Engineering R&D sector is currently valued at $14 billion and has a growth potential of $44 billion in coming years ”, said Sandhya Chintala, Vice President, NASSCOM and Executive Director - IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council.
Speaking at the launch of pilot Foundation Skills in Integrated Product Development Programme (FSIPD) workshop ‘Teach the Trainer’ at SRM University, she said that it was in this effort that the industry came forward to contribute towards the engineering R&D ( ER&D) sector with the pilot programme being implemented with 15 autonomous colleges along with the industry through the engineering skills council and institution support to make it part of their curriculum.
“The Indian IT-BPM industry is growing at a fast pace both horizontally and vertically, we are positive that the FSIPD programme will help equip students with the desired skill set and further contribute to the growth of our sector and the overall Indian economy,” she said.
“This was a way of bridging the industry need, while preparing students for international industry standards from the graduate phase itself, so that they are prepared for the needs of the international market”, she added.
Speaking to Express she said that NASSCOM expects around 1.7 million graduates in the coming years with 1.5 lakh trained people needed at lateral and entry level jobs in the engineering R&D sector.
NIT Silchar was one of the institutions where the initial framework was taken to help fine-tune the curriculum for the programme with support from the industry end besides many takers from the industry side to see that the FSIPD programme will help equip students with knowledge and the skill required by the global market.
The programme was launched in 15 colleges across the country and will be extended to include other colleges in January 2014.