Free Social Science Courses & Certifications

Amid the rise of fake, misleading, and polarising news, and the deplorable state of mainstream media, the need of the hour is to produce trustworthy journalism. And that is just what the Journalism for Social Change certification course aims to do. You will learn about solution-based journalism, which is the practice of giving equal weightage to a problem and its solution.

By the end of the Journalism for Social Change training by edX, you will learn how to use journalism and the media as a tool to implement positive social change. You will also become an effective change agent yourself. You will study outstanding examples of solution-based journalism, focusing mostly on vulnerable children, and other issues that affect all other vulnerable and marginalised peoples.  

Your research and report during the Journalism for Social Change online course will be published over the semester, and will, in turn, have an immediate and direct impact. It can be anything - women’s rights, immigration, child exploitation, criminal justice, or poverty. This four-week programme is brought to you by the University of California, Berkeley.

The Postcolonial Literature online programme is a free elective course offered by Swayam in partnership with IIT Kanpur. The course is aimed towards postgraduate English literature students from any college or university. The robust course syllabus involves various crucial literary texts that emerged in the 1980s by significant writers such as Raja Rao, Chinua Achebe, Joseph Conrad, Jhumpa Lahiri and some literary critics.

Furthermore, the Postcolonial Literature certification falls under the English studies and Humanities and Social Sciences categories. The elective course will run for four weeks and help you navigate some complex concepts and theories that are a part of postcolonial literature. Also, the programme is curated by IIT Kanpur and is delivered by its department of English Literature.

At the end of the Postcolonial Literature certification course, you will have a thorough understanding of postcolonial studies and the rich texts that left their literary imprints on the history of world literature.

Water, Society, and Sustainability certification is a course for one month that is held directly using the Swayam platform. The course curriculum is designed by the 2 institutions NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur to help understand the global water scenario. The world consists of a number of people who do not have access to safe and clean water. Candidates will learn about certain lessons from small-scale community water conservation practices. 

Water, Society, and Sustainability training for the course exhibits all the characteristics across technology, water, society, and science The course is located at the intersections across the water, technology, science, and society towards a sustainable future. The context is important for understanding and addressing the need for water beyond the technical, and physical attributes of the water shapes designed by the society. Also, the students will be understanding the challenges associated with water like availability, severe drought, or floods. The certificate that is showered at the end of the course modules, assignments and an examination will be supported across different commerce industries.

The Great Experiments in Psychology certification course is a 4 weeks course. This postgraduate programme is available online through Swayam’s provider platform. Human Psychology is such a subject that excites people to know about what humans actually do think of their race as a whole. Hence this course was based on the above-stated ideology. 

The Great Experiments in Psychology training is offered for everyone who wants to establish themselves through various experiments in psychology as a science that are usually unknown for many people. This programme usually gives an attempt in sharing certain important experiments prevalent in the history of Psychology that has helped towards shaping up its identity as a science. Ultimately this course will help in designing experiments using human subjects trying to understand the scientific approach of psychology.

The ‘Managing Intellectual Property in Universities’ online certification course is focused on delivering insights on the features involved and the importance of establishing an intellectual property center in universities and colleges to increase the ranking and enhance the innovation ecosystem in educational institutions. This free training program is provided by Swayam online portal in collaboration with the National Program for Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL).

The participants of this course are guided by the program instructor, Dr. Feroz Ali who teaches Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The classes are conducted online through videos, lectures, online resources, and other evaluation techniques. The students of this course will gain both theoretical and practical experience with the hands-on training during the program which enables students to get practical experience with forming and managing an IP center.

The ‘Managing Intellectual Property in Universities’ certification course helps students to receive the course certificate and credit points after completing the course which is done within four weeks in this elective program.

Sociology is the study of social behavior, societal relationships, patterns, and everyday culture. Development of Sociology in India online program is a short-term FDP course curated by IIT Kanpur in association with Swayam. The curriculum explores the development and emergence of Indian sociology and the Indological, Marxist, Dalit, environmental and feminist perspectives. 

Further, the Development of Sociology in India certification falls under the category of Humanities and Social Sciences and offer this postgraduate level program for free to help students, faculty members and scholars learn from expert instructors without spending money. The course will be provided through the digital medium, and the modules will be taught through video lectures by the instructor.

The Development of Sociology in India certification course also provides you with the opportunity to earn a certificate to showcase your knowledge. You can obtain the certificate after completing all the modules and attending the final exam.

The ‘Sociology of Science’ online certification course is developed for the students of undergraduate and postgraduate level and is focused on delivering insights on sociological aspects and cultural influence with respect to science and technological developments. The online course is provided by the Swayam online education portal an initiative of the government of India with the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). In this elective program, the course classes are conducted online for a period of four weeks.

The instructor for this certification program is Dr. Anindya J. Mishra who is an associate professor of the department of the humanities and social sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

The ‘Sociology of Science’ certification course enables the students to receive a course certificate and course credits after finishing the training and assessments successfully. This online program is approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and helps the students gain conceptual knowledge with practical understanding.

The ‘Strategic Communication for Sustainable Development’ online certification program is developed for the students to enhance their knowledge and skills of communication improvised with professional strategies for development. This multidisciplinary certification program is provided by the Swayam educational platform initiated by the government of India and the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). The course classes are held online aided by experiential learning methodologies that include video lectures, and other interactive and experimental training for four weeks.

The students of this program are guided by Prof.Aradhna Malik from the management studies department at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The candidates of this course are evaluated through internal assessments, assignments, and the final examination. 

The ‘Strategic Communication for Sustainable Development’ certification course equips the students with the course certificate and course credits after successful completion of the course. This is an undergraduate and postgraduate level course for the students and is approved by the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE).

The ‘Gender justice and workplace security’ online course is organized to enable students to develop their understanding of aspects of gender justice such as gender equality and other significant laws that have been drafted over the years to support the position of women in society. This National Program for Technology Enhanced Learning(NPTEL) course is provided by Swayam and the course of study is designed to be completed in four weeks.

The course instructor for this elective course for the undergraduate level students is Prof. Dipa Dube from the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The students of this program will gain a comprehensive knowledge of gender-based concepts and theories in the context of a workplace.

The ‘Gender justice and workplace security’ online training program ensures the participants of the course with a course certificate and credit points after finishing the program with the assessments according to the qualifying criteria. This management studies program is approved by the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE).

The media is a powerful tool for promoting social justice. The Activism and Citizen Journalism through Media programme will provide valuable information and guidance to individuals for using media to create awareness for social causes. Individuals will learn how to practise ethical and safe media practices.

Activism and Citizen Journalism through Media by edX will provide in-depth information on how to identify a newsworthy story and how to create and assess the impact it creates. It will also guide you on how to zero-in on appropriate platforms to publicise a story. This is a short-term course with a duration of four weeks.

Activism and Citizen Journalism through Media is an introductory course in Communication and requires no prerequisites to join. It is the result of a collaboration between edX and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wit University), Johannesburg. The educators consist of an experienced panel of faculty from Wits. The course also offers a verified certificate for students who successfully complete the course.

The Global ethics: an introductory course developed by the open university and offered by the platform of future learn is a course created under the guidance of four philosophers to help learners frame their opinions about the global challenges.

Through this course, the learners will become familiar with the key ethical theories surrounding global challenges and the implementation of philosophy for addressing them. This will make learners think about major global problems and help them develop their views about them. 

They would be able to analyze the problems like migration, climate change, widespread poverty, and global inequality and the course will help them present their unbiased thought and views on them. Frequent tests, quizzes, and assignments make learning more effective and efficient. At the end, of the course, a certification is awarded to the learners after qualifying a test, to help them demonstrate their dedication towards continuous learning and unending personal growth.