Salesforce announces partnership with ICT Academy

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, announced a new partnership with the ICT Academy, an initiative of the Government of India, to provide valuable Salesforce skills for educators and students.

Announced at the Salesforce Academic Summit 2018, this partnership will see Salesforce and ICT Academy train and certify educators from more than 200 institutes across India. Leveraging Trailhead for students, educators will train over 100,000 students to equip them with the skills of the future. The partnership reinforces Salesforce's commitment to nurture next-generation talent and address the skills gap in India.

Trailhead is Salesforce's free gamified, online learning platform that empowers anyone to learn the skills needed to land a top job in the Salesforce economy. Salesforce is taking the power of Trailhead, with its guided, hands-on learning paths into the classroom with Trailhead for students. Working together with universities, community colleges, workforce development programs and educational non-profits, Trailhead for students provides everything educators need to get students ready for the Salesforce economy.

Salesforce and the ICT Academy will conduct workshops to train educators across ICT Academy's member institutions in India. Graduates in the field of computer science and management will be offered the Salesforce Business Administration Specialist Course providing them an introduction to the Salesforce ecosystem.

This program provides students an understanding of the fundamentals of the platform that will help strengthen and accelerate their careers as developers, system administrators, architects, marketing managers, business analyst and sales operations professionals.

ICT Academy in partnership with Salesforce will set up 100 Centres of Excellence (CoE's) providing students an opportunity to learn and practice key skills on Salesforce technologies. These CoE's will be set up in phases across the country and act as a catalyst to empower educators and students with skills of the future.

"Today's job market is defined by rapid innovation with new technologies creating new jobs globally. While students should be a great talent source, recent graduates don't have the skills they need to thrive in the workforce. To solve this skills gap, industry and academia must work together to prepare students to stay relevant and keep skill sets modern for the ever-changing business world," said Sarah Franklin, EVP and GM, Trailhead and Developer Relations at Salesforce.

"We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution where technology is evolving more rapidly than ever. India's burgeoning youth population, is set to make it one of the youngest nations in the world, while transitioning to a knowledge based economy. We believe our association with the ICT Academy will fuel the creation of a professional skilled workforce equipping the next generation with employable skills and knowledge, making India a global economic powerhouse," opined Sunil Jose, Senior Area Vice President and Country Leader, Salesforce India.

"We are delighted to announce this association with Salesforce. Career readiness and employability skills are becoming an integral part of education. To truly achieve 'Make in India', we need to adopt a framework that supports the holistic development of the youth and make the country the world capital of skilled workforce. We believe a global leader like Salesforce can help students enhance their skills and equip them to pursue their career in this era of digitalisation," added M Sivakumar, Chief Executive Officer, ICT Academy.

In today's converging world, the fourth industrial revolution is opening up new opportunities for academia. To address this need, Salesforce hosted the first ever Salesforce Academic Summit 2018, in association with the ICT Academy on May 8.

The day-long event focused on empowering educators to build a skilled next generation by democratising education with Trailhead, addressing the skill based hiring needs of the Salesforce ecosystem.

In its first year, the Summit saw participation from more than 250 academics from over 200 institutes. The Summit concluded with the Academic Awards which celebrated the achievers and contributors who have leveraged Trailhead to strengthen their careers and build the talent pool for the next generation workforce.