The Hindu Business Line : ‘Regulate software training’

“Generally, students are attracted by low-cost training centres with their freebies and the so-called scholarships and end up in poor quality training centres.”

S. Gopal

D.Murali

If you thought computer training is too dull a subject to talk about, think again. Here is S. Gopal, CEO of Nace Solutions P Ltd (www.naceedu.com), Chennai, who is aggressively growing a training company.

Starting with one centre at T. Nagar in the city a year ago, and having today more than 17 centres in South India and one in Kingdom of Bahrain, he has plans to touch the 200-centre mark in India by 2009.

Though originally thought of as ‘National Academy for Computer Engineering’ Nace — which is a part of the two-decade-old Swamy Abedhanandha Educational Trust that runs a polytechnic in Thellar, Vandavasi Taluk, Tiruvannamalai — offers both proprietary and open source technology training.

“Nace give 100 per cent hands-on training on software. There are no separate theory and lab sessions,” informs Gopal, during a recent lunch-hour interaction at eWorld.

How big is the software training industry that he is looking at? What have been the major trends in the industry over the years? What are currently ‘hot’, and what, not, as training modules?

“The present Indian software training industry is at about Rs 2,300 crore,” says Gopal. “Instructor-led training is still popular. Currently Dot Net and Java technologies are popular; and EJB is heading to a natural death.”

Our conversation continues over e-mail.

Excerpts from the interview:

Can you tell us what, according to you, are the key drivers of demand? Rural/urban, age groups, average spend on training, global certifications.

If you go through the recent engineering college admissions status, we can find that computer science is still the preferred course among the students.

Today more and more rural students are joining computer institutes nearer to their village, anticipating a bright future in IT industry.

The average spending on software training per person is approximately Rs 10,000 annum.

Currently, software development companies consider only the technical expertise of the candidate by conducting a technical test/interview in spite of candidates possessing global certification. So, a global certification can add value during salary negotiation but it is not a must.

On the flip side, what are the shortcomings that the software training industry suffers from? Any best practices that can be adopted usefully?

The software training industry suffers from the mushrooming of training institutes lacking quality. Today if someone plans to start a tea shop, he has to get a licence from the corporation; a school, from the Directorate of School Education, etc. Whereas, for starting a computer training centre, there is no authority or a governing body to authorise.

Because of this training institutes are cropping everyday with flashy advertisements doling out freebees and scholarships.

For instance, in Hyderabad, there are training centres that conduct courses on Java and Dot Net with a batch of 150 students in one hall and they use the mike, loudspeakers and a big screen to train the students at throwaway fees.

How can a student learn in this type of environment where he cannot even pose a doubt on the subject? What output will these students produce once they join an organisation if at all they get a job?

The Government should, therefore, form a regulatory body to control and monitor the existing software training centres on their course syllabus, course conduct, infrastructure, facilities, faculties’ technical knowledge and expertise, offers announced in news media, and so on.

You are looking at 80/20 as the franchisee/own ratio. What are the specific advantages that the franchisee model offers in software training?

We are planning to have 200 centres across India by 2009 out of which 20 per cent of the centres will be of our own and the balance 80 per cent will be of our franchisees.

Today the major problem faced by franchisees is that of getting the right faculty with sound technical knowledge and teaching skills.

Even if they get such faculty, sustaining them is a great pain; as a result, franchisees spend a huge amount every month sending the faculty to the principals for training the trainers.

Because of the lack of faculty many franchisees cancel the classes; and students suffer as a consequence.

Understanding the above issues, and aiming to maintain the quality and standard of training we have taken a policy decision that Nace will recruit, train the trainers, and place them at our franchisee centres on our payroll.

We have a large pool of trainers as faculty with the required technical knowledge and delivery skill sets to address the students’ needs.

Even when a faculty member leaves the job we replace him/her with another faculty and continue the batch without any break.

We provide complete marketing support and handholding of our franchisees and make them run the training centre smoothly and effectively.

On the content side, how do you ensure that the syllabus is in tune with the requirements of IT enterprises? Again, how is the sync with practical relevance achieved when delivering the content through faculty?

We keep upgrading the syllabus according to the IT industry requirements. We have a team of industry experts as consultants; they advise us on the latest trend and technology in the IT industry.

We conduct training for the trainers regularly and upgrade their technical skill sets with the help of domain experts from the industry.

Don’t you see computer-aided training and learning replacing human instruction? Many global majors offer their certifications online, don’t they?

In India, e-learning is still not popular because students prefer to attend an instructor-led training so that they can clear their queries on the spot and get assistance during the lab session.

Many students attend the instructor-led training and appear for online certification. The confidence level may be more in students attending the instructor-led training compared to e-learning methods.

Often the IT industry complains about the lack of employable talent. Your views.

Today the university syllabus lacks on the content needed by the IT industry, so the students are compelled to attend software training courses offered by private software training centres.

Generally, students are attracted by low-cost training centres with their freebies and the so-called scholarships and end up in poor quality training centres.

During the interview they under-perform and lose the chance of getting the job. Another major problem faced by the employers is the lack of communication skills in the freshers attending the interview. At Nace, therefore, we provide soft skills orientation to students as part of the course.

How does it help a training company such as yours to tie up with universities and colleges?

More than Nace it is the university and the college that benefit, as they get the best and the latest software technology training for their students as per the IT industry requirement.

Are you active in the corporate training sphere? What are the top three software training needs of corporates?

We get 40 per cent of our revenue from corporate training. We are conducting corporate trainings for top software companies to upgrade their staff skill set and fine tune technical knowledge.

We have actively been offering corporate training on LAMP and also on Dot Net and Java. LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php) is the alternative technology to Dot Net and Java; and the need for qualified professionals in this area has been on the rise.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in

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