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The
relationship between the industry and academia is poised at an interesting
turning point with foreign IT majors aggressively making inroads
into the Indian academic world. With organisations like IBM, Cisco
and Microsoft making concerted efforts to enhance industry-based
learning, tie-ups with Indian varsities and other academic institutions
have become a common phenomenon. For the students, the company and
the institution, this is seen as a win-win situation—the target
being the country’s large talent pool who are being trained
to bridge the skills gap and consequently increase the user base
of the products.
For
the institution, the advantages are obvious—they want to make
their students saleable in the job market and be known as attractive
academic destinations. Furthermore, the alliance helps them get
closer to the industry. Frank Luksic, country manager for software
and developer relations at IBM India, candidly states the objective
of his organisation: “Our aim is to bridge the gap between
the demand and supply for our technology.” The IBM University
Programme (which was initiated in India in July 2001), is a strategic
initiative between the organisation and academic institutions to
increase the availability of skills on IBM software technologies.
 Under
this programme, education programmes are incorporated on the company’s
software technologies within the framework of the university syllabus.
IBM provides licensed versions of software (DB2, Websphere application
server family and Visual Age for Java), along with training to the
institution staff and facilities for courseware development. MoUs
have already been signed with 97 colleges, with plans to increase
the number extensively. These include institutions like IIT Roorkee
and the IIMs (Ahmedabad, Lucknow, New Delhi), etc. Five competency
centres have also been set up across the country, as a part of this
programme. While institutions have to make sizeable investment in
the process, the students get the additional benefit of getting
trained on IBM software without paying any additional fee. IBM has
also been organising competitions like the Great Minds Challenge
and Linux Scholar Challenge, apart from events like University Day
and Certification Day.
Successful
initiatives
While
similar programmes exist in countries like the US and China, according
to Luksic, in India this has been a highly successful initiative.
The last 12 months have seen almost 5,500 students being certified
under this programme, the target for next year is to double the
number of certifications and increase coverage. Additional units
will also be added in the curriculum (e.g. Rational). For IBM India,
the University Programme is not a revenue model but an investment
programme, acknowledges Luksic. The target is singular—certifying
the maximum number of people.
Cisco
has been partnering with technical colleges since the year 2000
to impart networking education to students under the Cisco Networking
Academy Programme. “This is a worldwide philanthropic programme
aimed at creating a trained manpower that can address the growing
need of networking professionals resulting from the way the Internet
is changing every sphere of life,” says Manoj Chugh, Cisco
Systems’ president for India and SAARC. There are more than
10,450 such academies across 149 countries, including India and
other SAARC countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal
and Sri Lanka. Chugh reminds that when the company’s CEO John
Chambers visited India in January 2001, he promised to set up a
Cisco Networking Academy in every state and union territory. The
success of the programme can be judged from the fact that the company
currently has 84 networking academies across 20 states in India,
while there are 20 more in other SAARC countries.
The
Networking Academy Programme has four semesters based on the principles
and practice of design, building and maintaining networks capable
of supporting national and global organisations. “In a lab
setting that closely corresponds to the real world, students get
their hands on the building blocks of today’s global information
networks, learning by doing as they design local and wide-area networks,”
says Chugh. The company has also introduced sponsored curriculum
initiatives by Hewlett-Packard, Panduit Corp and Sun Microsystems.
Additional courses on security, wireless and VoIP will be launched
in the academies by the end of 2003.
The
investment factor
Cisco
believes that India’s global advantage is its manpower and
is consequently investing $8.6 million in setting up the networking
academies (one each in every state and union territory) in India.
The names of a few education institutions with which the company
has tied up include Anna University (Chennai), Guru Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University (Delhi), and MS University (Baroda). “As
per IDC, the global shortage of networking professionals by 2003
will be 1.4 million approximately. Gartner Group states
that
through 2004, a shortage of networking professionals will mean that
30 percent of enterprises will be unable to support the onslaught
of new applications they are building,” states Chugh, adding
that the company’s proficient networking education programme
presents India and SAARC with a unique opportunity to leverage its
manpower and address the local and global demand for networking
professionals.
Empowering
the academia
In
the ever-changing world of information technology, it is not only
significant to train students in the latest technologies but the
instructors must also be well-versed and certified in the technologies.
“This is where Microsoft fits in. The academic community plays
a critical role in the software ecosystem as the launching pad for
the next generation of developers, and Microsoft is committed to
the development of the same,” says Sanjiv Mathur, head of marketing
at Microsoft Corporation India. He adds, “We support the teaching
environment and experience by providing departments with curriculum
assistance, classroom training materials, and cutting edge technology.
We also undertake activities like assistance in setting-up teaching
laboratories and other computation facilities by providing software
development tools, documentation and hardware. In addition, we support
individual faculty members through training, financial support,
software grants and documentations and also special events like
the Faculty Summit which is held every year at Redmond.”
Microsoft
has been working very closely with the academic community worldwide,
primarily under two initiatives-the University Relations Programme
and the Academic Developer Programme. Mathur informs that the University
Relations Programme is for institutions with interest and experience
in research and links Microsoft research with Indian researchers.
“The Academic Developer Programme is a reiteration of our commitment
to developing the academic community in India, and extends the work
being done through the University Relations Programme in India.
It is targeted at the technical and engineering colleges, and is
aimed at building skills in the future developer community.”
Under
this initiative, a .Net Centre of Excellence was set up at Anna
University Chennai. An MoU was also signed with the Visveswaraiah
Technology University in Karnataka, under which Microsoft will provide
the 102 colleges affiliated to the varsity with access to .Net
development
tools and technologies. Microsoft’s .Net Campus Challenge is
aimed at discovering the world’s youngest developers, while
the Student Champ Programme identifies a student champion in every
varsity who is responsible for Microsoft-led activities.
Microsoft
has also committed to spending $20 million (Rs 96 crore) as a part
of its Project Shiksha initiative in India, in the next five years.
Under this programme, the company will partner with state governments
to build state-of-the-art IT academies in the country. It aims to
provide IT literacy and skills development to more than 80,000 teachers
and 35 lakh students in the next five years. The project includes
a student as well as a teacher scholarship programme. An online
community of teachers is being set up for sharing practices and
experiences with their peers worldwide.
“At
the heart of Microsoft’s vision for the future of education
is the Connected Learning Community, an environment that builds
connections, removes limitations and creates opportunities for the
21st century learners to achieve their goals. New computing devices,
powerful software and explosion of Web services will continue to
evolve, enabling learning a learning anytime, anywhere, on any device,”
says Mathur.
While
students and institutions in India are evidently a happy lot with
the new alliances, Indian industrial houses evidently have many
lessons to learn for their own benefit.
THE
BENEFICIARIES
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The industry : Bridging of skills gap.
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Companies
: Increase in user-base of their products; more certifications.
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Students
: Better job prospects, in India and abroad.
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Institutions
: Make students sale-able in the job market; be known as attractive
academic destination for future students.
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