IBM Extends Collaboration with 6 Colleges in Tamil Nadu, Launches CoEs
IT News Online Staff
2009-11-23
IBM has announced new and extended collaboration with six engineering and technology colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu to provide a platform for development of software skills among the students.
The collaboration has brought the establishment of a series of IBM Centers of Excellence (CoEs), creating a an opportunity for students to learn new skill sets on IBM software products - DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, Rational and Tivoli - as well as develop world-class business solutions.
The CoEs were launched at Sona College of Technology, Salem; KLN College of Information Technology, Madurai; Kalasilingam university, Krishnankovil; RMK College of Engineering, Chennai; Karpagam college of Engineering, Coimbatore and Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore.
IBM will follow a two-pronged approach, providing the colleges with access to technologies relevant to the market while ensuring the right skills are taught. The students can gain first-hand experience of the software products that are installed at the campus. Through this initiative, IBM will work closely with the colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu, leveraging the selected colleges as centers of learning.
"Organizations are not looking for nuts-and-bolts programmers and easy-to-document support workers," said Himanshu Goyal, Country Manager - Academic Initiative, Developer Works and Globalization IBM India/South Asia. "Increased competitiveness and demand for the corresponding business and technology skills will require students to develop a unique skill-set never seen before, but the supply of such people with the right skills for a smart planet is increasingly inadequate. CoEs are an extension of IBM's commitment to nurture skills for the 21st century."
"IBM has had a long standing relationship with the colleges in Tamil Nadu through TGMC, multiple training and certification camps that are ongoing and IBM courses included in the curriculum of Karpagam, KLN and RMK. IBM's CoEs will expose students to gen-next software products, give them an opportunity to put skills to the test and allow innovation to take the lead. We are confident that the COEs will enable skill set development among students for years to come," added Goyal.
IBM said it is establishing CoEs to promote high quality education by providing state-of the-art and emerging technologies in colleges with the objective of nurturing highly skilled computer professionals. The colleges will provide infrastructure and high-end systems, while IBM will extend its entire range of software suite free of charge.
N. Lakshminarasimman, Professor and HoD, Dept. of Computer Science Education, KLNCE, Madurai, said, "This is the second CoE in 2009 that has been inaugurated at KLN College. The aim of such a center is to give hands on experience to students on the latest IBM tools as well as to create considerable amount of international certifications through prometric exams."
K. K. Sivagnana Prabhu, Head - Training and Placement, R. M. K. Engineering College, Chennai, said, "We are glad to collaborate with IBM to provide a platform to students that will help them in receiving updated industry knowledge. The association will give our students the opportunity to partner with some of the best minds across the world, help us in churning out industry ready professionals thus increasing placement opportunities."
The CoEs are an outgrowth of IBM's Academic Initiative, which covers 2,000 colleges and universities around the world, a global model committed to driving evolving open standards-based IT skills. Under the initiative, IBM partners closely with the local government and academia to create an enabling environment by allowing access to IBM software, course materials, training and curriculum development, helping India become an innovators' nation by investing in skills development and technology enablement, empowering future workers with the right skills to be able to compete in the larger global workforce.
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