Rajendran: On course

Bangalore June 15: NIIT has drawn up a strategy to strengthen its IT training in China with new industry-specific courses.

The IT education major has already drawn up plans to introduce English teaching as one of the major part of its IT course in China. The English-speaking capsule will form part of its software training courses and other courses customised for the local industry.

NIIT has already set up more than 100 education centres in China last quarter and is focusing on expansion to further strengthen its presence in the country. It is in the process of examining the various opportunities in China’s IT training space, where it is already working with local companies.

Chief operating officer P. Rajendran said, “China offers us a potential to set up a minimum of 10,000 centres. The country has more IT in every job and it is growing.”

“We want to be a single-window education provider in IT and IT-enabled services. NIIT will continue to grow the number of centres in China and at the same time strengthen its existing network,” said Rajendran.

NIIT is also venturing into the corporate training segment in China through centres of excellence. It will train top management, project managers, software engineers and IT users employed with IT companies. In addition, NIIT will also train software professionals of Indian IT companies operating in China.

As part of its expansion plans in the traditional mediums of education, NIIT has joined hands with over 10 leading universities of China for setting up centres within the University campuses. Three of the leading software parks also have become NIIT partners and have set up NIIT centres in their parks.

“NIIT was the first Indian company to be given permission by the Chinese government to set up a wholly-owned foreign entity in the country, allowing the company to set up professional education centres anywhere in China,” Rajendran said.

NIIT, which commenced operations in China in 1997, now operates 100 centres in 25 Chinese provinces.