NEW DELHI: In an effort to provide students, faculty and educational institutions with free access to development software, the

All India Council for Technical Education on Friday signed an agreement with two private players to improve learning in the field. With the signing of the agreement, AICTE, Autodesk and Microsoft have become partner to deliver free access to development software and design software for institutions, students and faculty in the country.

The AICTE hopes to fully operationalise the system in the next two months after it is able to provide 5 million user keys to students enrolled in recognised institutions. It has already recognised the institutions through an e-governance project. To a question, Joe Astroth, Chief Education Officer, Autodesk, said the MoU will help the company in the long term as students who learn on the software will use it after becoming professionals. The joint effort will focus on putting industry's leading design software into the hands of students and faculty across India's 4,738 technical educational institutions, Astroth said. S S Mantha, Chairman, AICTE, said, "By partnering with Autodesk and Microsoft, the idea is to raise the level of technical learning and education in India. Post-secondary institutions, students and faculty across the entire nation, in both urban and rural areas, will be able to quickly and easily access world-class software. This will take technical learning and development to a higher level." HRD Minister Kapil Sibal expressed the need to extend development of such software for skill development and vocational education at the secondary and senior secondary level in schools.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CHENNAI: Autodesk Inc, a design software and digital solutions company, on Tuesday signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, for establishing a 'Centre of Excellence', for promoting innovative design and research. Autodesk has invested Rs one crore to set up a COE and a 'Design Finishing School' at IIT-M for engineering students, IIT-M Director M S Ananth told reporters here today during the signing of the MoU. Under the agreement, IIT-M and Autodesk will undertake joint research projects and conduct outreach programmes for small and medium enterprises to improve design and engineering skills of professionals to make them globally competitive. Autodesk will provide computing infrastructure, 3D design software, industrial design tools and assist the institute in developing design courseware, Paul Mailhot, Senior Director Worldwide education programs, Autodesk Inc, said.

BANGALORE: Bullish on the Indian market, global software and services company Autodesk on Wednesday said it has huge growth plans to scale up operations in the country. The California-based company is seeing a huge opportunity in India as the country is set to witness a rapid growth in building, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, its Chairman, President and CEO Carol Bartz said at a press conference here. She said the company was increasing its strength in India but refused give the numbers. "As the company has tools for the infrastructure sector, it expects India to be its natural partner. Since there is widespread proficiency in English, we can market our products immediately," she said but added that software piracy was the biggest challenge for Autodesk in India. In India, Autodesk has partnership with Symphony, which develops products for the former. The company is satisfied with the present arrangement and has no plans to start a development centre in India, she said. Bartx, who was rated among the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes, said "We will go past $1 billion this year." Auotdesk had posted a revenue of $952 million last financial year. MOU with CAD STUDIO (itm universe )mumbai Specialize in conducting training on various CAD software solution including auto cad , Auto disk , Autocad civil 3D etc. Scope: To provide industry standard training to the students of Mechanical Engineering in computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing. To provide first hand experience on the specialized licence softwares in the field of Mechanical Engineering and permitting the students to use evolution version of licence copy even after the training. To provide assistance in arranging internship to the students who have undertaken training. To provide placement assistance in the core companies. Certification: Provided by AUTODESK, USA for all modules separately.