Microsoft launches first Cloud Hub programme for educational institutions in India

Redmond-headquartered IT products and services company Microsoft is launching its Cloud Hub programme for higher educational institutions from India first.

The programme is designed to help educators train themselves and build a curriculum to teach students artificial intelligence and its applications, Manish Prakash, country general manager for health and education at Microsoft India, said.

The company also said that the three-year programme will help innovations in research through AI and will aim to support over 100 institutions. 

The selected educational institutes will get best-in-class infrastructure, onsite training for faculty and students, curriculum and content, access to cloud and AI services for participating students, developmental tools and developer support from Microsoft, the company said in a statement.

 It will also set up the core AI infrastructure and an IoT Hub for all selected campuses, the statement added. 

Other services will include AI developmental tools and Azure AI Services such as Microsoft Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning and Bot Services. 

"Training will include development workshops to help both the faculty and students build their skills and expertise in cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT. Additionally, it will assist faculty in strategising content and curricula for project-based and experiential learning," Prakash said.

He added that for research-focused institutions, Microsoft will provide AI-based recommendations for potential areas of research. Support will also be available for in-campus Cloud Software Research Associate throughout the duration of the programme.