The lives of 100 students freshly graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Mauritius have just taken an exciting new turn. Infosys, a leading Indian- based IT Company, has offered them the unique opportunity of enrolling on a 14-week programme at their training facility in Mysore, India. At the end of the scheme, they will be assessed and the successful ones will get a job offer from Infosys.

Nisha Devi Seechurn, one of the beneficiaries of the Infosys scheme, is ?very happy and proud? to have been chosen on this scheme. She is very excited as it will be her very first trip abroad. The programme is fully funded by Infosys while the Ministry of Finance has provided the air tickets and Air Mauritius has managed to book all the students on the same flight!

At the award ceremony in Reduit, the manager of Infosys, Mr Ganapathy, stressed that the selection was rigorous and based only on merit. The O-levels and A-levels of applicants were examined and students from all engineering disciplines, not merely computer science, were considered. He said that Infosys has complete faith in the potential of Mauritian students. At first, Infosys had only planned to set up just a disaster recovery center but it will now be a full-fledged center for Business Process Outsourcing.

For the UOM chancellor, Professor Mohammedbhai, this scheme will be highly beneficial to the students? career development. He cautioned that, while they would face a challenging time in India as the course is very demanding, he had full confidence in their abilities. The hundred students are the ?ambassadors of UOM and Mauritius?. This training programme will definitely strengthen the cultural and economic ties between India and Mauritius.

The Indian high commissioner said that Indians see Mauritius as ?a second home? and India is fully committed to being a strategic IT partner for Mauritius. According to him, this scheme ?opens a window on modern India?.

Deputy prime minister Pravind Jugnauth referred to the IT sector as the 5th pillar of the Mauritian economy. At present five leading IT companies employing 600 people are operational in Mauritius. He sees this initiative of Infosys as an indicator of our potential to become a cyber hub.

<B>Kushla Gopal</B>