Institute extends Bengaluru’s IT knowledge to Myanmar

BENGALURU: Mentored by the International

Institute

of Information Technology, Bangalore (

IIITB

), the

Myanmar Institute of Information Technology

(MIIT) has been ranked the country’s second-best information technology institute within two years of its inception.

IIITB had been chosen to mentor the Myanmarese institution in terms of academic advancement and faculty development by the Union ministry of external affairs in 2015. Born out of the

India-Myanmar

friendship project, the two governments proposed the institute in Myanmar with a five-year mentorship from an Indian institute. Although the move lost traction, it was revived in 2014 by the Centre, which appointed IIITB to set the Myanmar institute in motion.

On December 27 and 28, the IIITB hosted U Thein Win, director-general, Myanmarese department of higher education; Daw Nwe Ni, deputy director-general; Daw Win Aye, rector, MIIT and Daw Mie Mie Khin, pro-rector, MIIT in the city for an interaction with industry representatives.

“IIITB has been collaborating with the IT industry. We want to know how best we can adopt these practices and enhance these linkages in Myanmar,” Thein Win said.

While the Myanmarese government was given the responsibility to develop the campus and infrastructure, India was tasked with the job of developing academics. In 2014, IIITB selected 30 students from Myanmar (out of nearly 600 applicants) to undergo the PG diploma course in software development here.

“When these students finished the course and returned to Myanmar, they were gobbled up by the industry. Every one was either placed or given a research opportunity. We learned that this could be a huge success and thus began the collaboration between IIITB and MIIT,” said Raja Subramanian, adjunct faculty at IIITB and MIIT director.

Ten faculty members from IIITB have been involved in the mentorship at MIIT since the partnership began. The institute has started two courses – bachelor degrees in computer science and engineering and in electronics and communication engineering with 60 students each. A PG diploma in software development is also being offered. A total of 280 students are currently enrolled in the institute.

With a focus on not just academic excellence but also on industry exposure, the MIIT is expected to enhance its own industry linkages. “We know Bengaluru has a first-class IT environment and the industry is involved with universities too. We wish to take this back to Myanmar and implement a cooperation between industry and university,” Wein added.

“Higher education is a soft power created to positively impact the life of an individual at an impressionable age. The Centre’s role in helping to create MIIT must be viewed against this backdrop. One area where IIITB collaboration will add value is industry-academia interaction, something that is a ‘must’ in IT that creates the maximum number of jobs in the organized sector,”said Prof S Sadagopan, director, IIITB.