DESPITE the dotcom bust and a global slowdown in information technology, and its backlash on IT education, the IT education wing of the ECIL, ECIT, has set its sights high. From a modest beginning in 1995, it grew to a Rs.20.25-crore business in 2001-2002.
ECIT's mission is to "impart quality software and hardware training that satisfies individual and institutional customers, and to become a major player in IT education in the country". ECIT did not figure in the original mandate of ECIL. But the public sector undertaking now has big plans for its education division and intends to earn Rs.40 crores this year from education. ECIT has set itself a revenue target of Rs.100 crores revenue for 2004-2005.
In the meantime, determined to build a base for itself, ECIT has taken the franchisee route and reached agreements with CMTES for conducting education programmes in the South; RDL Infotech for West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand; Mindsys for the western parts of Uttar Pradesh; Zenith Consultancy Services for Chhattisgarh; and Pentacle Systems for the northeastern States.
Besides, it also has direct franchise centres in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi. It has long-term plans to reach out to Bangladesh and other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, besides countries in West Asia and other parts of the developing world.
At the school level, ECIT has been successfully implementing IT education in States such as Himachal Pradesh and in Delhi. It is imparting IT education in 221 schools in Himachal Pradesh, where student enrolment is an estimated 35,000, from Classes IX to XII. In Delhi, 35 schools are being covered.
The ECIL-ECIT and its franchisees offer a number of courses that cater to different sections of society. These range from short-term courses of three to six weeks' duration in subjects such as Unix, Window NT, C, OOP & C++, JAVA and advanced JAVA, Oracle, SQL Server and Visual Basic.
Long-term courses of one year's duration and fast-track courses of six months' duration are also offered. These include the Graduate Course in Information Technology (GCIT), Advanced Diploma in Software Technology (ADST), Diploma in PC Hardware and Networking, and Diploma in areas like VLSI Design, Application Software, and Embedded Software.
A unique programme of ECIT is the "EC Varsity", which came as a new year gift to all those who logged onto the site on January 1, 2002, collecting only a registration fee of Rs.250 from those who wish to become IT literate. The `Home Franchisees' scheme under the EC Varsity programme offers an opportunity to cyber cafes, or anyone with two or three computers at home to register students for EC Varsity courses. Another unique concept is its 24-hour IT centres providing "anytime IT" . It proposes to open such centres in all metros.
ECIT has a tie-up with Mysore University under which it offers six high-end courses including Diploma in Bioinformatics.
In the corporate sector, it has tied up with the Department of Small Scale Industries to provide training in areas such as CAD/CAM, and in Structure and Thermal Analysis (ANSYS). This training is offered in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai for now.
For ECIL employees, ECIT held IT literacy training and certificate courses free of charge. A certificate course programme in IT was conducted for 953 interested employees after office hours from October 2001 to March 2002.
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