IBM has extended collaborations with six engineering and technology colleges across Maharashtra to provide a platform for development of software skills among the students. Under this collaboration, IBM has established a series of IBM Centers of Excellence (COE), allowing students to learn new skill sets on the IBM software products: DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, Rational and Tivoli, and develop world class solutions.

The COEs were launched at Singahad Institute of Technology (Pune), Walchand College of Engineering (Sangli), International Institute of Information Mgmt (IIT, Pune), Maharashtra Academy of Engineering (Pune), Sardar Patel Institute of Technology (Mumbai), and Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, NMIMS University (Mumbai).

IBM will follow a two-pronged approach: providing the colleges with access to technologies relevant to the market and with training faculty to ensure that right skills are taught. The students can gain firsthand experience of the software products that are installed at the campus. Through this initiative, IBM will work closely with the colleges in the state of Maharashtra, leveraging the selected institutes as centers of learning.

Anil Menon, VP (Channel, Marketing & Ecosystem), IBM India/South Asia, said, "Through the Centers of Excellence, IBM works closely with the educational institutions in India to give students the opportunity to put skills to test and allows innovation to take center stage. We are confident that the COEs will enable skill set development among students for years to come."
 
The colleges will provide infrastructure and high end systems while IBM is providing the entire software suite free of charge.

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