Edu-leaders

In early March, IGNOU and Asia’s largest IT trainer, NIIT, inked an MoU for a global partnership programme related to education and skill-building. The agreement was signed between professor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, the IGNOU Vice Chancellor, and Rajendra S. Pawar, the NIIT chairman. The two institutions will collaborate to promote information technology (IT) and management sciences in India. Their joint programmes will include stand-alone undergraduate courses and combined masters programmes. The tie-up will be extended to finishing school programmes, which would be available to IGNOU students and alumni. Speaking at the occasion Pillai said, “Students look up to us to receive internationally viable education. Our global partnership will enable students to acquire employable skills for domestic and global markets.” Pawar concurred, “Our partnership seeks to contribute to large-scale skill development.”

According to industry experts, more than 900,000 jobs are likely to be created in India by 2010, of which 350,000 new jobs will be added to the IT service alone. According to latest industry figures that were announced by NASSCOM, the ITBPO exports market alone is expected to grow by 13 to 15 percent, while the domestic market is expected to grow by 15 to 17 percent.

Professor Manohar Lal, the director of the School of Information and Computer Sciences (IGNOU), said, “I am happy that the MoU was signed.

“We are duty bound to take education to everyone. Democratisation of computer education is required. Taking state-ofthe- art IT education to every doorstep is a challenge that we have undertaken together.”