CTE aims to enlist 100,000 Indian students

CHENNAI: Carnegie Technology Education (CTE), a subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon
University (CMU) set up in 1998, intends to increase the number of students in
India to 100,000 in another 3-5 years, according to the CEO of CTE, Dr Allan
Fisher.

CTE, which has about 25 education partners worldwide, has presently about 300
students in India under its tie-up with Chennai-based Sterling Infotech. On
being queried on how he hopes to achieve his target when the Indian IT training
industry is suffering from the US slowdown, Fisher said, "Through our
courses, we offer enduring value than what the students receive from other
institutions. Apart from preparing our students for a long-term career in IT by
combining the fundamentals and practicalities, we also have frequent update of
the and in the process help them in adapting to the changing technological
trends."

CTE and its 25 education partners have been delivering what it calls blended
instruction wherein the curriculum created and maintained by the CMU faculty and
CTE course design experts reach the partners via the Internet. About two thirds
of its education partners are academic institutions while the rest are
commercial training institutes.

With half of its partners based in the US and the other half in Asia, Brazil,
Mexico and Barbados, CTE is planning to increase its presence in China, Taiwan,
Malaysia and Singapore. Negotiations with various players in these countries are
in progress, he said.

"We would like to cater to regions which are under-supplied in terms of
postgraduate education, especially in the major part of Asia," says Dr
Fisher. In Asia, Hong Kong has the largest number of students, followed those in
India and Philippines. CTE offers 10 courses that leads to two levels of
certification- the certificate in computer programming and the certificate in
software systems development.