HP announced the India launch of the HP Institute, an academic partnership programme that will equip students with business-ready IT skills that are greatly needed within the industry.
 
The HP Institute is part of the HP ExpertOne program and will offer HP Accredited Technical Associate (ATA) certifications. The launch in India follows the introduction of the HP Institute in the UK in February 2012.
 
As part of the training program, HP will work with Indian universities to bring practical experience and job-ready skills into an academic setting, packaged in a way to help India develop the abilities of its graduate workforce.
 
The World Bank, in its April 2011 policy research working paper titled, Employability and Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers in India, reports that about 64 percent of employers in India are not satisfied with the skill sets of fresh engineering graduates[1].
 
According to the National Employability Report on Engineering Graduates Annual Report 2011 by Aspiring Minds, almost 92 percent of graduating engineers do not have the required programming and algorithm skills required for IT product companies, whereas 56 percent show lack of soft-skills and cognitive skills[2].
 
HP will work with schools, colleges and universities across India to deliver the courses, aiming to improve the IT skills of over 65,000 graduates over the next five years.
 
“There is a pressing need across the IT ecosystem to ensure that entry-level hires are better equipped with the precise skills and experience they need to handle today’s  technical and business challenges”, commented Neelam Dhawan, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Group and country managing director, HP India. “We are working with educational institutes to meet this need and provide Universities an opportunity to bring even greater value to their students without the need to continuously invest in research infrastructure and courseware”.