BITES, Microsoft to enhance technical skills

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd and Board for Information Technology Education Standards’ (BITES) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address the training requirements of technology students in the state.

According to the MoU the training program would be open to all final-year and pre-final-year engineering graduate (BE) students of computer science and information science; as well as final-year students of the Masters Program in Computer Applications (MCA).

Professor R Natarajan, chairman, Board for Information Technology Education Standards (BITES), and Rohit Kumar, country head, Public Sector, Microsoft India, signed the MoU in the presence of Sudhakar Rao, additional chief secretary, State Government of Karnataka; and Jean-Philippe Courtois, president, Microsoft International.

The seven-month long program, starting October 2007, will be open to all the students in BITES’ member institutes.

At the end of the training, one top student from each of the BITES member colleges, selected through a test conducted at the end of the program, will have the opportunity to apply for Microsoft’s Student Partner Program - an elite club of students around the world who are passionate about technology, Microsoft said in a statement.

In addition, the top 100 students will be offered projects on the latest technologies under Microsoft’s Academic Projects Program.

Microsoft will offer a trainers’ training program free of cost to select trainers identified by BITES who will then go on to facilitate the four-month course.

BITES on its part will work with its member institutes and make available the required infrastructure for training and will also foster the formation of city-wide student user-groups, among other things.

“Microsoft is committed to empowering the student community with the latest tools and technologies, which will enable them to excel in the competitive market scenario. Microsoft’s expertise in the field of information technology along with BITES experience in training will benefits students in this state a great deal, not only allowing them access to training on brand new technologies, but also a wonderful opportunity to participate in global and domestic collaborative technology projects,” said Rohit Kumar.

Professor R Natarajan, highlighting the role of BITES in enhancing the quality of technical education said, “This MoU with Microsoft will provide valuable opportunities for the faculty and students in our Engineering Colleges to work closely with Microsoft professionals on cutting-edge technologies deployed in professional practice”.

Microsoft will also provide its assistance in other areas including providing access to the latest developer tools and select beta products to students, enabling them to better their market value; and setting up a portal for faculty members to share and communicate with other faculty worldwide under the ‘Faculty Connection initiative’.