IBM extends collaboration with 6 colleges in Tamil Nadu

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Bangalore: IBM has extended its 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 (COE), creating opportunity for students to learn new skill sets on IBM software products - DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, Rational and Tivoli - as well as develop 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. The students can gain experience of the software products that are installed at the campus. Through this initiative, IBM will work with the colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu, leveraging the selected colleges as centers of learning. Himanshu Goyal, Country Manager - Academic Initiative, Developer Works and Globalization IBM India/South Asia said, "Increased competitiveness and demand for the corresponding business and technology skills will require students to develop a unique skill-set, but the supply of such people with the right skills for a smart planet is increasingly inadequate." IBM is establishing Centre of Excellence to promote high quality education with the help of emerging technologies in colleges. And, 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, Department of Computer Science, KLNCE, Madurai said, "This is the second Centre of Excellence in 2009 that has been inaugurated at KLN College. The aim of such a centre 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." Also, K.K.Sivagnana Prabhu, Head-Training and Placement, R.M.K. Engineering College, Chennai added "We are glad to collaborate with IBM. 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." "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. We are confident that the COEs would enable skill set development among students for years to come," Goyal added. The COE is an outgrowth of IBM's Academic Initiative, which covers 2,000 colleges and universities around the world - committed to driving evolving open standards-based IT skills. Under the initiative, IBM partners closely with the local government and academia allowing access to the company's software, course materials, training and curriculum development.