Bangalore: Microsoft Corporation India on September 16 announced the launch of its Academic Developer Programme in India under a strategy to work with the academic community the world over.

Under the programme, Microsoft announced eight key initiatives over the next one year aimed at empowering universities, faculty members and students with necessary skills, resources, training and real life experience, to leverage the emerging XML Web Services revolution.

As part of the new initiatives announced by Dilip Mistry, director, .Net and Developer Evangelism, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Visveswaraiah Technological University in Karnataka.

Under the MoU, Microsoft would provide 102 colleges affiliated with the university access to .Net development tools and technologies, Mistry told reporters on September 16.

Mistry said it was critical for India to retain its position as a leading provider of skilled IT manpower and the company's initiative was aimed at producing software engineers with a radically different skill-set.

The eight initiatives under the Academic Developer Programme include the faculty internship programme, the Microsoft .Net campus challenge, the MSDN academic alliance, the student projects programme and the faculty training programme.

Visveswaraiah Technological University Vice-Chancellor K Balaveera Reddy said the university had opened 50 research centres in 110 engineering colleges in the state for which 110 students had registered this year.

PTI