AICTE and Microsoft Announce MoU to Upskill Students in New Technologies

The Ministry of Education, the All India for Technical Education (AICTE), and Microsoft have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop skills and provide exposure to students and educators in India to new technologies.

This particular collaboration between Microsoft and AICTE is aimed at providing opportunities for skills development, mentorship, and project building in areas such as AI, cloud computing, data science, data analytics, and cybersecurity.

Some of the key highlights of this collaboration are

• Learning path and certification

Microsoft will be integrating its centralized training and skilling platform, Microsoft Learn into AICTE's existing curriculum which will allow students to gain hands-on experience with Microsoft technologies and get rewarded with certificates.

• Hand on experience

Students will have access to the Azure Developer Community in India, which will provide them with insights into the industry and opportunities for mentorship.

• Project opportunities

Students and educators will be provided with Azure Handbooks that will enable them to work on projects that address real-world challenges in industries like manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and education.

• Future-ready talent program

The program will offer additional skilling opportunities to students and provide virtual mentorship for technology projects.

Speaking about the collaboration, Venkat Krishnan, executive director, Public Sector, Education and Healthcare, Microsoft India, said, “Today’s youth is key to India’s inclusive economic growth, now and in the future. Our collaboration with AICTE is an extension of our commitment to empower students and educators with skills, training and experiences needed to navigate today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape. We are delighted by the opportunity to work closely with AICTE, its students and educator community to contribute to their skilling and future-readiness.”

“We are focused on creating opportunities for our students in the realm of new technologies so they can be empowered when entering the workforce. We are thrilled to partner with Microsoft in aiding our efforts to equip our students as well as our educators with the necessary digital skills and experiences they need to succeed in this digital era,” said Prof. T.G. Sitharam, AICTE.

The Microsoft Future Ready Talent program in collaboration with AICTE has already achieved a significant milestone in skilling Indian students with a number of over 100,000 students and a 100% placement rate for internship participants as of June 2022.

This collaboration of these organizations reflects their shared commitment to equip Indian students and educators with the necessary digital skills for India's economic growth and technological advancement.