Chennai: The Indian government and the state government of Tamil Nadu along with few interested corporates will set up an ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT) shortly.

Disclosing this to the media in Chennai today, Dr C Chandramouli, secretay, information technology, government of Tamil Nadu said that out of the 250 engineering colleges in the state only 25 attract the head hunters.

He said in order to have inclusive growth across the state the proposed ICTACT would train the professors in the latest trends in the industry so that their students in turn would benefit.

The academy will be set on a public-private participation model.

In order to attract industry, the proposed academy will be promoted by a non-profit company registered under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act and headed by a professional CEO.

The governing council / board of directors would consist of representatives from the shareholders and also vice chancellors of couple of universities and other educators, said Subu D Subramanian, chairman-ICT Forum, Confederation of Indian Industry-Southern Region (CII-SR) and director and senior vice president, manufacturing and automobile business group, Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

He said there was a big disconnect between the skill sets that the industry looks for in a fresh recruit and what is available fresh from the college. "The proposed academy is an effort to bridge that disconnect."

The idea for setting up the academy emanated at one of the editions of Connect, an annual ICT conference cum exhibition held by CII-SR since 2001.

Apart from training the educators, the academy would also conduct online programmes for the students to upgrade their skills and act as a curriculum development body for the ICT courses conducted by colleges/universities in Tamil Nadu.

According to Subramanian, the expenditure during the first three years is budgeted around Rs20 crore. "After that the academy is expected to be self sufficient in its fund needs."

The Tamil Nadu government is also looking at the feasibility of setting up a science park where innovators can do their research, incubate their company and exit.

"The technology parks set up by educational institutions are available only to their students or faculty. On the other hand there are full fledged industrial parks. There is need for a unique park for innovators to do their research and commercialise their invention and move out," said Dr.Chandramouli.

He said the government is looking for expert views for laying down the eligibility norms for innovators to set up shop in the science park and also the exit norms.