HP has announced the India launch of the HP Institute, an academic partnership programme that will equip students with business-ready IT skills that are greatly needed within the industry. The HP Institute is part of the HP ExpertOne programme and will offer HP Accredited Technical Associate (ATA) certifications. As part of the training program, HP will work with Indian universities to bring practical experience and job-ready skills into an academic setting, packaged in a way to help India develop the abilities of its graduate workforce.
The World Bank, in its April 2011 policy research working paper titled, Employability and Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers in India, reports that about 64 percent of employers in India are not satisfied with the skill sets of fresh engineering graduates . HP will work with schools, colleges and universities across India to deliver the courses, aiming to improve the IT skills of over 65,000 graduates over the next five years.
“There is a pressing need across the IT ecosystem to ensure that entry-level hires are better equipped with the precise skills and experience they need to handle today’s technical and business challenges”, commented Neelam Dhawan,vice president and general manager, Enterprise Group and country managing director, HP India. “We are working with educational institutes to meet this need and provide Universities an opportunity to bring even greater value to their students without the need to continuously invest in research infrastructure and courseware”.
Through the HP Institute program, students may complete four HP Accredited Technical Associate certifications. Each certification covers industry-standard technologies and includes a complete learning program of courseware, practice tests, hands-on remote labs and certification exams. The certification exams cover connected devices, networks, servers and storage, and cloud. The courses and certifications have been designed to provide skills that are particularly appropriate for small and mid-sized companies.
HP has collaborated with Certiport to develop and distribute a complete set of academic solution components including HP official courseware, e-learning, remote lab facilities, practice tests, and certification exams. Certiport has over 12,000 testing centres worldwide. This academic scale and expertise will allow them to tailor and package the program delivery to suit the requirements of Indian academic institutions. “There is an immediate need to improve employability in India to help graduates fill open IT positions,” said Ray Kelly, CEO, Certiport. “We believe the HP ATA certification will prepare students for employment by giving them the skills necessary to work in technology from day one on the job. Our large testing center network in India will help the program get up and running quickly.”
