Microsoft and Anna University sign MoU

Chennai, June 14: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. and Anna University (AU) today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between them for providing easier access to Microsoft technology and solutions to the faculty and students across 235 colleges affiliated to Anna University.

This agreement is a first of its kind across India, and will allow students and faculty to not only use Microsoft developer tools within the institution for academic and research purposes, but also extend the use to their personal computers to their hostel or their homes.

In addition to this, under the agreement Microsoft will assist Anna University in setting up Microsoft technology labs at select institutions and conduct faculty development programs on its technologies and related curriculum.

Making the announcement, Dr D Viswanathan, Vice Chancellor, Anna University, who has always been at the forefront in keeping students interest in mind, said, "This is a continuation of our relationship with Microsoft, which has already setup a .NET Center of Excellence, over four years ago within the Guindy Campus. The centre has been quite active and has benefited the student and academic community quite immensely. We believe this is a great move ahead in our efforts to prepare and ignite the interests of our student community."

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India said, "As India creates its position in the knowledge driven economy it is imperative to focus on creating and sustaining a highly skilled IT talent pool. However today there exists a huge supply-demand mismatch when we look at availability of skilled IT talent in the country. As a Responsible Leader, we seek to address this challenge in partnership with the academia by accelerating the integration of IT across the education process and working towards creating high-end IT talent pool in the country. Our MoU with Anna University is key deliverable here and will ensure that students get easier accessibility to technology, providing them with an avenue to become a part of the rapidly growing technical talent pool in the country."

OneIndia News