Microsoft bags cloud order from AICTE

The governing body for technical education in India, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has adopted cloud computing to improve technical education and prepare Indian students for the workforce. Microsoft’s Live@edu service will be deployed in more than 10,000 technical colleges and institutes throughout India over the next three months.

Live@edu is a hosted communication and collaboration service that offers email, Microsoft Office Web Apps, instant messaging and storage to AICTE’s more than 7 million students and nearly 500,000 faculty members, for a total reach of 7.5 million users — roughly double the size of the Los Angeles population — making AICTE Microsoft’s largest cloud customer ever.

AICTE: Technical education in-the-cloud

“Microsoft’s cloud platform will make for a truly progressive ecosystem and contribute to the country’s technical education by providing a better communication and collaboration platform for institutes and students,” explains Dr S S Mantha, chairman of AICTE.

According to Anthony Salcito, vice president of Worldwide Education, the country is witnessing rapid economic activity and growth. Developing India’s youth and their skills is going to play an important role globally in the country’s inclusive growth. “The union budget also laid emphasis on skill development and so does the proposed 12th Five Year Plan with a National Policy on Skill development. The PPP model (public-private partnership) is most essential in running and managing training institutions that provide every opportunity to address the skill gap most efficiently,” adds Salcito.

Sums up Sanket Akerkar, managing director, Microsoft India: “Microsoft has always seen education as a priority area and believes that technology offers possibilities that can help empower not just teachers and students but collectively India as a nation.”