Salesforce partners with ICT Academy, a Government of India initiative

Salesforce announced a new partnership with the ICT Academy, an initiative of the Government of India, to provide valuable skills for educators and students. Announced at the Salesforce Academic Summit 2018, this partnership will see Salesforce and ICT Academy train and certify educators from more than 200 institutes across India. Leveraging Trailhead for Students, educators will train over 100,000 students to equip them with the skills of the future. The partnership reinforces Salesforce’s commitment to nurture next-generation talent and address the skills gap in India.

Trailhead is Salesforce’s free gamified, online learning platform that empowers anyone to learn the skills needed to land a top job in the Salesforce economy. Salesforce is taking the power of Trailhead, with its guided, hands-on learning paths into the classroom with Trailhead for Students. Working together with universities, community colleges, workforce development programs and educational non-profits, Trailhead for Students provides everything educators need to get students ready for the Salesforce economy.

Salesforce and the ICT Academy will conduct workshops to train educators across ICT Academy’s member institutions in India. Graduates in the field of computer science and management will be offered the Salesforce Business Administration Specialist Courseproviding them an introduction to the Salesforce ecosystem. This program provides students an understanding of the fundamentals of the platform that will help strengthen and accelerate their careers as Developers, System Administrators, Architects, Marketing Managers, Business Analyst and Sales Operations Professionals.

ICT Academy in partnership with Salesforce will set up 100 Centres of Excellence (CoE’s) providing students an opportunity to learn and practice key skills on Salesforce technologies. These CoE’s will be set up in phases across the country and act as a catalyst to empower educators and students with skills of the future. 

Sarah Franklin, EVP and GM, Trailhead and Developer Relations at Salesforce said, “Today’s job market is defined by rapid innovation with new technologies creating new jobs globally. While students should be a great talent source, recent graduates don’t have the skills they need to thrive in the workforce. To solve this skills gap, industry and academia must work together to prepare students to stay relevant and keep skill sets modern for the ever-changing business world.”

M Sivakumar, Chief Executive Officer, ICT Academy said “We are delighted to announce this association with Salesforce. Career readiness and employability skills are becoming an integral part of education. To truly achieve ‘Make in India’, we need to adopt a framework that supports the holistic development of the youth and make the country the world capital of skilled workforce. We believe a global leader like Salesforce can help students enhance their skills and equip them to pursue their career in this era of digitalization.”