How to Reach IIT Kanpur

Prelude

IIT Kanpur offers a variety of continuing and distance education programs (short-term courses, workshops, online certificate courses, web courses, and internship programs) to students, academic, scientific and technical staff, professionals and to interested participants both from within and outside the Institute. The aim of all such activities is to provide opportunities to gain knowledge and to develop skill sets for professional growth. All such extension and academic outreach educational activities of IIT Kanpur are handled by the Office of the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE).

1. Mandate

The mandate of the CCE in reference to Office Order DIR/IITK/2019/OO-13, dated Feb. 5th, 2019 is as follows:

All academic outreach activities like Conference, Workshops, Symposia, Short-term courses, Training program, Internships programs and other similar activities of the Institute will require approval and run under the umbrella of the CCE
All similar programs currently running under other units and sections will be transferred to the CCE from FY 2019-20
The CCE provides necessary logistics, administrative support to run such programs
All financial matters including handling of outreach program accounts, issue of UC/SoE, and any other related matter will be handled by the CCE
The outreach program coordinators will open, operate, and close the extension program/course accounts via the CCE
The Center will evolve policy mechanisms for charging overheads, and other related matters to make it self sustaining in future.

2. Governance

All administrative responsibilities of the CCE will be handled by the Head, CCE. He/She will perform the duties of the Head of this section. The term of the Head CCE will be three years. The Head CCE will be appointed by the Director IIT Kanpur via an office order.

For effective governance and implementation of the programs handled by the CCE, the following committees will be constituted with approval of the Director IIT Kanpur

Policy Advisory Committee
The Policy advisory committee will consist of 6 members with Head CCE as convenor and will be constituted with the approval of the Director IIT Kanpur. The Director may reconstitute this committee as required at regular intervals. The policy advisory committee is mandated to formulate and recommend all policy matters related to the activities handled by the CCE. The policy advisory committee will formulate, modify, suggest, and will be responsible for making recommendations to the Director. Recommendations of the committee after approval by the Director will form the policy document of the CCE. This policy document will be adhered to by the CCE for handling all Institute activities falling under its mandate.
Institute Continuing Education Program Committee
The Institute Continuing Education Program Committee (ICEPC) will consist of one representative from each department. The committee will deliberate and advise on all the functional aspects of the CCE from time to time. Head CCE will be the Convenor of this committee. The term of the members of this committee will be one year. Each member will be nominated by the Head of the respective department.

3. Types of Outreach Programs

The following outreach programs which are conducted by or in association with IIT Kanpur Faculty/Academic Staff, will require approval and will be managed by the CCE, IIT Kanpur.

All Institute outreach programs which collect/receive monetary funds in the form of registration fees, sponsorship, or any similar mode
All Institute outreach programs which issue a certificate utilizing the Logo and/or the name of IIT Kanpur in any form
All Institute outreach programs which utilize facilities of IIT Kanpur in any manner

An illustrative listing of such programs is provided below for reference.

National and International Symposia/Conference:
A meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, especially a meeting at which several speakers talk on or discuss a topic before an audience. It is a collection of opinions expressed or articles contributed by several persons on a given subject or topic. Both short and long term Symposia are included in this category. Proposals in this category can be submitted to the CCE for approval, any time through the year by the program co-ordinators.
Short Term Course/Workshop/Seminar:
These are certificate programs that can be completed in a small amount of time. Generally the duration of these courses range from 3/5/10 days. They can help enhance a person's career or personal interest. Short Term Courses can be further classified as:
- These are courses for which Government financial aid is not provided and the person has to bear the cost of study. Primarily aimed at working professionals and students who can meet the expenses of study themselves. Both on campus and off campus courses are included in this category. Proposals in this category can be submitted to the CCE for approval, any time through the year by the program co-ordinators.
- Government/Industry Sponsored Course/Workshop: Government/Industry participants normally mean the once who are sponsored by industries for short term certification studies. In addition to the normal fees of participants the Government/Industry also may pay an additional sponsorship fee. Both on campus and off campus courses are included in this category. Proposals in this category can be submitted to the CCE for approval, any time through the year by the program co-ordinators.
- Student Conducted Courses/Workshop: Courses organised for engineering and other students by IIT Kanpur students under the auspices of the Dean Student Affairs (DOSA) .These courses include courses conducted by Techkriti Team, E-cell student team, TechnoCruise etc. Both on campus and off campus courses are included in this category. Proposals in this category can be submitted to the CCE for approval, any time through the year by the program co-ordinators.
AICTE sponsored QIP Courses:
Quality Improvement Program certification courses are organised for the AICTE approved engineering college faculties with annual funding received from AICTE. The CFP for these proposals is issued by the CCE once in a calendar year.
- AICTE sponsored QIP Courses: These courses are organised only for AICTE approved engineering college faculty. No fees is charged for any of the participants as the budget is provided by AICTE. Travel and other expenses of participating faculty are also met under this scheme.
- AICTE sponsored QIP Courses with Self Financed Part: Some QIP courses are very popular and to accommodate a large number of requests, these courses are opened up for other participants with a fee. Students, Faculty, and Industry participants can participate in such programs by paying a registration fee.
Foreign Language Program: The Foreign Language Programme (FLP) was started more than 30 years ago under the DOSA and run by the Dept.of HSS. Since then it has grown and attracts students and faculty not just from within the campus, but also from the city. Eager and motivated students learn a language either purely out of interest or for professional reasons. Many students, who wish to pursue a higher degree or a job outside India, find the knowledge of a foreign language an additional benefit. French, German, Japanese, and Chinese Languages are taught under the FLP. The FLP co-ordinator from HSS department co-ordinates this activity.
Online Certification Programs and MooCs: These courses are aimed at narrowing the gap between quality education and industry requirements for skill development and employability of professionals. Since such courses can attract a large number of participants the conduction of such courses will be in MooC mode. A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive courses with user forums to support community interactions among students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs), as well as immediate feedback to quizzes and assignments. MOOCs are a recent and widely researched development in distance education. This category will also include all advanced certification programs for executives conducted either in online or hybrid mode. Proposals in this category can be submitted any time by the co-ordinators or offered via an MoU. There is also a proposal to develop a IIT Kanpur Online portal to offer such courses. Once such a portal is available at IIT Kanpur all such courses will be delivered via this portal.
Institutional collaboration Programs: Initiatives or arrangements of various kinds between two or more institutes working to accomplish specific goals in distance education that have institutional commitment. These programs can include offering short/long term courses, Faculty development programs (FDPs) for Institutional partners like AKTU, DRDO, Engineering Institutes under TEQIP, Institutes under the Director of Technical Education of State Governments, and any other such Partners with whom a Proposal/Agreement/MoU is approved and established.
GIAN ( Registration Fee Part):
Govt. of India approved a new program titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education aimed at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs, internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India so as to augment the country's existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India's scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.GIAN has helped garner the best international experience into our systems of education, enable interaction of students and faculty with the best academic and industry experts from all over the world and also share their experiences and expertise to motivate people to work on Indian problems, via FDPs.
However these FDPs require registration by Faculty and other participants by paying a course registration fee. Sometimes a self financed part is also included in such courses to augment the financial receipts. For all GIAN courses an approval from the CCE is required. The registration fee will be collected via the CCE, and all transactions regarding the course will be performed via the CCE.
Additional Outreach/Certification Programs (that can evolve in the Future): All outreach/certification programs that can come up in the future in this rapidly evolving certification space will fall under this category.

4. Institutional Academic Outreach Programs

IIT Kanpur runs several Institutional academic outreach programs like NPTEL, GIAN, TEQIP, EICT, and SBERTC among others. NPTEL and GIAN are outreach activities of IIT Kanpur and currently managed by DoRD office. NPTEL is a free course offering, with no course fees charged and hence will work under the CCE with the respective co-ordinator taking care of its activities. The registration fee part of GIAN will be approved and this course account will be managed under the aegis of the CCE.

TEQIP program is currently functioning and managed by a PI, under DoRD. The functioning and management of the TEQIP program will come under the umbrella the CCE to streamline and maintain uniformity for all extension courses sponsored by the government. Certification for all TEQIP courses will require approval and be issued by the CCE. All online/Live lecture certification programs conducted by the EICT and SBERTC with a certification fee, will come under the aegis of the CCE. All EICT/SBERTC courses will require approval, account opening and certificates will be issued by the CCE.

The coordinators of all these activities, submit the approval policy for courses, and list of approved courses every year. It is also recommended that the RFP for all these courses must be released as an Institute wide open announcement to ensure fair participation of all Faculty and academic staff of the Institute. The list of participants in each courses also needs to be submitted to the Office of the CCE prior to the affixation of signature of Head CCE and issue of these certificates to the participants.

Since CCE is the Institute body authorized to certify all outreach programs, academic outreach programs like NPTEL, TEQIP, EICT, and other similar activities of the Institute must be completely managed by the CCE. For the CCE to effectively administer and manage these types of programs, it is recommended that CCE must directly handle such outreach programs (as PI) with separate Co-ordinators appointed by the Director IIT Kanpur, for each of these programs.

5. Conduct of Academic Outreach Programs

All academic outreach programs listed in Section (1), will require an approval from the CCE prior to its organization. The procedure to be followed for approval of AICTE sponsored QIP programs and all other types of outreach programs is illustrated as a flow diagram in Fig. 1

6. Management of The Outreach Program Account

Once an outreach program is approved by the CCE, the co ordinator will open a course account by filling out the appropriate form with CCE.
The SBI account details of CCE will be provided for transfer of all incoming funds. All incoming funds with respect to the conduction of the course like registration fees, sponsorship funds, and other related sources will be parked in the specific outreach program account created for this purpose. Invoices will also be issued by the CCE wherever required.
The coordinator will operate the expenditures of the project through the CCE.
The honorarium of the coordinator will be fixed as per the original program proposal or the honorarium policy of CCE and will be disbursed from this account.
After completion of the program, the coordinator needs to settle all advances drawn, complete the expenditure reimbursement procedure, and close the program account opened with CCE. UC/SoE will also be issued by the CCE wherever required.
Established Institute accounting norms will be followed for management and closing of the course account.

The flow diagram for this procedure is illustrated in Fig. 2

7. Institute Overheads, GST, and Accounting

For all types of academic outreach activities listed in Section (1), Institute overhead charges of 15% will be deducted by the CCE on the total receipts in the respective outreach program account.
In addition, CCE will deduct 2.5% of the total receipts to the DPA of the coordinator's parent Department. An additional 2.5% of the total receipts will be deducted and remitted to the PDA of the Coordinator conducting the outreach program.
The total overhead charges will therefore be 20% of the total receipts in the respective outreach program account.
A fixed CCE coordination fee (by taking into account the total proposed budget of a particular program) will be charged for all programs which are completely proposed, developed, or co-ordinated by the CCE.
A GST of 18% will be charged for all incoming funds/fees/sponsorship amount, except in the case where the source of funds is exempt from GST (For eg. fees received from IIT Kanpur employees/their dependents, and other sources exempt from GST).

An example based illustration for deduction of GST, Overheads, and expenditure management is shown in Figure 3.

8. Reduction of Overheads and Exemption from GST

An Institute overhead of 10% will be charged on the total receipts for International Conferences, Student conducted outreach programs, and the Foreign Language Program (FLP) to allow for CCE coordination charges. The DPA portion of the parent department and the PDA portion of the Program coordinator will not be processed by the CCE for these programs.
For courses sponsored by central and state government agencies (eg. DRDO, SERB-DST, DTE -UP, etc.) where a reduced overhead/miscellaneous percentage (less than 20%) are allowed, the overhead/miscellaneous percentage as allowed by the agency will be deducted by CCE. In such cases a corresponding proportional reduction in percentage of contribution to the DPA (to parent department) and PDA (to the program coordinator) will be processed by CCE.
The DPA portion of the parent department and the PDA portion of the Program coordinator will not be processed by the CCE for any outreach program where Institute overhead charges are 15% or lesser.
All sources of incoming funds/course fees etc. which are exempt from GST as per GST guidelines will be adhered to in consultation/on the advice of the CCE/Institute Accounts Section.

9. Selection and Approval of QIP short term Courses

An open call for proposals for conducting QIP short courses will be released at the beginning of each financial year. A four member committee, with Head CCE as Chairman cum Convenor will scrutinize the proposals and finalize the list of selected proposals. A wait list of selected proposals will also be finalized. The complete list of selected and waitlisted proposals will be posted on the CCE website at https://www.iitk.ac.in/cce/. The selection of QIP course proposals will be broadly based on the following criteria

New, emerging, popular and cutting edge areas which can attract significant interest will be given preference in the selection process
Faculty who have not offered QIP courses earlier (in the last three years) will be given priority
Departments which have not been active in the past in offering QIP courses will be given priority
A co-ordinator/co-coordinator can submit at most two proposals in one financial year for consideration
Proposals with academic orientation will be given preference over Industry oriented courses
Proposals submitted during the current year can be considered again in the next year if the proposer wishes to do so.

The enumerated work flow for the selection of QIP short term courses is given below.
Steps (iv) to (xi) will be done in consultation with the co-ordinator of the course.

Call for Course proposals by CCE
Short Listing of course proposals, by selection committee.
Approval letter issued by Head , CCE
Approval of self financed part of the course, if required
Course account opened with CCE
Course brochure/flyer with course schedule prepared by CCE
Course website prepared by CCE
CCE Publicizes and circulates the course information to intended audience
Arrangement of Accommodation, fooding and other logistics handled by CCE
Certificates prepared and distributed by the CCE after course completion
Account with CCE closed after settling the expenditures

10. Certification Format and Procedure for Distribution

All outreach programs, under all categories mentioned in Section (1), which require distribution of certificates to participants must follow the format specified by the CCE.

A sample copy of the certificate for all outreach programs is available at : https://www.iitk.ac.in/cce/cce-forms.php
An approval from the CCE office is required If any changes/modifications are required in the certificate.
Certificates will be approved and signed by Head, CCE after the CCE Office verifies the list of participants with signatures.
For programs conducted under the NPTEL and TeQIP, the coordinators will provide a list of approved courses and a final list of students who have successfully completed the course. An e-signature of the Head CCE can be affixed only after verification of these lists by the Office of the CCE.

11. Suggestions for Fixing Honorarium and Disbursement

Table 1 provides broad suggestions for fixing honorarium for all outreach programs listed in Section (1). These guidelines may be followed by the program coordinator for honorarium disbursement.

The procedure for honorarium disbursement to coordinator, and staff is illustrated in Figure 4.

12. Guidelines for Drafting MoU

The broad guidelines for drafting an MoU with other agencies/entities/organizations/service providers in relation to the activities and programs offered under the umbrella of the CCE will be similar to the guidelines for drafting an MoU of DoRD Office which can be found at : http://web.iitk.ac.in/july14dordn/guidelines-for-drafting-mou

However since CCE is mandated only with the conduction and management of all outreach programs of the Institute, specific matters not addressed in these guidelines will be evolved from time to time, on a case by case basis in consultation with the Policy advisory committee and ICEPC.

13. Template MoU and Approval

The template MoUs for organizing short term courses and other training programs in understanding with various external entities is available at : https://www.iitk.ac.in/cce/cce-forms.php

The approval process flow for signing an MoU is enumerated below:

Proposal for an MoU is initiated by CCE/External Entity/Faculty of IIT Kanpur
An initial Draft of the proposed MoU is provided by the external entity or the template MoU of CCE is used as a reference
The draft MoU is vetted thoroughly by the Institute for policy, legal, IPR, and other related aspects, either using Institute experts or external experts as the need may be
After the MoU is finalized and accepted by both parties (IIT Kanpur and external entity), A note file is prepared by the CCE Office.
If the MoU originates from a Faculty, he/she is involved in the finalization and note file preparation. The note file format is available at : https://www.iitk.ac.in/cce/cce-forms.php
The note file is sent for approval by the Competent Authority.
Once approved by the Competent Authority, two copies of the MoU are signed by the Head, CCE on behalf of IIT Kanpur, and one copy is kept in safe records of CCE Office. The other copy is sent to the external entity.

14. IPR Policy

The Institute Board approved IPR policy as available with the Dean R and D Office will be adopted by the CCE wherever applicable. Modifications and changes with respect to specific cases applicable only to Outreach programs will be adopted in consultation with and advice of the Policy Advisory Committee and ICEPC from time to time.

15. Plagiarism Policy

The Plagiarism policy of the CCE will be exactly similar to the approved plagiarism policy of IIT Kanpur, developed by the Institute Ethics and Plagiarism committee.

16. Proactive Disclosure Policy

CCE will follow a proactive disclosure policy with respect to its functioning. All information regarding the activities of the CCE will be made available through the CCE website. A webmaster who is a staff of the CCE will be responsible for keeping the website up to date, with assistance of CCE staff. Currently the website of the CCE with all information and disclosures is available at : https://www.iitk.ac.in/cce/

17. IIT Kanpur Online Portal

IIT Kanpur offers a large number of online certification courses including MooCs. In order to facilitate and increase the number of online certification programs in cutting edge and core engineering areas, an e-platform for delivery of such courses is required. IIT Kanpur has been a national leader in offering MooCs and already has e-platforms at various readiness levels. However a concerted effort is required to have a single e-platform to enable all online certification programs from IIT Kanpur via this platform. This platform/service can envisaged as IIT Kanpur Online (IITK Online). The Center for Continuing Education (CCE) must develop and integrate these e-platform services available at IIT Kanpur into a single full fledged online service for all online course offerings from IIT Kanpur. Once such a online portal is available at IIT Kanpur all online certification course offerings will move to and be offered only via IITK Online.