In a bid to introduce cloud computing concepts to students during their education, seven higher education institutions in India will adopt cloud computing curricula from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate global initiative. It will be introduced into their mainstream college syllabus to help develop the next generation of cloud professionals.
Further, the cloud computing content will be offered as part of the undergraduate degree and postgraduate diploma programs starting in September 2020.
The six education institutions who will be offering the newly-designed Bachelor of Technology degree programs in IT and Computer Science are:
- Chitkara University, Punjab
- Galgotias University, Uttar Pradesh
- Manav Rachna University, Delhi and NCR
- Noida Institute of Engineering and Technology, Uttar Pradesh
- Sharda University, Delhi and NCR
- SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu.
Whereas, the ASM Group of Institutes in Maharashtra will offer syllabus combined with the AWS Educate cloud curricula for its Post Graduate Diploma in Management – Emerging Technology.
AWS Educate is Amazon’s global initiative to provide students and educators with resources for building skills in cloud technology. It focuses on real-world, applied learning experiences while driving innovation in fields such as artificial intelligence, voice and facial recognition, gaming, medical advancements, and more.
It was launched in India in early 2017 with the aim of skilling students with the latest advancements in cloud computing technology and providing them with an environment to experiment on AWS Cloud, without worrying about cost or access challenges. It is used in more than 200 countries connecting more than 3,500 institutions, over 10,000 educators, and hundreds of thousands of students.
“Building a cloud-ready workforce is key to enabling technology-led growth in India that will drive innovation at speed and create impact at scale,” said Rahul Sharma, President, India and South Asia Public Sector, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited. “Integrating cloud curricula as part of mainstream college education represents a shift in the way the industry and academia can come together to build the next generation of highly-skilled cloud professionals. We are honoured to work with accredited educational institutions in India to drive this change.”
Cloud computing has become one of the most sought after skills by the companies and this move will help address the growing requirement for cloud skills in India by providing students with the knowledge and competency-based credentials in skills such as cloud architecture, data analytics, cybersecurity, machine learning, and software development.
All students participating in the degree and diploma programs will be enrolled in AWS Educate, Amazon’s global initiative to provide students comprehensive resources for building skills in the cloud, and provided with AWS Promotional Credits to gain real-world, hands-on experience using AWS cloud technology.
The effort is supported by NASSCOM and ICT Academy. While NASSCOM will facilitate greater industry participation by engaging key employers in IT to build a talent pipeline, ICT Academy will train higher education teachers and assist the educational institutions with faculty development and curriculum alignment.
“Including cloud curriculum in college syllabus is a significant catalyst in transforming the higher education system. We envision an accelerated path for India as a global hub for talent in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, blockchain, and big data. This new effort will help us build a future-ready workforce in IT. We hope to create a series of skilling programs that prepares students for the jobs of the future,” said Amit Aggarwal, CEO IT-ITES Sector Skill Council NASSCOM and Co-Architect, NASSCOM FutureSkills.
Until now, AWS Educate has been offered to students as optional or supplementary learning in higher education institutions. Based on the successful adoption of AWS Educate and value offered to students, the higher education institutions have expressed interest to integrate the cloud curriculum from AWS Educate in mainstream college education programs. This is the first time when it has been integrated into undergraduate degree and postgraduate diploma programs.
