What is the effect of slowdown on IT education?
The global slowdown has affected the IT industry but IT training has not taken a backseat. "Parents will cut down on luxuries but not compromise on their child's education. It is their top priority," said Bhavika Chouhan, vice president of Maya Academy of Cinematics.
Rajesh Athaide, chairman of St Angelos said, "Students are picking specialised modules which cost Rs5000-7000 instead of spending on a whole programme of Rs30,000.
Experts fear that the economic slump will affect the employee preferences of an IT organisation. "Cost cutting will compel companies (even big players) to hire employees on a large scale at lower costs. Students who have necessary IT certifications are increasingly being recruited as opposed to software engineers," said Athaide. Hence, to suit the industry requirement additional IT skills will be essential.

Colleges versus IT training institutes. Who has the edge?
Panellists felt that IT training institutes and colleges would have to form an understanding to help students. Ravi Dighe, executive vice president of Aptech Learning said, "Employers are seeking graduates who have knowledge of latest trends, softwares, skills and certifications. While colleges cant afford these, we can adapt fast to the new upgrades."
"Students join colleges for degree certification, but they come to us to learn. Most colleges and universities that have subjects of IT training in the syllabus don't even have faculty. The pay commission has granted them lesser salaries than they would get while teaching in our institutes," said Athaide about the faculty problem in formal education.
Som Baksi, vice president IT Source, highlighted that the university curriculum is also outdated. He said, "The curriculum is 6 to 7 years old. Any IT course teaches on software versions that were released in 1995, we offer the latest."
The experts also agreed that training institutes offer communication and grooming skills to students. "We offer personality development training to help improve students' employability," said Alok Gupta, chairman Avera Academy.

What is the recruitment scene?
When it comes to recruitment, training institutes have better students to offer over colleges. "We are churning out quality personnel in hardware and networking. The curriculum is designed as per what the customer wants and we train people accordingly. The recruitments actually dictate our course curriculum," said Baksi. While Geeta Tyagi, head HR and Recruitment, Jetking said, "Companies have projects ranging for 3-6 months for which they recruit hardware and networking students in large numbers from our institute, while some offer full time jobs."
To appeal to recruiters, Athaide has also started offering free knowledge upgrades to his ex students. "We offer 'free of cost' upgrades even after students are absorbed by a company. Companies prefer to recruit students from our institutes as they don't have to spend money or time on training them."
Talking about the software sector Dighe said, "India is the largest market for buying and selling of certification. Most engineering students opt for enhancing skills during their last year with us. We offer them a bouquet of 4-5 certifications to ensure that they are job ready."

Would the future lie with online learning?
"All of IT education can't go online. The gurukul system will always exist, as IT education involves practical activity to learn the software or the hardware," said Athaide.
According to some, the concept of online learning is impressive but will take time to seep in.
A suggestion of an IT spa to help the older generation understand technology was welcomed by the panellists. "People who work at senior positions in a company prefer personalised IT training, as they don't want to be termed as students. An IT spa will be a good option for such people," said Dighe.

Compiled by Prachi Nayak & Prachi Rege

Prachi Nayak & Prachi Rege/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication