Microsoft tying up with Indian varsities

Monday, 16 September 2002, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: Microsoft is tying up with Indian universities to provide programs that would push the Indian developer up the value chain. In the first of such memorandums of understanding (MoUs), the Indian arm of the global leader in software Monday signed up with Karnataka's Visweswaraiah Technology University, an umbrella of 114 engineering colleges. "Indian companies are beginning to influence technology solutions around the world. So India cannot remain the developer factory of the world. There are gaps that need to be filled up," Dilip Mistry, director of .NET and developer evangelism, told IANS. "Architect skills to tackle problem solving or domain knowledge is gained by experience, but can also be taught. Filling up these gaps also helps build risk-taking capacity. This is one of the reasons for such tie ups," Mistry said on the sidelines of the MoU signing ceremony. Under the MoU, Microsoft would provide specific programmes, both for the teaching and student communities, to empower them with the necessary skills, resources and training to leverage the emerging XML Web services revolution. India has 1,195 engineering colleges whose intake is 384,000 students annually. Visweswaraiah Technology University's colleges took in 40,000 students this year. "Today we cannot afford to change syllabus once in five years. We have started changing it every semester or annually for all undergraduate programs to keep pace with the needs of the industry," K. Balaveera Reddy, vice chancellor, Visweswaraiah Technology University, told reporters. The university is now providing full time and part time post-graduate courses in thrust areas like product design and development and micro electronics for IT professionals after office hours to help them go up the value chain. "All this is possible because of the university's collaboration with the industry. We have tied up with IBM, Intel, United Telecom Limited and Microsoft," added Reddy.
Source: IANS
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