New Delhi: IIT-Ropar and TSW, the executive education division of Times Professional Learning (part of Times of India Group), have launched an online post-graduate certificate programme in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. In a virtual ceremony on Thursday, Sarit Kumar Das, director, IIT-Ropar, and Anish Srikrishna, CEO, Times Professional Learning, signed an MoU for a long-term collaboration. The artificial intelligence programme is the first to be launched as part of this collaboration. The programme will cover subjects such as AI in context with other emerging technologies. Successful candidates will receive a joint certificate from IIT-Ropar and TSW, and IIT-Ropar executive education alumni status. The (Covid-19) crisis has only enhanced the requirement for such an online programme,” said Das. Learners could create their own “portfolio” of courses from various institutes and in future, a bunch of such certificate courses may even be considered to lead to a degree. “There is a strong realisation that job roles will be altered by new digital technologies across all levels of organisations, whether at entry level or senior managerial. The course in AI and DL offered jointly by IIT-Ropar and TSW seeks to address this growing skill gap,” said Srikrishna. The Indo-Taiwan Joint Research Centre (ITJRC) on AI and machine learning at IIT-Ropar will coordinate the programme.