IIHT to expand to over 350 centres in FY '09

IT training company Indian Institute of Hardware Technology Ltd (IIHT) will expand its operations to 355 training centres in fiscal 2009 from the 220 centres it operates currently. N Keshava Raju, chief executive officer of IIHT told reporters on Tuesday that IIHT was looking at further extending its training partnerships with leading IT companies, keeping in mind the tremendous market for software testing tools.

The company announced a partnership with HP to deliver the curriculum for HP’s latest software education offering, HP Software University (HPSU), starting in January next year. IIHT will be the only official and accredited provider of the HPSU program offered by HP Software Education Services worldwide, Raju said. “For a start, we will be opening eight centres dedicated to the HPSU program in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Kochi.” He did not disclose investments or expected student numbers, saying, “We are looking at some aggressive numbers on the student side.”

The HPSU program will offer students accredited training on HP Software and a curriculum path surrounding various testing software from HP like Quick Test professional and LoadRunner at the foundation level.

Students can choose between a three-month program with daily classes or an accelerated shortened program where classes will be taken over weekends. Successful students will be awarded a HP accreditation following a formal certification exam.

Over one lakh students pass IIHT’s various training and certification courses every year, of which 50 per cent qualify for certifications offered by Microsoft, with companies like Cisco and HP bringing up the rest.