IT Center Guatemala

HISTORY

Through the great effort of H.E.Mrs. Primrose Sharma, Ambassador of India to Panama and also accredited to Guatemala, the project was gratefully accepted by the Government of Guatemala, and the project agreement is the result between Guatemala, the largest economy of Central America, and India, one of the world’s dominant IT players. The Guatemala Government appointed CONCYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y Tecnologia) to do the ground work of selecting the most appropriate location for the IT Centre. Mr. Hector Centeno, Director of CONCYT appointed Mr. Hugo Romeo Masaya in charge of the project. Several universities were taken into consideration, but USAC (Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala) was the one chosen, because it is the largest in the country and it is a highly reputed National State University. It is the fourth oldest University of America. It is located in the capital city of Guatemala, in the beautiful country of Guatemala, and was established as a multi-faceted multi-faculty educational institution with teaching and research departments. USAC offers both graduate and undergraduate level programs, also in the field of Information Technology and Computer Sciences. During the last decade, due to advanced technological changes in Information Technology, there has been a rapid increase in the students enrollment at the undergraduate level. Statistics indicate that about 1,000 new undergraduate students enroll every year.

The Government of India authorized TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) of India, to implement the IT Education CoE.

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.

A part of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 100,000 of the world's best trained IT consultants in 47 countries. The Company generated consolidated revenues of US $4.3 billion for fiscal year ended 31 March, 2007 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit at www.tcs.com.

Once the location was established, the Dean of Engineering of USAC, Mr. Murphy Paiz, was most keen to have the Centre in his premises and offered whatever space necessary. Ing. Luis Vettorazzi, a USAC official and Ing. Jorge Armin Mazariegos were commissioned by the Dean to be the liason with TCS. Mr. Jagtar Singh, General Manager and Project Head from TCS, arrived to establish and implement the project. 58 Computers and equipment were donated by the Government of India for the Centre, and technicians from TCS were sent to implement the network infrastructure and set up the Centre. TCS sent 3 trainers for two years, Mr. Mrutunjaya Panda, the Centre Manager, and Mr. Aashish Bajaj and Mrs. Bimal Jeet Kaur ( who was a year later replaced by Mr. Vikash Vardhan) to teach and train, and TCS compromised with the Government of India for a “smooth and successful implementation and execution of the project for 2 years.”

The Centre, which is located at USAC T3 building, was inaugurated by the President of Guatemala, H.E.Mr. Oscar Berger Perdomo and the Vice-President, H.E.Mr. Eduardo Stein, in presence of the then Ambassador of India to Guatemala, H.E. Mr. Ashok Tomar, on September 28, 2006.

PROJECT CONTEXT

As a part of the cooperation and donation initiated by the Government of India to the Guatemala Government, to transform education through the integration of technology, USAC now has a fully equipped Information Technology Centre of Excellence (IT CoE), to transform digital divide into digital opportunities. India-Guatemala ITCoE is providing a real time learning environment to the people of Guatemala, from different sectors of education, companies and government. It facilitates the development of specialized skills among professors, students, IT professionals, etc. in the fields of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Almost 1 million students from USAC and other universities, and from the whole country of Guatemala, now have access to a fully equipped Information Technology Centre, allowing them an ideal learning environment and helping them fully to integrate information technology into their daily study and lives. Real-time access to a wealth of advanced educational resources leads to much anticipated results, as increasing student productivity, knowledge sharing and collaborative work is being offered. USAC as an entity has a social and cultural responsibility that persuaded the University to restructure the IT undergraduate level programs.

IT CoE has provided new heights to the dying Administrative and Learning Infrastructure of USAC and Guatemala professionals can now adopt a new learning methodology to acquire high end technical and administrative skills. It has provided the much needed boost that USAC needed to restructure the existing undergraduate level courses.

Due to the high impact and new vision IT CoE has provided, a Master Degree program was launched in March 2007. Currently 27 Master Degree Students, who are professors of USAC and professionals of reputed IT Companies, are receiving the high-end training from Indian and Guatemala professors. Undergraduates are self-motivated to upgrade and learn existing and advanced technologies. 1000 undergraduate students with beginner and proficient English language, have enrolled and are receiving the high end technical training from the IT experts at IT CoE.

OBJECTIVES

The IT CoE sole purpose is to build the human capacity for developing Information Technology in all sectors: Education, Government, Industry, Private Enterprise, etc. To help in the development of specialized skills that lead to growth and use of Information Technology, in the economy and Government of Guatemala. In addition ITCoE aims at providing appropriate skills and knowledge for the Guatemala community to become assets to themselves, their family, their community, their nation and the world.

The course curriculum provided by TCS covers almost all the spheres of the IT education. The courses provided targets the novice to an expert IT industry professional on all of the technical areas of IT, like programming, administration, networking, and other highly technical areas.

BENEFITS

1) Being a University Campus, provides and excellent environment, where students can take advantage of the ITCoE at its best level.

2) Being a National and reputed University of Guatemala, it provides one of the best infrastructures in this region in terms of Internet facilities, Campus wide network and Manpower resources.

3) English is regarded as the official language for communication, and to be a world renowned and recognised English IT professional is of relevance as a Global IT professional.

4) English has been preferred over Spanish, which results in positive effects both in administrative and student community, and has been received with overwhelming response among students, professors and USAC officials. They are accepting this with enthusiasm and willingness to accept the challenge.

5) 1000 students with beginner and proficient English have enrolled and receive high end technical training from ITCoE.

6) Utilization of ITCoE facilities has achieved a significant and remarkable growth. Statistics show that in December 2006 the utilization of the Centre was 29% (6.57 hours per day), while average utilization in February, March and April 2007 amounts to 58.67% (14 hours per day).

7) Has provided a new and innovative learning environment for professors and students of USAC, acting as a great knowledge sharing for them.

8) Master Degree Program for the welfare of the students was initiated in March 2007, with English as the mode of delivery.

9) In order to provide flexibility for the students, a curriculum has been specifically designed to incorporate the 28 courses provided by the ITCoE to the USAC Semesters, so that students can receive these courses as an alternative to their USAC Semester courses, with hands on experience under the guidance of industry experts. (Annexure attached)

10) More than 1,000 students enrolled have successfully completed the courses.

11) There has been:

- Enthusiasm to learn new and advanced methodologies

- Team work effort for sharing of knowledge and experience

- Focus on conceptual understanding

- Hands on experience on the industry products

- Training delivery by industry experts

12) A comprehensive suite of Certificate/Diploma programs ranging from short term, introductory to intermediate to advanced specialized courses will be offered. The courses are mapped to leading vendor certification exams from Oracle, Sun, Microsoft, etc.

TEACHING METHODOLOGY

TCS has a strong presence and experience in the Learning and Education industry, together with Tata Infotech Ltd., another member of the TATA Consortium Group ,that has recently merged with TCS and brings with it an excellent record in the Learning and Education industry.

Training, being a specialized function, needs expertise in understanding and estimating training needs, selection of proper method of delivery, infrastructure support before, during and after the course to ensure training effectiveness and proper learning environment for the participants.

In order to learn computer technology, a fully equipped laboratory infrastructure is required, unlike the one at USAC Systems Methodology, where 100 students are sitting in a theory class. The ITCoE acted as a revelation to the dying systems of computer technology learning at USAC , by providing a new and innovative online methodology of learning with hands on experienced programs in the products like Oracle, Linux and Microsoft with IT experts as trainers.

The centre claims to have one of the best infrastructures in this region in terms of computer systems, internet facilities, campus wide network and manpower resource.

IT CoE methodology includes three phases:

· Pre Training Phase:-This Phases includes collecting the Requirements and assessing the current knowledge level of the audiences and providing the appropriate guidance regarding the Courses that a fits to the students

· Training Phase: This phase includes the availability of an IT Expert according to the Requirements and Ensuring a single point interface for any improvement, queries and feedbacks during the Training

· Post Training Phase: This phase includes assuring satisfied training with excellent feedbacks and incorporating the feedbacks of the audience to deliver the best training in the industry

TEACHING STYLE

At CoE, Classes are conducted by following a 3 Tier approach:

· I Do - Trainer teaches students

· We Do - Trainer & Students exchange knowledge

· You Do - Students practice what they learn

Additionally, TCS professionals at CoE uses the unique three C’s Approach:

· They teach Concepts to help build a strong foundation.

· They assign exercises and practices designed in a manner that participants are most likely to Commit Mistakes

· Students rectify mistakes by themselves which Cements the Learning

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT

The following are the key areas identified for potential improvement:

1. Accelerate the adoption of the new training methodology across the USAC education system
2. Improve the experience of learning through real time access to a wealth of new improved information sources and advanced educational resources, tools and services.
3. Adopt English as a language for the mode of training delivery
4. Provide adequate motivation and encouragement to the USAC system for the use of the English language.
5. Establish a USAC support unit to cover running expenses of ITCoE, like printing, stationary, etc.
6. Need to expand the ITCoE with more labs and computers, due to the high demand from the students, which the actual ITCoE cannot absorb.
7. A 30kva UPS provided by Government of India and installed by TCS has not yet been operational as UPS room requires an air conditioner.
8. To extend certificates/diploma to the students who have successfully completed the courses, is still a dilemma because of the inefficient response from the USAC System.

9. Most important which we have recognized is the importance of initiating knowledge transfer training, by identifying the pool of students with the potential of becoming the perfect transfer/mentor, who will be responsible for the efficient running of the ITCoE after the 2 years of the execution of the project by TCS.

DRAWBACKS

At the time of this report we have found the following negative aspects within the implementation of the ITCoE that may affect negatively the continuity of the project in the future:

- Inactive participation of the two major bodies CONCYT and the Government of Guatemala

representatives involved in the project.

- Inactive participation of the Guatemala Government leads to prolonged delay in the

- stamping of the temporary residential visa for the TCS project team at the ITCoE.

- Cost management of the ITCoE acts as a major constraint due to the absence of any monetary system to manage the Centre, which in turn hinders the growth of the Centre as an independent financial body to manage the recurring cost of the Centre. Students are taking the ITCoE courses 100% free of cost, they do not pay any fees.

- English as the mode of delivery or teaching does not provide the non English speaking student an opportunity to receive the IT courses.

- Timing conflicts between the ITCoE schedule and USAC schedule, prohibits the students from enrolling in IT Centre courses in many cases.

- Lack of adequate weight-age (certificates or diplomas) given to the IT courses as compared to USAC courses, results in students dropping the courses.

- Clash between ITCoE course schedules and submission of Projects and Exams of the USAC students, leads to large number of drop outs.

- Though the curriculum, that has been designed for the benefit of the students, enables them to receive ITCoE courses as an alternative to the USAC semester courses, the following issues exist:

- A) The students are unaware of the curriculum

- B) The curriculum is not adopted/incorporated well into the USAC system.

- C) The students do not get the deserved weight-age (certificate or diploma) from USAC Examination System, after successfully completing the ITCentre courses and does not motive students to take the IT courses.