Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT), a leading global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company today announced the launch of a nation-wide initiative, the Wipro Integrated Skill Enhancement Program (WISEPro) to impart communication and soft skills training to undergraduate students, predominantly from non-engineering colleges in India, with the aim of improving their employability in the Information Technology, Business Process Management (BPM), as well as other services sectors.
The pilot program of the WISEPro initiative has been introduced to the student community at Kolkata-based Techno India Group. Wipro plans to extend this program nationally to over 5000 students by the end of FY14 and especially, make in-roads into smaller centres in India, besides the large cities.
Students who successfully complete the program will be awarded a certification, post an assessment by Wipro. The certification will enable the candidates to be eligible for a placement at Wipro, if they are able to successfully clear one round of interviews as opposed to 3 or 4 levels of screening usually followed while recruiting fresh graduates at the company.
The 60-hour program consists of technology backed modules in a self paced format, that give the students the flexibility to work through the modules over a period of 3 months, along-side their core graduation course. This self-learning program consists of a ‘Business Communication Skills’ module provided by renowned training organization, TaraSpan Solutions Private Ltd. and a ‘Corporate Readiness’ module that is proprietary to Wipro. In addition to the e-learning modules, the program has periodic classroom connect programs, wherein the students can interact with trainers. The IT-ITES Sector Skills Council (SSC), NASSCOM has provided valuable guidance in designing the curriculum and training methodology of the program.
According to Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Executive Director, Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM “Enhancing employability to role-specific requirements in the IT, BPM and other services sector is a step in the right direction. It is imperative that companies, academic institutions and the government work closely towards improving the employability of young people in India and help to scale up a readily deployable talent pool. The aim is to align the WISEPro program with the SSC NASSCOM guidelines outlined for CRM job roles. We are glad that an organization of Wipro’s stature has taken the lead in moving towards the adoption of published National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Job Roles / Qualification Packs (QPs) and we, at SSC NASSCOM, are glad to support and guide them in this endeavor.
Subhasish Biswas, Head – Business Excellence, Wipro BPO (A Division of Wipro Ltd.) said, “This initiative is an employability enhancement program that will endeavour to train students for the services sector where high levels of communication and presentation skills are required, in addition to basic domain knowledge. It aims to improve the soft-skill based competencies, foster professional skills and thereby, enhance the employability of youth for various service sector domains. We are of the opinion that considering the quality of the output being created, over a period of time, this certification will get recognition in several industries, besides the IT and BPM industries.
Prof. (Dr.) Pritimoy Bhattacharya, Group Director, Techno India Group, said, “The Techno India Group is proud to provide a platform for Wipro to launch this program. This unique initiative is the need of the hour and will go a long way in making our youth employable. We are very confident that our students will leverage this opportunity well and aspire to be part of this journey of self-development.
