To initiate its presence into India, Powerlan's subsidiary, Australian IT Career's Institute, has recently teamed up with Asset International, the high-end technology training arm of Aptech Ltd, to formulate a unique module - this module covers training in two countries that offers the latest technologies in demand across the globe, Mr Baker added.

He pointed out that this particular IT programme is the result of an internal resource requirement for IT resources which Powerlan has been facing. Also, there is a great demand for IT professionals in Australia, he explained.

Elaborating, he said that the company zeroed in on India because it is a place with pre-requisites - There already exist elite IT education institutes and English language is widely used in India. The high demand for Indian IT professional abroad is a pointer towards that.

Giving details of the course, Mr VM Swamy, divisional head, Asset International, said that the training would commence in India and would reach completion in Australia. The first four-months training would be done in India and the rest in Australia. Industry-based project learning is also an integral component of the training.

During the first year, the venture is targeting close to 1,000 students. According to Mr Swamy, the module is flexible and as per the requirements of the students, it would be upgraded and improvised. He also did not rule out targeting corporates for the programme.

The partnership offers the e-commerce course ecom@asset ver.2 from Asset while the student is in India and the diploma of Information Technology - software development while the student is in Australia. On the successful completion of the course, the student is awarded three certificates, one each from Asset International and AITCI as well as a joint certification from Asset International, India and AITCI, Australia, Mr Swamy added.He pointed out that if the students are unable to get a visa after starting the course at Asset, they would be allowed to complete the course in India.

According to Mr Baker, the programme follows education for employment philosophy and aims at redefining the way conventional courses are being conducted. The course fee is Rs 1 lakh for training at Asset and $12000 for the Australian part of the course.

Powerlan, the parent company of AITCI, is one of the largest Australian-owned and Australian-managed Information Technology and telecom services organisations listed at the Australian Stock Exchange and had 34 offices in 8 countries including New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, Indonesia and the US. It has an annual turnover of over Australian $300 million.

Asset International has over 105 centres in over 38 countries. It has recently included knowledge management and WAP courses in its syllabus.