The Hindu Business Line : Build your merit file

In the 90s, if you had a great job, and higher education beckoned, you had only one option. Quit and get back to academics. Not any more. The many industry-academia tie-ups today make working - and simultaneously studying - easy. IT companies are benefiting through tie-ups with universities. Most employees who undertake part-time courses for higher studies remain with the organisation, applying and sharing their knowledge.

Companies generally tie-up with universities for specific post-graduate courses, such as management, or even part-time certificate courses in software.

Infosys has a tie-up with Symbiosis for an MSc (IT) programme that employees can apply for after completing a year of work. The fee for such approved programmes is reimbursed, post completion.

"We have tie-ups with Tier-I institutions such as BITS Pilani and Indian School of Business, for a two-yearMasters programme.

The curriculum is modified to suit our needs," says Rajul Asthana, Vice-President, Satyam Learning Centre. Fee grants are given, depending on the course undertaken.

All through the course duration, employees work in close coordination with the company. "All projects undertaken during the course pertain to the company. We closely monitor the work and progress of each employee. Senior employees act as guides for all academic projects," says Asthana.

IBM Software Labs India has tie-ups with many universities, such as BITS Pilani, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Bangalore and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) for Masters in Engineering/Technology in Computer Science.

There are research collaborations with some Tier-I schools. On successful completion of such courses, part of the course fee is refunded. IBM also gives all facilities such as computers, access to IBM intranet and knowledge bases, to help employees complete their projects and study requirements. VTU, in return, has computers installed with specific software to help work on IBM projects.

IBM employees guide students and faculty through project scenarios, solution demos and e-mentor them. This helps IBM deliver about 100 projects through the university and students too get certifications for IBM products.

Access to talent pool

Such tie-ups also give companies access to a pool of under-graduate students - thus simplifying their search for entry-level talent hunt. Though it is not mandatory for companies to hire from such tie-ups, most entry-level hiring happens from these universities.

"Though we do not guarantee bulk recruitment from all our tie-ups, we do recruit from VTU and BITS," says Amol Mahamuni, Head of University Relations, IBM Software Lab India.

VTU comprises 120 Engineering schools and IBM hires from some of them. "About 80-90 per cent of our fresh recruits are from campuses we have tie-ups with," says Asthana. "We hire about 30-50 students from these Tier-I institutes," he says.

Satyam also allows about 100 students every year from these institutes to do projects and internships.

Infosys has a separate programme for hiring, besides the popular "Campus Connect", that helps share best practices in Infosys with academia in 248 Indian and four Chinese colleges.

Through this, students can do internships and industry projects with Infosys. During recruitment, such students are preferred over candidates from other institutes.

Pay scales for fresh recruits are higher if they come from a "tie-up university". "Students from IITs and BITS would get a higher offer price than others for the same job," says Asthana of Satyam, refusing to quote the salary package.

IBM India and a few others may not adopt different pay scales but students who have trained with them generally have shorter induction programmes once they join the organisation.

Grooming for quality

While hiring students through tie-ups does expose one to greater quantity of talent, it doesn't necessarily ensure quality of talent. Some organisations have looked into this aspect and developed programmes to groom students throughout their course of study.

Genpact recently launched the Associate Trainee Program in partnership with Delhi University and Osmania University.

Through this program, students can work and earn at Genpact while studying either B.A. or B. Com courses. Presently about 60 students are enrolled in this programme.

"They will spend two days of the week on campus and three days working at Genpact and will be exposed to both voice and non-voice type of training during the tenure. In the first few months they will learn the jobs.

Later, all of them will be placed with Genpact, in specific businesses depending on their abilities, interest and talent," saysAshok Tyagi, Senior Vice-President, Genpact.

Candidates are provided scholarships, besides a monthly stipend varying between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000 per month and also get performance-based incentives and company benefits during the three-year programme.

IT-related HR

Accenture has a tie-up with Xavier's Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, for a course in Human Capital Management, specific to IT-related HR practices.

"We want to generate a new talent pool rather than train existing employees," says Rahul Varma, Senior Director, Accenture India HR. The two-year programme started last year and 35 students are part of it.

The programme has 14 modules over the two-year period taught by senior level employees at Accenture and professors at XLRI.

Students get a stipend and work on live projects. "We promise to hire them at the end of the course. They will be hired as HR Managers and put on live projects from the day they become regular employees," says Varma. Accenture is in discussions for a similar model with engineering colleges.

archana@thehindu.co.in

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