TCS announces doctorate-funding programme for IT professionals

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today announced a new funding programme to encourage quality academic research and thereby increase the available faculty talent pool in India.

Under the programme announced today, the company will fund 200 doctoral candidates over a period of five years to take up PhD programmes in reputable academic institutions across the country.

The `TCS Research Fellows' will pursue original research in various aspects of computer science. Forty doctoral or PhD candidates will be chosen as TCS Research Scholars every year from a number of reputable academic institutes through a process of selection conducted by TCS and the academic institutes.

Announcing the TCS Research Scholar Programme on the sidelines of Sangam, TCS' annual academic conclave, N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD said, "At a time, when the introduction of new technologies are changing business models rapidly, there is an urgent need for more focused research to stay ahead of the learning curve. The TCS Research Scholars programme will help enlarge the R&D agenda and encourage exploration of new ideas by funding candidates in doctorate programmes".

"TCS works with our academic partners through the year to examine ways of deepening our relationship. The TCS Research Scholars Programme is a new initiative to take this engagement with academia to the next level, said Ajoy Mukherjee, head global HR. "By inducting 200 new PhD scholars into the academic eco-system over a period of five years, this initiative will also significantly enhance the pipeline of high quality faculty for colleges, apart from generating new ideas and honing research talent in the country," he added.

The new programme will supplement existing TCS programmes like the Academic Interface Programme, which is a holistic initiative to enhance the quality of the emerging workforce across the globe by supporting students, faculty, institutes and government. The programme engaged 499 academic institutes in India and over 85 overseas during FY09, conducting over 130 faculty development programmes benefiting over 4,000 instructors and 400 workshops for over 52,000 students globally. Over 1,300 students benefited from TCS internships and awards.

Tata Consultancy Services offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique global network delivery model.  A part of the Tata Group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 140,000 trained IT consultants in 42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of $6 billion for fiscal year ended 31 March 2009.