IGNOU inks pact with ACIIL, IBM

IGNOU inks pact with ACIIL, IBM

New Delhi, July 11: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), The Advanced Center for Informatics and Innovative Learning (ACIIL) and IBM India today signed an MoU at Bangalore that they claimed would reinvent IT education in the country.

The collaboration, co-operation and joint working of IBM, with IGNOU, will what they say bridge the gap that existed till now on education, skills and national development, a varsity statement said.

As part of the MoU, IGNOU and IBM India would partner to skill students on the IT standards in the emerging verticals like healthcare, financial services and retail that have a significant growth potential, in addition to the skills demand of Open Source software and Open Standards, with live projects.

The three programs that will be offered in the first phase under this MoU would include -- a Certificate in Open Source Software, diploma in Open Source Software and Industry Vertical Domain Open Standards and Advanced Diploma in Industry Vertical Domain Open Standards (Healthcare/ Retail/ Insurance).

The Innovation Centre for Open Standards (iCos), an online platform, will be the underlying framework for the engagement between IBM and IGNOU for the execution of the courses. The IBM iCos platform links students' project based learning with IT industry and mentors.