Rajneesh De

MUMBAI: IT training major, Aptech Ltd, has set up a full-fledged University in Raipur, Chhattisgarh that would go live by June-July this year. The University which would start its courses and take its first batch from this academic year, has already set up a college under its aegis in Chennai and would set up two more in Delhi and one in Central or Eastern India by the end of the year.

The campus would initially enroll 500-600 students, while the different Aptech centers across the country would function as study centers. This marks the entry of a private training player into a full-fledged university, though NIIT is soon expected to follow suit.

Said Aptech, Managing Director, Pramod Khera, "Though Aptech University would offer normal Bachelors and Masters courses. We would be offering some innovative subjects like embedded training, multimedia and networking amongst others. And apart from students across the country, we are also targeting people from abroad."

On being asked about the choice of Raipur as a venue, Khera revealed that the three newly formed states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal had passed the Act for having private university courses. Within the three, Raipur was selected because of its central location.

After two dull years for the training sector, Aptech is expecting a turnaround this year and might end up crossing the Rs 400 crore barrier. According to Khera, at least 10 percent of the total revenues would come from its new businesses, which include the University as well as online software testing and content management BPO.

In 2003-04, Aptech conducted testing for National Insurance Co. and some content management work for the defense forces.

CyberMedia News