MoU between ISA-VSI-VTU for talent generation

By siliconindia staff writer   |   Thursday, 11 August 2005, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: Expanding its efforts in electronics, the India Semiconductor Association (ISA) on Wednesday announced a comprehensive initiative – the University Gateway Initiative (UGI) – along with the VLSI Society of India (VSI) and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), one of Karnataka’s premier bodies for engineering education. The UGI seeks to generate 10,000 VLSI engineers as an annual requirement. The objectives of this MoU are to bridge the gap between industry and academia, facilitate faculty exchange programs, give courseware support and give infrastructure help, invigorate research in semi-conductors, foster environment for entrepreneurship and streamline recruitment into the semi-conductor industry. This Semiconductor Research Consortium for India is an effort to increase industry-oriented research and facilitate EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software acquisition in some of the nation’s institutes. “Talent generation is central to the Indian semiconductor industry’s effort to move up the value chain and gain global eminence. In our industry, a clear way for achieving this is through a ground initiative that encompasses every facet and fosters the creation of a supportive ecosystem. With this initiative, ISA has taken the lead in making it happen,” said Rajendra Kumar Khare, Chairman of the ISA. Dr. Balaveera Reddy, Vice-Chancellor, VTU says, “This is a unique event where the industry is joining with the academia on such a large scale. At present 100 colleges under the VTU is networked through EDUSAT for the dissemination of critical information to 10,000 engineering students.” One of the elected members of the executive council, Dr. Bobby Mitra, Managing Director, Texas Instruments India, commented, “The important thing about talent generation is the scale. India needs to make microelectronics into a priority. The VTU with 120 colleges under it attracting an annual intake of 45,000 students will solve the issue of scale in enabling students equip themselves with cutting–edge VLSI technology.” “The initiative encompasses every possible area from research, curriculum, faculty development, and EDA tool support to ecosystem creation. It covers all parties involved right from the industry bodies, companies, and academic institutions,” said Poornima Shenoy, President of the ISA. It may be noted that August 11 is celebrated as the VLSI Education Day.

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