In an effort to bridge the gap between academic education and changing industry demands, Intel India has announced the selection of ten two tier institutes to be cultivated as centers of excellence to prepare university professors and students for a new paradigm of software development. This initiative, which is a part of Intel's World Ahead Program that aims to transform lives in developing communities through technology access, Internet connectivity, and education, aims to give students a hands-on experience and training in adapting to real-world applications.
After witnessing great response from tier 1 institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore who developed new courses for students of computer science and engineering, after being initiated into the Multi-core program, Intel reached out to 470 faculty members from 206 institutes across India at 4 national level conferences held in Bangalore, Jaipur, Mumbai and Chennai.
Realizing the reach and the impact of tier two institutions on students who will form tomorrow's workforce, Intel India announced the following ten institutes to be cultivated as champions for future mentoring:
1. College of Engineering - Guindy
2. Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur
3. International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore
4. International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
5. International Institute of Information Technology, Pune
6. Kalasalingham University, Krishnan Koil
7. PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore
8. Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA), Thanjavur
9. Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai
10. Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum
The selected institutes would be established as centers of excellence to mentor other smaller institutes so that maximum number of educational institutes are geared for new technologies in the future. The ten selected institutes would enjoy the following benefits:
- The institutes will mentored by a senior Intel technologist for the next two years.
- Equipment grant worth USD 150 K will be given to institutes for lab use.
- Intel will conduct training sessions and workshops to introduce computer science students and teachers to programs which work on threaded, multi-core and multi-processor systems to maximize knowledge and performance.
- Intel will also provide course materials, 10-20 core2duo PCs, laptops powered by dual-core processors for instructor use in the classroom, as well as licenses for Intel Software Development Products along with access to forums and technical support.
- In an endeavor to encourage faculties to participate more actively in research, Intel will support travel for faculties who get a paper published in conferences of international repute.
Speaking at the event, Manav Subodh, Higher Education Manager, Intel Technology India said, "We strive to maintain close working relationships with academic institutions to encourage research and improve the quality of education in the country. The objective of this initiative is to educate today's science and engineering students and developers to architect, develop and debug the next generation of software applications for modern, multi-core platforms. We hope that through continuous interaction with Intel mentors, students would be better prepared to face the demands of the industry in their future workplaces."
With mentorship from Intel technologists, the ten selected institutes aim to change their existing curriculum on computer architecture and start the new course by August 2007. The on-going Multi Core University initiative by Intel India aims to change the curriculum of close to 150 engineering institutes by end of 2008.
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