Nasscom, Telangana govt to jointly churn out 15,000 industry-ready engineers

An MoU was signed between Nasscom, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) and the state government's Academy of Skill and Knowledge in this regard

With an aim to boost the employability of engineering graduates in the state, the Telangana government today roped in software services body Nasscom to churn out 15,000 ready-to-absorb IT engineers every year by incorporating industry-relevant academic content in technical education curriculum.

Under a tripartite MoU agreed between Nasscom, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) and the state government’s Academy of Skill and Knowledge (TASK), students would be provided with specially-designed curriculum modules as electives during the final year of the four-year BTech course.

The curriculum comprises cyber security, data analytics and design engineering, which would be incorporated by 325 JNTU-affiliated colleges. At the end of the course, students would be provided with industry certification.

Speaking on the tie-up, Nasscom vice chairman BVR Mohan Reddy said the engagement would address "to fill the quality gap between what the colleges had been doing and what the industry wanted". He said the three identified modules were facing talent shortage and added they would create tremendous job opportunities in the IT sector in the coming years.

According to a Nasscom report ‘Perspective 2020’, the software industry has the potential to create about 30 million employment opportunities by 2020. Also, the National Skills Mission in a study sated about 350 million professionals would need to be skilled by 2022 to make them employable.

For the programme’s successful implementation, JNTU would train 100 faculty members of its colleges in these modules during the initial stage, said Sailaja Ramaiyer, vice chancellor in-charge of JNTU-Hyderabad.

Terming the development a “paradigm shift” in improving the quality of technical education in the state, she said the initiative “will bring a new sunrise in the overall technical education scenario along with providing boost to IT and BPO industry growth in the state”.