IMPACT

Project IMPACT became effective in mid `91 with the aim of developing integerated man power with appropriate competence as needed by electronics and computer industry funded by the World Bank, Swiss Development Cooperation and Dept. of Electronics, Government of India. It was a pilot project on improving the quality of undergraduate education in Computer Science and Electronics so that the training is in line with the needs of industry. The operational project management is Department of Electronics, Govt. of India with far reaching responsibilities with regard to funding, procurement, reporting etc. There were five RCs who were responsible upgrading and updating the competence of inservice professionals and students of the participating institutions under them, thus bridging the gap between industry and academic institutions. This involoves conducting Instruction Enhancement Programmes, Lecture Material Development etc.

RC - IIT, Bombay under my coordination received a grant of about 2 crores. About 85 lakhs was spent in the construction of new building for the CSE department of IIT Bombay which roughly covered half of the total expenditure involved in the construction of the new building. The rest of the grant was spent in procuring high end servers and work stations for computing purposes, various electronics lab equipments, books and other materials like printers, projectors etc. These procurment resulted in setting up of the IMPACT lab in the CSE department, IIT, Bombay.

The IMPACT project came to an end in early `97 and the World Bank appointed a high power committee to review the effects of the pilot project. The committee visited the PIs involoved in the Project and had discussions with the Resource Centeres. The committee concluded that the results achieved by the project was remarkable and that there is significant improvement in the learning environment which had an impact in the elecronics and computer science industry.

With the committee appreciating the success of the IMPACT project, Dept. of Electronics (now Ministry of Information Technology) realised the importance of sustaining the results achieved through the project IMPACT and launched the Self Sustainability Scheme (SSS), fully funded by Government of India. This project is currently underway and aims at improving the learning environment through regular upgrade of the labs , procurement of new books, regular revision of curriculum to meet industrial needs and improved industry interaction with industry sponsored student projects.