT.tv will deliver for the very first time, skill-based live courses as well as on-demand courses to the masses, through the digital medium. This initiative promises to meet the vast education, training and skilling needs of the country, in support of the goals of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

NIIT.tv is an internet TV portal that can be accessed on a computer, tablet or Smartphone anytime, anywhere. NIIT will select from the entire population of courses launched each month at various locations and make a certain subset of courses available on NIIT.tv. In the initial phase, over 20 skill-based training programs in IT, Banking and Finance, Retail and Management will be made available through this platform. NIIT will keep updating the content and launch new courses as per industry requirements. These live courses will be streamed through multiple channels from dedicated state-of-the-art studios across India, effectively offering a program calendar equivalent to a multi-channel TV network. In addition all the courses would also be available on-demand at any time. All courses would be delivered through videos plus additional online services in the form of digital courseware, collaboration, assessment, etc To begin with courses will be offered in English and Hindi, and progressively in other languages.The Beta version of NIIT.tv was launched today, inviting suggestions from users, to maximize learning outcomes & impact.

The launch of this initiative is a strong step by NIIT for the Renewal phase of its three stage Business Transformation exercise for the Skills and Careers Business. This began with the ‘Restructuring phase’ in October 2014, and was quickly followed by the ‘Re-energising phase’ that commenced in April 2015. Keeping up the momentum in parallel, NIIT initiated the ‘Renewal phase’ from July 2015 which will evolve over next 3 years.

Mr. Rahul Patwardhan, CEO, NIIT Ltd., said, “At NIIT it is our mission to create skilled workforce across multiple sectors to cater to the trained manpower requirements that our economy currently needs. Over the last 34 years we have contributed extensively to the IT sector by training 35 million people in IT.  Now it is our responsibility to extend that experience and expertise to service the need of India in all the other sectors, across the entire social spectrum. Through NIIT.tv we aim to make available cutting-edge skill based training to every digitally connected citizen of India, by removing the four constraints of time, space, language and money.”

 “This launch is also aligned to the Digital India and Skill India campaigns announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Modi earlier this year. We are deeply committed to these campaigns and believe that a properly skilled and digitally connected India can emerge as the next super power.”

 NIIT offers skill based training to aspiring youth and working professionals across multiple sectors like Banking, Management, Digital Marketing, E-commerce, Retail, and new-age IT programs. These courses are available to students across NIIT centers in India. In addition NIIT services millions of school students in India its school learning initiative, and also millions of employees of large Corporates in India through its corporate learning business. However these centers and channels can only service a small fraction of the total demand for fresh skills, re-skilling and up-skilling in India, because of the four constraints of time, place, language and money. These constraints force millions of Indian to either be deprived of skills training, or to consume poor quality locally available training.

NIIT.tv unlocks the constraints of time, place, language and money, and brings quality skills training from the NIIT classroom live to the citizen anywhere, as long as he or she is digitally connected through a computer or a Smartphone, or has easy access to free or low cost public digital services. NIIT is a pioneer in the use of technology in education. In India, and other developing markets, technology can be a potent force multiplier that can dramatically increase the impact of other scarce resources such as expert instructors and physical learning infrastructure.With the planned rollout of broadband to every village and penetration of digital i-ways to reach every citizen, NIIT.tv reflects NIIT’s commitment to do mass delivery of quality skills training services on the rapidly emerging Indian digital infrastructure.

NIIT.tv builds on the strong foundation that NIIT has laid with its Cloud Campus^TM and its associated Cloud & Collaborative Learning model. By opening this up to the larger eco-system of learners, teachers, mentors, and experts, NIIT will catalyze the availability of career enabling & career accelerating skilling solutions. Learners across India will have access to the proven Cloud Campus^TM learning enablers such as Cloud Courseware, Cloud Lab, Online Assessment and Collaborative Learning.

“We believe that Expert Instructors & Gurus are the most precious resource in the skilling eco-system. NIIT.tv will be a potent technological & pedagogical force multiplier that will amplify the impact of these experts on learners throughout our country. We invite NGOs and Individuals to partner with us and offer cutting-edge skilling programs, to address the full spectrum of career opportunities – whether entrepreneurial or employment oriented. Our studios & technology platform will be freely available for those willing to offer free programs”, said NIIT CTO, Rajan Venkataraman.

NIIT.tv is Internet and Cloud technologies-based, but it has its feet firmly planted on the ground. NIIT has an extensive network of on-ground centres run by its entrepreneurial partners. Additionally, it works with thousands of Government & Private schools. Students in its IT labs benefit from the presence of experienced instructors & facilitators. All such NIIT partners have deep roots in the communities they serve, and with NIIT.tv each one of them will have a platform through which they can make a larger impact. NIIT will also encourage & recognize its students who contribute their time and effort to support new learners – especially from the under-privileged sections of society. Through this collaborative effort, the company expects a lot more local language content to become available.

NIIT.tv will showcase:

• Courses available for a specified period, enabling one to choose from the options listed.
• The Live scheduled courses calendar for the current day and future schedule.
• The full course catalogue with course descriptions, duration, timings and dates.
• On-demand introductory sessions for each of the courses.
• Registration for a course, and instant access to all online services related to the course.
• Live session calendar, to watch the courses live.
• Stored video library wherein a user can view a video later, if he/she misses a session.
• Collaborative learning through Buddynet – Discussion Forums
• Booking facility at the closet NIIT center for learners, who do not have access to the lab environment needed for a course.
• Certificate of Attendance, that can be issued based on evidence of online completion of the course.
• Provision of NIIT performance certificate at the NIIT testing center.
• Progressively, more online functionality.

WithNIIT.tv, the company is well positioned to deliver on its promise of training 10million students, as announced during Skill India launch