EDUCATION: I2IT: Getting Smart in Pune

Picture this–a student swipes his smart card, walks into college, enters

the library and picks up some books. He needs to xerox some pages, so he looks

around for a xerox machine, swipes his smart card yet again and gets the work

done.

He feels like coffee and off he goes to the vending machine. The card does

the swipe trick again.

For those who would opine that this happens in hi-tech software companies, it

is time for another think. We are talking of the country’s first complete

e-campus for the ‘smart’ student. Smart cards, Internet start-ups and wired

campus…we have it all here in Pune where the old economy took a step forward

to lend a hand to youngsters to take them to a new world. This world will open

its doors to students from this academic year. In all, 128 students will walk

into the institute, studying for a post-graduate diploma in advanced information

technology. Admissions have been thrown open and the course begins on August 1.

I2IT (International Institute of Information Technology)——promoted by the

Finolex Group——is possibly the first initiative of its kind taken by the

private sector to set up an institute offering quality IT education. Dr Vijay

Bhatkar, chairman of ETH Research Labs and advisory chairman of I2IT, says,

"The institute has been envisioned as a world-class campus. In the

nineties, when software was growing at a fast pace, we realized that though

high-quality students were graduating from the IITs, there was a need to create

IITs for information technology."

With this objective, a blueprint was prepared, with Pune and Bangalore

battling it out for the venue. Around this time, the government introduced the

IIIT concept to promote IT education in the country. There was talk of setting

up such an institute, which would also cater to the needs of undergraduates.

However, the Pune government dragged its feet on the proposal. An IIIT came up

at Ahmedabad. Dr Bhatkar, who was also closely involved with the Ahmedabad

chapter, felt it was time for private enterprise to come forward and seize the

initiative. "Around this time, PP Chhabria, chairman of the Finolex Group,

met me. We spoke of his dream to set up a landmark IT institution in the city. A

vision paper was prepared and we decided to offer post-graduate IT

education."

According to Vivek Sawant, director, I2IT: "The aim is to promote

innovation and leadership and ensure that students become project managers and

do not remain mere programmers. Moreover, students here will get direct exposure

to live projects."

Dr Bhatkar, in turn, is also satisfied that students will get necessary

exposure to turn ideas into reality and thus came the idea of a nursery of

start-ups. "The largest creators of wealth are those who have been involved

with products. Start-ups will expose students to financial institutions, helping

them carry a product to the marketplace," he says.

And that’s not all. I2IT also hopes to encourage the spiritual side.

"We will create a system where students understand the human mind. People

like Swami Swarupanand and Baba Maharaj Satarkar are part of the visiting

faculty at the institute, laying emphasis on the holistic development of the

individual."

I2IT is planned as a wired campus with fiber optic network connecting its

labs, classrooms, library and hostels. The campus network will be connected to

STPI and a network will be supported by the Finolex Internet backbone. Around Rs

20 crore has also been pumped in as a start-off investment to kick off the

academic year with two course offerings—software and hardware. There are plans

to include biotechnology at a later stage.

Nanda Kasabe



Cyber News Service, Pune