AICTE and AWS to Upskill Indian Students in Cloud Computing and ML

New Delhi, India – The Ministry of Education is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to impart cloud computing and machine learning (ML) skills to Indian higher education students. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry’s statutory body, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and Amazon Internet Services Pvt Ltd (AISPL), which handles AWS resale and marketing in India. This new collaboration expands the Ministry’s efforts to provide students with critical technology skills and reinforces the Ministry’s commitment to developing a future-ready digitally skilled workforce in India. This initiative will benefit students at thousands of AICTE-affiliated colleges across the country.

Through the MoU, AWS will provide students with access to AWS Educate, a program that provides self-paced online cloud learning resources and labs to assist people in learning, practicing, and evaluating cloud skills. The program’s easy-to-navigate, and adaptive user interface directs learners to relevant training content based on their knowledge, goals, and interests. Learners can register for AWS Educate using only their email address.

Furthermore, through the recently launched ‘AWS DeepRacer Student League’, AWS will support the goal of skilling students in cloud computing and ML. The ‘AWS DeepRacer Student League’ aims to introduce ML to higher education students and inspire them to explore the technology. The competition offers participants an engaging and enjoyable way to learn and experiment with ML by developing autonomous driving applications. This is the second ‘AWS DeepRacer’ initiative focused on Indian students, following the ‘AWS DeepRacer Women’s League’ in 2021, and is supported by the Ministry of Education, AICTE, and Intel. The competition is open to Indian students over the age of 18 who are currently enrolled in higher education institutions.

The research report ‘Building Digital Skills for the Changing Workforce’, prepared earlier this year by strategy and economics consulting firm AlphaBeta and commissioned by AWS, stated that four of the top six most in-demand skills in India by 2025 will be cloud-related. The ability to use cloud-based tools will be the most in-demand skill required by employers in India by 2025, according to the report, followed by technical support skills, cybersecurity skills, advanced digital marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) and ML, and cloud architecture design. The importance and impact of cloud-related skills are further emphasized by their widespread application across industry sectors, as employers polled for the study anticipate that these skills will be in high demand in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, fintech, media, and entertainment.

Emphasizing that the Education Ministry prioritizes national digital skilling on future technologies and cloud computing and ML skills are crucial for the students’ employability and for building the industries of tomorrow, Dr Buddha Chandrashekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE, stated, “We are pleased that an industry leader like AWS is committed to work with AICTE to support the Indian government’s vision for skilling to create an Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Pointing out that during the pandemic, organizations of all sizes accelerated their digital transformation plans, increasing the need for cloud computing, cybersecurity, and machine learning skills training, Sunil PP, Lead—Education, Space, and Nonprofits, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited, AWS India and South Asia, said, “AWS recognizes this as a national priority, and today’s announcement of the MoU with the Ministry of Education is part of our continued commitment to support the government in developing India’s technology talent and strengthening the country’s digital economy.”

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