The premier institute plans to rope in infotech majors to sponsor centreswhere it will offer a post-graduate diploma programme in high-end technologythrough distance education mode.

While IIT, Mumbai is set to launch the one-year full-time diploma coursebeginning June 2000 session, other four IITs are also readying themselves tostart the course latest by the following year, according to IIT, Mumbaiprofessor of computer science Deepak B Phatak.

The distance education initiative started at the behest of previousdepartment of electronics secretary Ravindra Gupta, will eventually lead toall IITs offering the same PGDIT course through several centres locatedoutside their campuses. It will be spread over two years in a part-time modeand will have to be cleared in a maximum of three years.

The newly set-up school of IT at Mumbai IIT has already started offeringMTech and doctorate in IT from this year. There are 17 MTech students atpresent. Next year too, it plans to take only 20 students for MTech and 50for PGDIT regular course.

Soon after launch of regular PGDIT, it will start putting most of itsmodules on the Net and offer the full course online by the next session,along with other IITs. Those who are keen to learn specific modules onlywill be permitted to do so, said Phatak. Later, if they want to enroll forthe entire programme, they will be given credit for the modules alreadycleared.

Beginning next month, IIT, Mumbai plans to hold a series of meetings withtop companies in order to rope them for setting up centres across thecountry to offer PGDIT, offer sponsorships to the students and also toevolve the course curriculum.

Though the Regional Engineering Colleges will be the first choice aspartners for setting up the centres across the country, IITs will also beopen to offers from IT majors like TCS, Satyam, Infosys or NIIT to embark onsimilar exercise. However, it plans to embark on the expansion slowly so asto maintain the quality standard.

``There are 15 lakh IT professionals in the country. With the industryburgeoning so rapidly, they will require team-leaders many of whom will comefrom non-IT background. Thus, PGDIT will also act as a bridge course to helpthem become computer professionals,'' said Phatak.

IIT, Mumbai has chalked out an ambitious plan to raise a corpus of Rs 1,000crore from private initiative within next eight years. Besides funding thecontinuing education programme (CEP), this money will go towards setting upincubators for IT start-ups. IIT plans to rope in its alumni and has got agood response. It has so far received close to $5 million from entrepreneurslike Kanwal Rekhi, Nandan Nilekani and Girish Gaitonde.

Phatak expressed optimism that the CEP initiative will have a snowballingeffect in mobilising the industry and propel India to the topmost rung of ITsuperpowerdom.