The Hindu
- Teachers, students to be trained in meeting the requirements of IT market.
- North Karnataka produces over 50,000 graduates and 1,000 postgraduates every year.
HUBLI: A voluntary effort designed to act as a catalyst for marketing north Karnataka districts for investment in the information technology sector is being launched in Hubli on Friday.
Called BIC (BPO, ITES, CMR) Society, it plans to invite major companies to see the prospects of development in the region, and train teachers and students of professional colleges in meeting the requirements of the emerging IT market.
According to B.S. Patil, former Chief Secretary, who is chairman of the society, the organisation will turn out to be a single point hand holding agency to help on all aspects, including human resources development. It will conduct short-term programmes to train teachers and make students employable.
Mr. Patil told The Hindu on Sunday that the north Karnataka region, despite all the available potential, had not been able to attract investors in IT the sector. No company is interested in visiting the region and they always depended on the reports by junior-level functionaries, who always presented a negative image, he said. Students of professional colleges from the region are not able to stand up to the rigours of competition.
With government agencies having their own limitations in taking corrective actions, the newly-formed society will fill the gap, more so because, the State Government is interested in attracting investments in secondary cities such as Hubli, Davangere and Belgaum.
The region produces over 50,000 graduates and 1,000 postgraduates and around 100 doctorates every year in various technical, professional and management courses. It has around 300 chartered accountants, who handled business of over Rs. 750 crores and over Rs. 600 crores worth of auditing.
To address this issue purely from management and economics angle, some of the leading institutions such as the Kousali Institute of Management Studies, BVB College of Engineering and Technology, the MBA colleges of KLE Society, Karnataka Law Society, and Bapuji Education Society, have put in their corpus funds and have come together to create the new society, to showcase the potential of Hubli, Belgaum and Davangere.
M.K. Shankarlingegowda, Secretary, Department of IT and BT, will inaugurate the new society. Bob Hockestra, Chief Executive Officer of Philips Softwre Centre will be chief guest.
