Date:24/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/24/stories/2008072456850500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli

One more academy planned to train teachers

Staff Reporter

It is expected to increase the employability of engineering graduates and ITI students

To develop ICT industry-related curriculum
It will train 5,000 faculty members across Tamil Nadu over the next three years

TIRUNELVELI: When the Teachers’ Day celebrations begin on September 5 this year, one more academy to train the trainers in the advanced aspects of technical education will come into existence.

The State and Central governments, the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Tamil Nadu State Council and leading information and communication technology companies have decided to set up an information and communication technology academy.

While bridging the talent gap, the academy, to be christened ICT Academy for Tamil Nadu (ICTACT), is expected to increase the employability of engineering graduates, diploma-holders and students of the Industrial Training Institutes and arts and science colleges. It will also develop and maintain “a world-class ICT industry-related curriculum and course content” and make it available to students and faculty through an online portal.

The academy will train 5,000 faculty members across Tamil Nadu, over the next three years, and the well trained teachers, in turn, are expected to train 2.50 lakh students. Some of the leading companies have reportedly come forward to be a part of this programme and play an active role in designing the course content.

“Since we’ve already taken several initiatives to empower the students with soft skills through carefully designed seminars and workshops to make them employable, this particular academy will concentrate mainly on imparting hard skills (technical aspects required by the ICT industry) to the faculty members so that those skills will reach the students indirectly (through the teachers),” said Manickam Ramasami, chairman, CII, Tamil Nadu State Council, and K. S. Bharath, vice-chairman, CII Madurai Zone, who on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Manonmaniam Sundaranar University on ‘University-Industry Consortium on Knowledge Partnership for Employability.’

While the academy’s research and training headquarters will be located in Chennai, the regional learning centres across the State will organise contact classes and residential summer training camps. The faculty will be exposed to the industry through short placements. International and Indian experts will deliver lectures through web-based communication.