The second edition of ‘Back2Campus’ programme organised by the ICT Academy of Kerala (ICTAK) was launched at the Infopark campus on Tuesday. The event provided the perfect platform for an interaction between IT industry leaders and academic institutions. It is aimed at offering information and communication technology training modules to both students and faculty, to increase interaction between academia, industry and the government for the benefit of both students and companies.
“Students in Kerala are bright in terms of academics. But often they lag behind when it comes to industry-specific skills,” ICTAK chairman and Infosys former CEO S.D. Shibulal said.
He said that the participation of business leaders was crucial in making this unique initiative a success. He also highlighted the importance of constant interaction between the industry and the academia to ensure that the topics taught in the colleges were relevant to the industry.
“ICT Academy is an institution that makes an individual ready for job and ensures that they contribute to their organisation’s productivity from day one,” said Santhosh Kurup, CEO, ICTAK.
The ICT Academy operates under public-private-partnership model, with the state government having a 26 percent stake and private players 74 percent. The Academy currently has partnerships with TCS, Infosys, IBS, NeST, UST Global and Nasscom to impart industry-specific training to students and faculties across 14 colleges in the state.
“Technology keeps evolving and companies are having tough time finding skilled people who are up-to-date with the latest advancements,” Infopark CEO Hrishikesh Nair said.
