NASSCOM, the premier trade body representing the Indian IT-BPO industry, today announced that it has formally presented the model DPR (Detailed Project Report) to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for establishment of 20 new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in India, as announced by the Prime Minister in the 11^th Five Year Plan. This Model DPR will serve as a template for the preparation of the DPR for each individual IIIT.

Each of the IIITs has been proposed to be set up as a fully autonomous institution, through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The partners in setting up the IIITs would be MHRD, Governments of the respective states where each IIIT will be established, and industry members.

Each IIIT has been envisioned to become a world class academic institute and also evolve into technology/functional Centres of Excellence through a strong focus on research in frontier technology areas. To achieve this objective, it is imperative to attract best-in-class faculty, and students; develop sustainable linkages with industry; and provide an environment conducive for research excellence. To justify the large investments being made in the IIITs, it is important that they provide a sufficient scale at undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research levels.

The location of the IIIT will play an important role towards the realization of these objectives. NASSCOM, in its report, has provided guidelines for the selection of the location for an IIIT and has also indicated 20 locations that may be considered by MHRD and other stakeholders.

NASSCOM recognizes that this is an initiative of national importance and is of great significance not only for the Indian IT industry but also for the other sectors of the Indian economy. It is also a critical focus area for NASSCOM, as part of its ‘Education and skill building initiatives’.

Speaking about NASSCOM’s role in preparing this model DPR, Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM said, “Addressing the current skill gap is vital for the Indian IT industry to maintain its growth trajectory and move up the value curve. Skill gap here refers not only to the low employability of the current graduate pool but also to the future needs of the industry in frontier technologies and functional domains. While the former will be addressed through upgrading the curriculum, facilities and faculty development in the academic institutions, the latter will require the academic institutions and industry to collaborate in pre-competitive research and develop specializations. Given the increasing requirements of the IT industry, it is also important for the new institutes to scale up beyond the conventionally accepted numbers at both under-graduate and post-graduate and doctoral research levels.”

“The model for the new IIIT’s proposed in the DPR focuses on both academic and research excellence through innovative governance and operational approaches and a strong and sustained participation from the IT industry. However achieving this will not be easy and it is important that each institute is supported, especially in the initial years and is also allowed complete autonomy to define its roadmap and implement it. The IIIT initiative of the Government is a welcome initiative and the IT industry is very keen to work with the Government and other stakeholders to realize the objectives of this initiative. We strongly believe that this will not only benefit the IT industry but will also have a cascade effect on other sectors of the Indian economy. We are also thankful to MHRD for giving us the opportunity to prepare the Model Detailed Project Report (DPR) for this nationally important initiative”, he further added.

NASSCOM has taken a pyramid approach to better understand the IT-BPO industry’s skills requirement and thereby create specific skill development initiatives. Over the last few years, NASSCOM created a major workforce development platform and launched several initiatives, in partnership with the Government and academia that aim to bring positive changes to the Indian education system and its orientation towards building employable students by offering solutions in the short, medium and long-term time frame.

In addition to this activity at the top of the pyramid, NASSCOM has taken the following initiatives for Skill development in India for the IT and BPO sectors. Some of these are as below

• Capacity building for PhD. in computer science
• Faculty Development Programmes
• Finishing school for engineering graduates (pilot conducted last year)
• NASSCOM Assessment of Competence - NAC
• NAC- Tech certification 

Sourced From: Text 100 Public Relations Consultancy