Microsoft IT Academy in Odisha

Encouraged by the information technology policy of the State Government, Microsoft, the largest software corporation of the world, has offered to start Microsoft Information Technology Academy (MS-ITA) in the State.

Microsoft IT Academy curriculum will offer hands-on skills and experience that today’s graduates need to succeed in technology careers. The Academy programme enables classroom and online learning, hands-on labs and access to hundreds of courses, books, cutting-edge resources and collaboration tools. Corporate Gurukul which trains individuals to embark on their choice career by bridging the industry-academia skill and knowledge gap made a presentation on the proposed MS-ITA at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Bijaya Kumar Patnaik here on Saturday.

Corporate Gurukul proposed to cover around 8,000 Government institutions across the State. The IT academy programme can be run at the primary, secondary and higher secondary levels.

The scope of the proposed curriculum includes MS Office, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook and other relevant training and certifications.

The students will have access to 1,100 e- learning courses through the system, Founder and Managing Partner of Corporate Gurukul Rajesh Panda told the meeting. Corporate Gurukul made the presentation on behalf of Microsoft as its corporate partner.

Government employees can also update themselves on e-skills necessary for e-governance through the programme. The proposed cost involvement for one institution will be around Rs 50,000.

The Chief Secretary asked IT Department to examine the proposal and assess the requirement of the students and young professionals. He advised the department to see whether the programme can be customised to the State requirement.

Corporate Gurukul liaises with corporates to understand their desired skill, talent and knowledge in potential engineering undergraduate recruits, based on which it designs industry and company specific curriculum. The curriculum is a blend of management skills, industry-specific domain skills, company-specific skills, soft skills, elements of technology and functional areas. The objective is to provide holistic education in the field of technology, management and behavioural science to groom a personality, Panda said.

Secretaries of Information Technology, Higher Education and Mass Education Madhusudan Padhi, Aparajita Sarangi and Rajesh Verma respectively and other senior officials were present.