Role of Universities in IT Education in India

In the wake of the information technology (IT) revolution, the paper describes the changing role of universities to promote IT education in India to generate qualitative and competitive manpower in the face of the mushrooming of private institutions in the field of IT. The rapid growth of private teaching initiatives reflects inadequacies of the public educational system to the needs of the emerging IT environment, especially considering the high prices charged by private training. It is pointed out that the emerging knowledge society and the economy are not going to be based on IT alone, but will depend on the development of both IT and basic research in domain areas. Any policy on IT education should ensure that basic disciplines are not ignored. Universities should develop new and innovative programmes for students from different basic disciplines to give training for high-end jobs. To promote IT education a new innovative concept of earning while learning has recently been introduced. Some of the initiatives started by Delhi University to modify/improve course programmes for IT education are highlighted, looking at the needs of the industry.