Taking forward the mantra of many educational institutes and companies training people to make them industry-ready, the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B) plans to introduce a six-month course next month. The major difference is that the programme is targeted at the scheduled caste/scheduled tribe (SC/ST) students alone, something that has not been done before. It plans to train 100 SC/ST students to make them industry-ready talent.
The six-month course will not be an academic one but will touch on technical education, counselling, lifestyle, communications and soft skills. It will help in placements for these candidates after they finish the course. With the eligibility criteria being B Tech graduates, about 168 candidates have taken the entrance test for this programme and selection interviews will begin soon. The course is scheduled to begin in the later half of August this year with all students being sponsored by city-based tech major, Infosys. The company will give IIIT-B INR1.36 crore for this course. While INR1crore is towards the fees of the 100 students, INR36 lakh will be given to the students as allowances (about INR6,000 per month).