Myanmar collaborates with IIIT-Bangalore to set up IT Institute

Kolkata, March 21 (IANS) The International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B) is collaborating with Myanmar to build an information technology institute in that country, a top diplomat said here.

"We are setting up Mandalay Institute of Information Technology which is the centre of excellence for IT modelled on IIIT-B and being implemented by IIIT-B," Indian ambassador to Myanmar Gautam Mukhopadhaya said on the sidelines of an event organised by CII.

Apart from the upcoming institute, the entrepreneurship development institute in Yangon is also in the process of tying-up with Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-Lucknow).

He said Myanmar was also sending its people for training at the Institute of Management Training, Bangalore.

State-owned watchmaker HMT Limited has built two industrial training centres in Myanmar aimed to skill up that nation's workforce, Mukhopadhaya added.

"We have set up an entrepreneurship development institute in Yangon which we are now trying to tie-up with IIM-Lucknow. We have also established two industrial training centres that have been set-up by HMT," the envoy said.

He said Myanmar was also upgrading its language skills and was in the process of building a language laboratory for its foreign ministry.

"We have strengthened the English language department in Yangon University and have provided a language laboratory for Myanmar's foreign ministry to enable its officials to learn foreign languages," he said.

Mukhopadhaya said Calcutta University has also tied-up with Dagon University, one of the largest universities in Myanmar. India is playing an active role in developing that country's educational infrastructure, he added.

The ambassador said Myanmar presently has two IT institutes, one each in Mandalay and Yangoon and another one is coming up shortly. "It will happen hopefully once we have a ministerial visit."

He said Myanmar under the "military-backed civilian government" was making steady progress in development. "The trend is to civilianise further. They are wary about hasty transition because they're worried about anarchy..."

Indian investments in Myanmar for capacity building have scaled up to the tune of $250 million.