US robotic firm to train 5 lakh Indian students

A New York -based robotic process automation software company in collaboration with educational institutions in India plans to train 500,000 Indian students by 2022 in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) skills through free courses to bridge the skill gap in the industry, a senior official of the company said on Wednesday. UiPath, which uses computer-vision to automate repetitive business processes involving software, has set a target to collaborate with 500 Indian institutes by 2020, up from the current 60.

"The training process is to cover the skill gap in the industry," Tom Clancy, Senior Vice President at UiPath in Singapore, said. The training process is being conducted by UiPath Academic Alliance program, which has already linked up with leading Indian institutions including the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Technical University and the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur. Stressing that economic development is not just a technological goal but also a human one, Clancy said: "We need to prepare and train our youth for a more automated future, one where the ability to work alongside robots will be as important as the skills they bring to bear," he said.

"That is why UiPath is committed to training more than one million students globally in the next three years as we understand that education and re-skilling are vital if we are to thrive in a digital future," he said. Through the Academic Alliance, UiPath will work with educational institutions to equip students with critical automation skills, teach them how to leverage RPA in the workplace and prepare them to work alongside software robots. "We believe India can become automation capital of the world," Rajesh R Nambiar, Director of UiPath Academic Alliance Programme based in Bengaluru, said. "The target is to train half a million students in India by 2022," he said. UiPath is also training teachers and masters for multiplying the scope of training in India. To date, the programme has put 10,000 Indians through the training process for RPA software which is used by global corporations, the company officials said.