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Education and IT training company NIIT and NIIT University today entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Autodesk Inc. a firm involved in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software and services to offer design education in India. As a part of the MoU, NIIT will offer design related programs in schools and NIIT University will offer design courses in the institute.
Under this significant partnership, NIIT and NIIT University will leverage design tools of Autodesk to offer a host of design programs. NIIT University will set up a design lab and launch masters programs in design to support research and innovation. In addition, various specialized design programs will be launched for college students in verticals such as interface design, application design and media & entertainment design with an aim to create a pool of skilled manpower for these specific industries.
Vijay Thadani, CEO, NIIT Ltd. said that school teachers will also be offered these methodology for outcome-based learning. "Every class from Grade 6 to Grade 9 will be provided with design labs for use by both students and teachers. The idea is not only to open career avenues in design but also to promote 'design thinking' amongst the youth, that our research indicates as a key trait that today's employers are looking for," he said.
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For school students, NIIT will introduce design literacy programs to promote design thinking. NIIT along with Autodesk and a specially constituted Design Advisory Council, set up under the aegis of NIIT University, will be designing the curriculum. They aim to reach out to about 1 million students in 10 years.
The MoU also aims to bridge the skill gaps in the talent pool. George Abraham, Director of Emerging Markets, Autodesk Education said, "With a full portfolio of professional and personal design products, Autodesk endeavors to introduce students at all levels to the power of design technology, thus fostering an early interest so that they may develop into true design professionals. Partnership with NIIT will further our vision to promote design education by meeting critical gaps in talent pool with our skills and pedagogy to help people imagine, design and create a better world."
Autodesk works with clients across sectors like education, manufacturing, architecture, automobiles and movie industry, and offers their technology-based solutions to them.
NIIT University will launch Masters Programme in Design from the next academic year. Rajendra Pandey, President, NIIT University said that they will create design labs for innovative ideas to develop research capabilities in India. Though in the first phase, the design education courses will be for NIIT University, the MoU has enabled them to offer these courses to students of other colleges at a later stage.
While the overall objective of this partnership is to promote design thinking in every job role, the programmes will also develop skilled manpower for the rapidly growing Computer-aided Design (CAD) industry, which is estimated to grow at CAGR of 13.5 percent by 2015, per a recent report by Technavio.
