Hardly a month into its launch, the Information and Communication Technology Academy of Kerala (ICTAK) has chalked out an ambitious plan to spread its wings across the State, starting with the identification of six colleges to serve as its regional centres.
The colleges will be selected based on a stringent set of criteria and will don the role of common facilitator for ICTAK programmes in colleges in their respective areas.
“We are likely to complete the selection process in three months. Colleges will be selected with an eye to expand the reach of the Academy to all 14 districts,” Santhosh Kurup, chief executive officer, ICTAK, told The Hindu .
The academy is also on the lookout for appropriate space for launching its regional offices in Kochi and Kozhikode apart from its headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram.
Concrete plans for academic and corporate partnership have been drawn up. Ten colleges from across the State have already evinced interest in the academic membership. “The deliberations are in the final stages and are likely to be sealed shortly,” Mr. Kurup said.
The academic membership would be equally beneficial to students, faculty members and the institution. A corporate partnership programme to be launched next month is expected to facilitate the much needed and mutually beneficial student-industry interaction.
While students can gain from expert knowledge, the industry will get access to a skilled pool of human resources for recruitment besides continuous training programmes for employees and unique branding opportunities.
ICTAK is also on the threshold of launching Foundation Skill in IT, a NASSCOM-certified course, in two separate streams in IT and life skills. The course would be introduced in member colleges, Mr. Kurup said.
A three-day pre-placement orientation programme for seventh semester students to ready them for group discussion, project presentation, interviews and practice tests is also on the anvil.
The ICTAK is also gearing up to conduct its first programme since its launch last month - a faculty training programme on business dynamics for 25-odd teachers drawn from 10 colleges from July 21 to 25.
