NEW DELHI:IT major IBM today announced new and extended collaborations with six engineering and technology colleges across the state of Maharashtra to provide a platform for development of software skills among the students.

The collaboration has brought the establishment of a series of IBM Centers of Excellence (CoE), creating a unique opportunity for students to learn new skill sets on the IBM software products – DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, Rational and Tivoli – as well as develop world-class solutions, said a press release.

The CoEs were launched at Singahad Institute of Technology (Pune), Walchand College of Engineering (Sangli), International Institute of Information Mgmt (I2IT, Pune), Maharashtra Academy of Engineering (Pune), Sardar Patel Institute of Technology (Mumbai), and Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering, NMIMS University (Mumbai).

IBM would follow a two-pronged approach: providing the colleges with access to technologies relevant to the market and with training faculty to ensure that right skills are taught.

The students could gain first-hand experience of the software products that are installed at the campus. Through this initiative, IBM would work closely with the colleges in the state of Maharashtra, leveraging the selected institutes as centers of learning.

Anil Menon, VP - channel, marketing and ecosystem, IBM India/South Asia, said, “The world of information technology is extremely competitive and dynamic. This calls for constant upgrading of skills – high-value skills beyond simple programming or system administration. Students need to be trained not only on next generation technologies but also be prepared to be able to drive innovation.”

The colleges would provide infrastructure and high-end systems while IBM is providing the entire software suite free of charge.

Dr. Y. V. Joshi, director, Walchand College of Engineering, said the association would give their students the opportunity to partner with some of the best minds across the world, to further refine these technologies by taking it to the next level.

The COE is an outgrowth of IBM's Academic Initiative which covers 2,000 colleges and universities around the world - a global model committed to drive evolving open standards-based IT skills.

Under the initiative, IBM partners closely with the local government and academia to create an enabling environment by allowing access to IBM software, course materials, training and curriculum development, helping India become an innovators’ nation by investing in skills development and technology enablement, empowering future workers with the right skills to be able to compete in the larger global workforce, the release added.