Sushovan Mishra
As a platform facilitating learning, NPTEL provides an opportunity to learn from professors across a spectrum of reputed institutions in India, particularly IITs. For Mr. Sushovan Mishra, who had been taking up courses since 2023, NPTEL opened up the world which operates beyond the screen. Studying alongside his friend for GATE 2025, he achieved an All India Rank of 60, and gained entry into the vast halls and deer-grazing pastures of IIT Madras.
Although NPTEL helped bring his IIT aspirations within reach, his journey is yet to reach a halt. Currently enrolled in two courses, while coping with the requirements of his academic curriculum, Mr. Mishra’s enthusiasm has escalated over the years. From his very first NPTEL courses, ‘Postmodernism in Literature’ and “Introduction to Cultural Studies”, to the courses he took in his very first semester, his growth was fuelled by the same professors he could now interact with on a daily basis, inside the classroom. He fondly remembers these courses, as they pushed him to grow beyond the boundaries of institution and discipline. He had been motivated by the educators in his Integrated B.Ed degree to seek out NPTEL, so as to quench his need for a depth of knowledge, which his college curriculum struggled to provide due to structural limits. After taking the leap of faith, urged by them, he views NPTEL to be a bridge between institutional knowledge and certification, and the curiosity to learn.
Having interacted with some of his favourite NPTEL Professors in real life, such as Professor Rajesh Kumar, Professor Avishek Parui and Professor Merin Simi Raj, he wishes NPTEL would strengthen the feedback interface for its learners, by introducing something similar to YouTube Live, as a channel for real-time interaction between screens. He believes this shall be beneficial not only in cases of doubt clearance, but would also encourage and motivate the learners, as the words of an influential instructor are bound to do.
Mr. Mishra wishes to go into further research after his M.A degree has been completed. He is currently drafting prospective proposals for a Ph.D., recently having qualified for Assistant Professor in UGC-NET, June 2026.
The Humanities and Social Sciences, as a discipline, had taught him not to be restricted by its own boundaries; it was with NPTEL that he managed to implement this in his life.
And despite all his institutional and extra-institutional courses, he emphasises the importance of relaxation. “The courses on NPTEL aren’t going to stress you out”, he says, “you can learn whenever you want, follow whichever course you choose according to your own liking, and study however you like”.
The flexibility afforded by the platform is what enables a stress-free learning environment, which he believes is important but scarcely available to students these days, crippling their learning abilities.
When asked about how he prepares for his own courses, he says that just absorbing the lectures is more than enough; the courses are very conveniently structured and follow a comprehensible trajectory, requiring very little work than one’s complete attention to each lecture.
NPTEL, thus, aims to offer every single convenience to those who wish to acquire knowledge without bounds, as Mr. Mishra. For him, life itself is interdisciplinary, never sticking to a single path; similarly, with NPTEL, life becomes easily navigable both on the screen and beyond.
~written by Eshani Bhattacharjee
