IT Edn. Standards Board set up

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 2. With a view to enhancing the quality of IT education in Karnataka, the State Government has constituted a 11-member "IT Education Standards Board" to draw up guidelines for institutions imparting IT-related education.

The board is headed by Dr. K.R.S.Murthy, former Vice-Chairman of the All India Council of Technical Education and former Director of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Mr. Gopala Krishnan of the Infosys Technologies is the Vice-Chairman of the board.

The first meeting of the board held today was chaired by the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M.Krishna. A five-point action plan was formulated at the meeting.

The Minister of State for Higher Education, Dr. G.Parameswar, told presspersons that the Government had announced an initial contribution of Rs. 3 crores for setting up a corpus fund for the board's activities. The board was also expected to receive grants and contributions from industrial houses and foundations, he added.

Dr. Parameswar said that there was universal acceptance of India as the preferred destination for developing software. Bangalore and other cities in the State had already become focal points in the development of the IT industry, he added.

He said that the software services sector which focused on exports employed about 2.65 lakh persons and generated export revenues of about $ 6 billions. In order to sustain the growth, the software export segment required an additional 1.3 million employees, to be deployed in the next eight years, or about 1.5 lakh personnel per annum on an average.

If the domestic sector and other sectors of the IT industry were taken into account, then the requirement would be 2.5 lakh employees a year. The State employed about 75,000 persons in the software export industry, and the number was estimated to grow to 10 lakhs by 2010, he said.

Dr. Parameswar pointed out that currently, there were only 9,500 IT-related engineering seats in Karnataka and there was a proposal to add 4,000 seats this year and double the figure later. There was an urgent need to increase the number of students graduating with IT-related degrees and diplomas, he said.

He said the board would focus on this aspect and also on the need to increase the number of institutions. In addition, it would facilitate certification programmes for IT professionals.

Dr. Parameswar admitted that the students passing out did not have the skills required by the IT industry, because the technology was improving rapidly. Constant efforts to update the curriculum would go a long way in meeting the challenge. The board would play an adequate role in this mission, Dr. Parameswar said.

He said the rapid changes in technology also caused a shortfall in the number of computer science teachers in relevant areas. The board would also examine the possibility of setting up short-term training facilities with the help of the industry.

The minister said the board would bring about changes in the IT education system through "persuasion". The guidelines issued by the board were not mandatory, he added.

The other members of the board are: Mr. Vikram Shah, Managing Director, Novell; Mr. Som Mittal, CEO, Digital Equipment; Mr. Subroto Bagchi, Vice-Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Mind Tree Consultants; Mr. Rangarajan, Director, Satellite Communications, ISRO; Prof. S.Sadgopan, Director, IIIT-B; Prof. H.N.Mahabala; Mr. P.Sadanandan, Director, NCST; Prof. Rajasekaraiah, Vice-Chancellor, VTU; Prof. K.U.Pathan, Vice- Chancellor, Karnatak University; Secretary to Government, Higher Education; Director, Technical Education; and Secretary to Government, Department of Information Technology.

Eight experts will function as patrons of the board.

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