After completing a Bachelors degree in chemical engineering from Vellore, Tamil Nadu, he set out to complete a Masters in the same discipline from Denmark. The international exposure not only broadened his horizons, but also opened several avenues once he returned to his hometown Kota in Rajasthan. In an attempt to hone his soft skills, a Masters in management is what he aspired to complete, once back in India. But with several other hurdles to joining a business school, he opted for his next best option, Online Course Ware (OCW). Social media also played an important role for him. “Living in Kota, there was
very little possibility to have face-toface interactions on topics of my interest. So, I turned to virtual world and became more active on social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook to exchange and
learn information,” he says.
Today, using available platforms such
as coursera.org, edx.org, udacity.com,
futurelearn.com and iversity.org, he has
also successfully designed a course he
calls the ‘Envisioning 21st century global
manager’ without stepping out of his
home in Kota.
Explaining the reason for the programme,
he states, “I realised my potential
and interest in becoming a 21st century
global manager. A kind of person who is
quick learner and has an interdisciplinary
approach to problem solving, with the
ability to work outside his area of expertise
if situation demands,” he says.
Khandelwal spent two months researching
skill sets, going through employment
survey reports and reports
on issues faced by large companies and
studying future trends.
The end result was a two-year programme
of what it would take to be a
21st century leader. He then designed a
course that combined subjects like public
policy, design thinking, basics of international
trade law, environmental law
and policy that he studied full time from
May 2012 to June this year.
Following months of watching lectures
online, answering quizzes and online exams,
he even took projects from Africa to
his own hometown. Some of the projects
he’s worked on include strategic analysis
of an African Bank, comparative economic
analysis of two Latin American countries
and even modify a traffic plan of his city.
Speaking about the government’s
latest initiative, Khandelwal believes
SWAYAM is promising in terms of training
and providing skills to many of the
youth in India.
The endeavour will start off with two
courses from IIT Bombay namely, ‘Introduction
to Computer Programming’ and
‘Thermodynamics’, and one on ‘Quantum
Mechanics and Quantum Computation’
by UC Berkeley’s Umesh Vazarani.
In the first phase, IIT Bombay, IIT
Chennai, IIT Kanpur, IIT Guwahati, University
of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
and IIM Bangalore among others,
alone as well as with the help of faculty
from foreign universities, will be offering
courses in areas of management, social
science, basic sciences, engineering education
and energy.
While all courses will be made available
free of cost for learning, a small fee will
be applicable in case the learner requires
a verified certificate.
Khandelwal believes that in India it
may take some time to accept a selftaught
course and get jobs based on it.
“People in the USA, even back in
2012, have successfully landed jobs
through MOOC’s. Here in India, there
are a few who have got jobs, but the
widespread acceptance is yet to come,
since people aren’t aware of these courses
and their potential,” says Khandelwal,
who is also currently looking for a job
using his newly learnt skill sets.
So would these online courses nudge
the university system and campus degree
out? Khandelwal doesn’t think so. Campus
life has its own charms, but for people
with full times jobs, families to take care
of or cannot afford high fees, this becomes
an easier alternative,” he says.
