bengaluru mentored by the international institute of information technology bangalore iiitb the myanmar institute of information technology miit has been ranked the countrys secondbest information technology institute within two years of its inceptioniiitb had been chosen to mentor the myanmarese institution in terms of academic advancement and faculty development by the union ministry of external affairs in 2015 born out of the indiamyanmar friendship project the two governments proposed the institute in myanmar with a fiveyear mentorship from an indian institute although the move lost traction it was revived in 2014 by the centre which appointed iiitb to set the myanmar institute in motionon december 27 and 28 the iiitb hosted u thein win directorgeneral myanmarese department of higher education daw nwe ni deputy directorgeneral daw win aye rector miit and daw mie mie khin prorector miit in the city for an interaction with industry representativesiiitb has been collaborating with the it industry we want to know how best we can adopt these practices and enhance these linkages in myanmar thein win saidwhile the myanmarese government was given the responsibility to develop the campus and infrastructure india was tasked with the job of developing academics in 2014 iiitb selected 30 students from myanmar out of nearly 600 applicants to undergo the pg diploma course in software development herewhen these students finished the course and returned to myanmar they were gobbled up by the industry every one was either placed or given a research opportunity we learned that this could be a huge success and thus began the collaboration between iiitb and miit said raja subramanian adjunct faculty at iiitb and miit directorten faculty members from iiitb have been involved in the mentorship at miit since the partnership began the institute has started two courses bachelor degrees in computer science and engineering and in electronics and communication engineering with 60 students each a pg diploma in software development is also being offered a total of 280 students are currently enrolled in the institutewith a focus on not just academic excellence but also on industry exposure the miit is expected to enhance its own industry linkages we know bengaluru has a firstclass it environment and the industry is involved with universities too we wish to take this back to myanmar and implement a cooperation between industry and university wein added higher education is a soft power created to positively impact the life of an individual at an impressionable age the centres role in helping to create miit must be viewed against this backdrop one area where iiitb collaboration will add value is industryacademia interaction something that is a must in it that creates the maximum number of jobs in the organized sectorsaid prof s sadagopan director iiitb