Ever-expanding horizons

Updated on: Monday, August 31, 2009

There is little doubt that India’s education sector is in one of its best growth curves with the segment expanding nationally and internationally. Joining the bandwagon is the Aptech Group, a global retail and corporate training solutions provider, which is all set to launch a new brand, the English Express, to meet the need of English language training in the country. Apart from this, the group is set to expand its global business with plans to open about a hundred more international centres in developing countries around the world by 2010.
Said Ninad Karpe, CEO and MD, Aptech Limited, “English Express will entirely focus on providing effective English language training to executives and professionals at entry, mid and some senior levels to equip them with proper English language skills. In the first phase, we plan to open about 30 English Express centres across the country.” For this, the company has already acquired four centres of a Bengaluru-based education institute offering English language training.

“Internationally, we are looking to expand and enter all major developing economies and plan to open about 100 more centres by 2010. We have recently announced our plans to enter the Brazilian market by partnering with a Brazilian group through a Joint Venture (JV), where our prime focus is on the ICT training business through the Aptech Computer Education brand,” says the newly appointed CEO.

Keeping in consideration that the industry requires people with knowledge and skills, Aptech has partnered with the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and has launched a new three-year B.Sc. degree in Computer Applications where students will also receive Aptech Certified Computer Professional (ACCP) certificates. Along with this, the education major has also come up with a course in Travel and Tourism in collaboration with Thomas Cook and a 24-month diploma in art and design in Gaming.

With collaborations being the order of the day, the Indian student has never had it so good. BITS Pilani has inked an MoU with SAP Labs Bengaluru for work integrated learning, with the objective of fostering collaboration between the two institutions to promote academic and research interactions. BITS will offer educational avenues at various levels to meet the human resources development needs of SAP through its off-campus work integrated learning programmes. “With our economy developing at a healthy rate, there is an urgent need for relevant skill sets along with your degree,” feels Karpe. Experts also agree that the Indian education system has been giving less importance to vocational education and as a result, there is a mismatch between the skilled manpower required and the skilled manpower available. Aptech has thus diversified across various multiple educational and business verticals including Aviation Training (Avalon), IT education (Aptech Computer Education), hardware training (N-Power), assessment solutions (ATTEST), content development (Aptech Learning) and animation education (Arena).

Realising the need for a skilled workforce many other private institutes are offering vocational training with accreditation from recognised industry bodies. VOCAD, for instance which provides corporates and businesses a One-Stop Manpower Solutions for the front end wants to bridge the gap between the rural, semi urban and the urban areas through vocational education.

Says AP. Srivatsan, Managing Director, Vocational Academy, “VOCAD will put up over 600 centres in every district headquarter of the country offering a multitude of courses in service sector verticals. We have launched some eight centres as of now all over India.”

Now, here’s what one calls opportunity!

Ever-expanding horizons

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